Response to “Walking Both Sides of an Invisible Border”

By: Alootook Ipellie

Alootook Ipellie’s poem, “Walking Both Sides of an Invisible Border,” discusses the conflict that occurs between two cultures and the emotions that a person experiences because of it. The poem is told from his perspective as an Inuk living in a Western country, drawing from his personal experiences and feelings. People and characters alike struggle with reconciling two sides of themselves, especially when society demands that they behave a certain way. Ipellie creates a compelling poem, making use of imagery, diction, and symbolism to illustrate the meaning and themes within the poem and portray a conflict many people can identify with.

The pessimistic tone of the poem establishes it as a piece filled with sorrow, and conveys the severity of the conflict to the audience. Phrases like “illegitimate child forsaken by [his] parents,” “sentenced to a torture chamber without having committed a crime,” and “non-entity” expose the feelings Ipellie experienced in his position as an Inuit man living in Canada. Having to walk the invisible border between his native Inuit culture and the imposing Western culture was, for him, comparable to abandonment and torture. The harsh language used here illustrates how destructive and detrimental this conflict has been for Ipellie. All of the discrimination he has faced because of his race led him to feel lonely, isolated, insignificant – like a non-entity. With this, the theme of discrimination is brought in as a major factor contributing to the conflict. Discrimination from both cultures leads to him feeling distant, hence he feels stuck on the border between them. The theme of destiny is also introduced as he expresses how he “did not ask to come into this world,” but was born into circumstances he could not change. And though he is frustrated at his life, he also understands that it was bound to happen, given humanity’s history of singling out and discriminating against anyone who didn’t fit society’s mold. Once he recognizes that the conditions of his life won’t change, he changes himself to fit them. 

The feeling of being stuck between two cultures led him to try pleasing both sides in order to find some semblance of harmony. In the poem this is represented through “dancing” and his position as a “world famous choreographer.” The dancing and his position as a choreographer symbolize the ways he tries to reconcile both cultures. As a choreographer he creates dance routines, ones that will keep him satisfied and safe. He follows these dance routines in order to coexist with both cultures, to survive the battle that occurs between them. Ipellie describes his choreographer position as “dubious,” despite the fact that he has mastered staying in the middle. This word choice portrays the delicate routine he has built as unreliable; it isn’t a real solution, only a temporary approach that’s doomed to fail. The unreliability of his position foreshadows that one day he’ll mess up his routine or trip during his dance and the fragile balance he has created will fall apart.

The mood then shifts to one of resignation and exhaustion in the last few stanzas. The theme of loneliness is once again brought in by the line “so I am left to fend for myself.” Ipellie has no one to guide him through the battlefield that is his life, and so he has to learn to survive on his own. He does his best to understand both sides of the conflict, to integrate them into his life as best as he can, but it isn’t enough. They can never truly unite “lest they swallow one another whole.” The conflict between the two cultures is depicted as a war from the use of words like “fighting day, war, wins and losses, battle.” This imagery of war once again highlights how this conflict is tearing Ipellie apart on the inside. To him, each culture is one one side of the battlefield, and he is stuck at the invisible border of each of their territories. As the war is waged, he feels a sense of hopelessness. He views this conflict as “senseless” with no real basis except for discrimination, but can do nothing to change it. He can only hope that he survives the aftermath. The last stanza of the poem displays his exhaustion from the constant fighting, his frustration at the senselessness of it all, and his resignation to the fact that there will never be an end to his ordeal.

Overall, Ipellie’s poem uses symbolism, repetition, and imagery to present ideas about how people feel and deal with conflict in their lives. He presents the idea that people have two opposing sides of themselves that are unable to reconcile will go through the struggle of trying to make peace with both sides. Attempting this causes huge strain, until the person becomes mentally exhausted from the effort. The mental fatigue from dealing with the conflict every day causes the individual to ultimately accept there is no real solution to their struggle, and they quit seeking it.

Response to “I Explain A Few Things”

By: Pablo Neruda

“I Explain A Few Things” portrays the changes Spain experienced during the civil war. It is a cry for people to look and see how Spain is suffering. The dramatic shift in mood, and the use of vivid imagery conveys the sense of helplessness the people of Spain must have felt, watching their beautiful and vibrant country descend into ruin. Feelings of desperation and hopelessness are captured in the diction and imagery of scenes from Spain. Repetition of certain lines, such as the last stanza, drives home the point this poem is trying to make. It wants the reader to understand the destruction and devastation Spain has undergone. The second person perspective also greatly contributes to this, adding another layer and making the poem more personal. 

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The civil war in Spain drastically changed people’s lives for the worse. Many homes were destroyed and many lives were lost. The children grew up to be soldiers, continuing the senseless violence and landscape changed from bustling to desolate. Though I have never experienced what Neruda had in Spain, I can relate to the abrupt change shown in the poem. The pandemic has caused very abrupt change in all aspects of my life. The fear and confusion many people felt during the beginning of the pandemic was something that alerted me to just how serious this was. When schools shut down in March, I knew things were going to be very different. These changes are still affecting me now, a year after the pandemic started. Everything, going to school, eating out, even hanging out with friends, had become a risk. My new normal had become wearing a mask, carrying hand sanitizer everywhere, and staying at home as much as possible. So while I haven’t experienced as severe a change as Neruda, and countless others, had during the Spanish Civil War, I can understand how huge changes like this can affect people, and their lives long after the event itself. 

1. Feature image – https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/312296555413359033/
2. Child Soldier – https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/12/09/for-child-soldiers-every-day-is-a-living-nightmare/?sh=3d0942c827bd
3. Spanish market – https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/275001120975839792/
4. Spain home during war – https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/4/19/the-historic-building-challenging-spains-civil-war-amnesia
5. Mask – https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/face-mask
6. Stay at Home – https://www.istockphoto.com/illustrations/stay-home