Comparison Essay

Comparison Essay

The poems ‘Remains’ and ‘The Emigreé’ both interpret power in many different ways. In the poem ‘Remains’ the power of guilt is show to express the feelings of a man who has just killed another, whereas in the poem ‘The Emigreé’ there is a power of memory and denial shown to suggest how the protagonist feels about her home. In this essay I am going to explore how power is presented in the eyes of both protagonists.

In the poem ‘Remains’ the speaker states to us that ‘His bloody life in my bloody hands’. This quote shows us that the main protagonist is in deep guilt and regrets what he did previously. He constantly relives the event in his mind when he closes his eyes. The character towards the end of the poem begins to slow down and realize what he has done, whereas in the start he was adrenaline rushed and didn’t real recognize the depth of the situation. The word ‘Bloody’ is shown in two different ways one being literal and how the main protagonist literally has blood on his hands. Secondly it also has a metaphorical meaning as you could say the character has blood on his hands but you mean he is guilty of something awful he has done.

In ‘The Remains’ there is a power of regret shown, whereas in ‘The Emigreé’ there is a power of denial. I say this because the speaker is in constant disbelief about any negative things being put towards her home. This is show when she states ‘it may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants but I am branded by an impression of sunlight’. This shows that all she knows of her home is sunlight and she ‘is Branded’ by the goodness of her memory, not for what has become of her home. This shows denial because the speaker doesn’t want to believe anything anyone says and this is denial. There is something similar in ‘The Remains’ as the speaker does not want to see the man ‘when he closes his eyes’ so the protagonist tries to ‘flush’ out the man in his mind with drugs and alcohol.

In the ‘Remains’ the speaker is so traumatized by him killing a man and states that ‘He’s in my head when I close my eyes’. This quote alone does show the power of guilt as he may be thinking about that poor man being ‘Ripped apart by a dozen rounds’, But the power of memory is also shown through the quote as the man is constantly reminded by this hellish act and is reminded through seeing ‘his blood shadow’ every morning ‘on the streets, and out on patrol’. This deep memory of the killing of that man who was ‘possibly armed, possibly not’ will haunt the man every day, until he excepts what he has done, as shown when the protagonist see’s the man when he closes his eyes. This also shows a theme of denial much like the power of denial shown in ‘The Emigreè. The protagonist doesn’t want to have the man he killed in his head all the time so he uses drugs and alcohol to help him deny that the man he killed, doesn’t exist.

In both ‘The Emigreé’ and ‘The Remains’ power of memory is used to amplify the situations each of the protagonists have to face. In ‘The Emigreé’ the speaker ‘Is branded by an impression of sunlight’ and this shows how her memory of her home is so deep within that she compares her memory with ‘Branding’ which suggests it is permanent. That is what the speaker in ‘The Emigreé’ is trying to show, that her memory of her home is so strong, she is ‘Branded’ with an image of ‘Sunlight. In ‘The Remains’ the power of memory is also shown through the dreams the speaker has of the man he gunned down while he was ‘out on patrol’. These dreams of the man the speaker has are not just dreams they are nightmares. The speaker says ‘He’s here in my head, when I close my eyes’ and this shows how the man might be reliving the situation over and over in his mind. He now feels repentant for everything he has done and possibly could wish to undo his actions.

In conclusion, In ‘The Remains’, power is shown through the guilt of an man killing another man and in ‘The Emigreé’ power is shown through the memory of home and how you can never forget where you are from. I think ‘The Emigreé’ best discusses a theme of power as memory is one of the most powerful things on earth and a memory of where you are from can never be forgotten. I say this because no matter where you are in the world you would represent and be proud of your home. In this case the women in ‘The Emigreè’ will not accept any negativity being said about her home and what she remembers of it for her memory of home is implanted in her mind.