The Orange Bears by Hasnija Ekic

405ekich — 2016-12-14 16:46:24 UTC

The Orange bears with soft friendly eyes
Who played with me when I was ten,
Christ, before I’d left home they’d had
Their paws smashed in the rolls, their backs
Seared by hot slag, their soft trusting
Bellies kicked in, their tongues ripped
Out, and I went down through the woods
To the smelly crick with Whitman
In the Haldeman-Julius edition,
And I just sat there worrying my thumbnail
Into the cover---What did he know about
Orange bears with their coats all stunk up with soft coal
And the National Guard coming over
From Wheeling to stand in front of the millgates
With drawn bayonets jeering at the strikers?

I remember you would put daisies
On the windowsill at night and in
The morning they’d be so covered with soot
You couldn’t tell what they were anymore.

A hell of a fat chance my orange bears had!

Title

405ekich — 2016-12-14 16:49:55 UTC

The Orange Bears is a symbol for kids, because kids play with bears.

T

405ekich — 2016-12-14 16:58:18 UTC

Paraphrase

405ekich — 2016-12-14 16:58:19 UTC

The poem, The Orange Bears, means that the children who had to work in the factory felt abused.

Imagery

405ekich — 2016-12-14 16:59:42 UTC

I can imagine an Orange Bear and little kids running around hence the title of the poem.

Attitude

405ekich — 2016-12-14 17:00:56 UTC

The attitude of this poem is sad because of the abuse the kids had while working in the factory.

Shift

405ekich — 2016-12-14 17:02:46 UTC

The stanza length from the first to the second one changed.

Title Revised

405ekich — 2016-12-14 17:04:57 UTC

The meaning of the title is a symbol of little kids who had to work hard which meant abuse in their case.

Theme

405ekich — 2016-12-14 17:05:31 UTC

The theme of this is don't let anyone abuse you, and the message is always work hard and don't let anyone hurt you.