Response to: To a Sad Daughter – Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje wrote a piece about his feelings towards his daughter and put his emotions into words beautifully. The emotions he expressed are what a lot of fathers feel for their daughters. They hold their daughters beloved and very dear to them. They want what is best for them and for them to succeed. I connect with this poem because hopefully someday, I myself will be at the stage of my life where I am a father to someone. I will treat my kids, son or daughter, with respect no matter what or who they chose to be. I will always be there for my kids and support the decisions they make. The way Michael Ondaatje is not influenced by the society around him is very admirable and courageous. I find this admirable because in the society I come from, this is all that matters, what others think of you. Growing up, whenever I would do something wrong I was told that people are going to think you are a failure or even worse they might think that I raised a failure. Our reputation was very important to us and we would protect it at all costs.

” When I thought of daughters I wasn’t expecting this but I like this more.”

Michael Ondaatje

This quote shows how forgiving of a man the writer is. It also shows that he is very accepting of who his daughter is and he does not try to mould his daughter to fit his own agenda, as a lot of brown/Asian parents do. He allows her to discover herself and make mistakes because that is how an individual learns. The way he acts and chooses to let his daughter figure herself out and gives her freedoms is how I aspire to be with my children in the future.

Response to: On the Brink of – Suheir Hammad

Rachel Corrie’s death is what inspired the writer of this poem to craft this piece. Rachel died at the hands of Israeli demolition workers by being run over by a construction machine made by the American company Caterpillar. An American tool was used to cause destruction to Palestinian houses. Rachel stood in the way thinking they would stop because of the complexion of her skin. She was attempting to use her white skin privilege to help other people. She failed. Rachel was in that location documenting the injustices that the Palestinians were facing and experienced exactly what they were facing, first hand. She was also someone’s beloved daughter and she was taken away from them trying to help people she did not even know. This poem is more relevant now than ever, with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict growing in intensity every day. This centuries-old conflict will not be solved overnight.

“On the brink of war” is repeated several times throughout the poem and near the end of the poem, the writer calls war a “new-fangled imperialist project…” calling our major governments from around the world, mainly the United States for supplying goods machines and such and profiting from the conflicts and deaths of hundreds and thousands of people. “She is dead now” is also repeated several times and this signifies the death of Rachel Corrie. Now, anything we say about her, anything we try to do for her won’t matter because she is gone. She sacrificed her life trying to help people less fortunate than her.