Blog #6: Call Me Ishmael Tonight

May 29, 2013 by Jessica Y 1 Comment

The poem that captivated me the most in Call Me Ishmael Tonight was “Land.” The author, Shahid, is referring to two different lands in this poem – one is the United States and the other is his homeland. I interpreted it as he was longing for his homeland because he felt that there was no freedom in the United States, but at the same time, he bitterly describes how his homeland had changed and how the United States negatively affects his homeland. He sounds a bit angry from feeling deceived by United States because the United States was supposed to be a promise land filled with goodness and freedom. He realized the United States was not as wonderful as it had seemed. In the couplet that reads, “Do the blind hold temples close to their eyes when we steal their gods for our atheist land?” Shahid indicates his bitterness towards the United States for imposing their control over his homeland through the West plundering the East. The way Shahid has written this poem makes it seem like he is speaking to someone who has tricked him. His tone sounds bitter and accusing as if he was angrily asking why the United States deceived him and why they were influencing his homeland badly as well.