Night of the Scorpion

Night of the Scorpion

Poem

I remember the night of my mother

Was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours

Of steady rain had driven him

To crawl beneath a sack of rice.

 

Parting with his poison – flash

Of diabolic tail in the dark room –

He risked the rain again.

 

The peasants came like swarms of flies

And buzzed the name of god a hundred times

T paralyze the evil one

 

With candles and with lanterns

throwing giant scorpion shadows

on the mud – baked walls

They searched for him: he was not found

They clicked their tongues

With every movement that the scorpion

Made his poison moved in mother’s blood,

They said

 

May he sit still, they said

May the sins of your previous birth

Be burned away tonight, they said.

May your suffering decrease

The misfortune of your next birth, they said

May the sum of all evil

Balanced in this unreal world

 

Against the sum of good

Become diminished by your pain

May the poison purify your flesh

Of desire, and your spirit of ambition,

They said, and they sat around

On the floor with my mother in the center,

The peace of understanding on each face,

More candles, more lanterns, more neighbors,

More insects and the endless rain,

My mother twisted through and through

Groaning on a mat.

My father, sceptic, rationalist,

Trying every curse and blessing

Powder, mixture, herb and hybrid

He even poured a little paraffin

Upon the bitten toe and put a match to it.

I watched the holy man perform his rites

To tame the poison with an incantation

After twenty hours

It lost its sting

 

My mother only said

Thank god the scorpion picked on me

And spared my children

  

Nissim Ezekiel

 Nissim Ezekiel was born on 16^th December 1924.  He was an Indian Jewish poet, actor, playwright, editor and critic.  The Ezekiels belonged to Mumbai’s Marathi speaking Jewish speaking community.\in 1947, he completed his B.A in literature.  1947 – 48 he published literary articles.  He studied philosophy.  He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his work “Later Day Psalms”

Nissim Ezekiel has been appreciated for his well-crafted work dealing with common and simple subjects.  He enriched the Indian English Literature with his Modern Techniques.  His service to Indian English Literature helped immensely to move beyond spiritual themes.  In his works he included various emotions such as anger, disappointments, familial events and social interest.  He has been described as the “Father of Post-Independence Indian Verse in English” his very popular woks are “The Night of the Scorpion, and the “The Patriot.  They are enjoyed till now.  After a prolonged struggle with Alzheimer’s disease Nissim died in Mumbai on 9^th January 2004 at the age of 79.

  Summary

 The poet describes his experience of seeing his mother stung by a scorpion one dark rainy night.  When his mother tries to take rice form the granary the scorpion which was under the rice bag bit her.  The neighboring peasants came in with candles and lanterns, they sang and changed hymns and the name of god to paralyze the scorpion.  They wanted to kill but they could not find the scorpion.  The poet’s mother suffered in pain.

 The people prayed that all her sins of previous birth should be burnt.  They believed that the world is not real and wanted to reduce her sufferings even in her next birth.  The time moves slowly and the poet’s mother suffered as she was in great pain.  The villager goes after superstitious beliefs.  But the poet’s father was a disbeliever.  He did not like the religious faith and beliefs.  He tried all powder, mixture herbs and prayers.  He even applied little paraffin upon the mother’s affected toe and put a match to it.  The poet watched all these events and the suffering of his mother.  After twenty hours the poison of the scorpion became powerless. The mother recovered.  She forgot her pain and thanked god that the scorpion did not bite her children.

   Analysis

 Night of the Scorpion is a free verse poem with 8 stanzas and 47 lines.  There I no proper rhyme scheme.

This is a simple narrative poem which says about the poet’s mother who was stung by a scorpion and also the reaction of the villagers who live by their strong beliefs and superstitions.

  “The Peasants came like swarms of flies

And buzzed the name of god a hundred times.

 The peasants are old fashioned and live by their strong faith and cultures.  They are illiterate but they come to help the mother without any thoughts. They bring candles and lanterns and search the scorpion. They throw shadows on the wall in the shape of a scorpion and gives the readers the feeling of the presence of the scorpion in the form of dark shadow.  Also it is a kind of fear they have for the scorpion and even they feel all around them. Their search fail and giving a sense of tension.

The peasants utter

 “With every movement that the scorpion made his / poison moved in Mother’s blood…”

The villagers believe and try to kill the scorpion to cure the suffering mother. A very simple solution to start with.  But they could not find it.  This rises the tension among them as well as the readers.

In the fifth paragraph the poet says about the peasants’ another belief.  They wish to stop the movement of the scorpion so that the pain of the mother could subside. Also they say to the mother that the poison of the scorpion would burn her sins of her previous birth and reduces her suffering of her next birth.  The poet brings out the traditional Hindu belief of rebirth.  The villages are illiterate and innocents to believe that the suffering of the mother is due to her sins and it would give pain even in her next birth too.  They continue in the next stanza too and the narrator brings out their simplicity as they say that the pain of the mother would purify her flesh.

Of desire, and your spirit ambition,

The peasants have stopped searching for the scorpion and now they have started to chant the names of god to reduce the pain of the mother.  There were more actions from the peasants as they bring in more candles and more lanterns and more neighbors join this prayer with hope to cure the mother.

More candles, more lanterns, more neighbors, / more insects, and the endless rain.

The situation become worse as the mother is “twisting” on the floor “groaning” in pain. Many come to join in the prayer and few have come to see.  The poet now introduces the father who is a very sensible man, rational and a sceptic.  He is a disbeliever of those rituals.  He looks for a practical solution. He is desperate to save his wife from her suffering.

“Every curse and blessing, / powder, mixture, herb and hybrid.”

Father’s concern for his wife is real and honest.  He is desperate to save his wife in a real way. He even pours paraffin over the effected toe and put a match on it.  The flames it creates “feeding” on the mother.  There is a good description about the way the poison is moving through her body, as the flame feeding on her skin.  The readers could understand the older medicinal practices and wonder when a holy man performs his rites to tame the poison with an incantation.

Holy man perform[s] his rites to tame the poison with an incantation.

One thing the poet makes us to understand that all are humans and in such situation we try all ways to save a life. It is our basic instinct which urges everyone to save a life using all the possibilities.

My mother only said / Thank God the scorpion picked on me / and spared my children.

Now the time has come realise the fact that the poison in the mother subsides.  She slowly recovers for her sickness.  She understood the situation with half consciousness and thanked god for saving her children form the scorpion.  Her lover for her children made her to forget her pain and even in this half-conscious she thanked god for saving her family.  It’s a touching moment all can feel the love for the children she has.  The whole poem says about her pain, only the last two lines say about her motherly nature, love and concern she has for her children. Noble thought of a mother, a selfless love of a mother.  This is more than everything.  Nothing could be equal to the love of a mother.

 Literary devices

The scorpion symbolizes as an evil force which brings pain and death.  “Diabolic” is used to bring out its nature.  But the scorpion is an innocent one in this situation.  It behaves in his nature life style.

Alliteration:

 Similar constant sounds together to emphasize the words.

Ex:  “Stung by a scorpion”

        “Parting with its poison”

        “Through and through”

        “Flame feeding”

 Antonyms:  opposite context.

Ex: Previous/next

Evil/good

Curse/blessing

 Assonance:

Similar vowel sounds, but different consonants.

Ex: “candle, lantern” “Buzzed/hundred, mother’s blood”

 Metaphor:

Compares two things by stating one is the other.

Ex: Scorpion is the evil one

 Simile:

Comparing one object to another.

Ex: Like swarms of flies

 Structure:

No regular pattern. Free verse. No definite rhyme.

Setting:  Background of the events

A complete village background which brings out the culture and traditional beliefs of the villagers.

Theme:  meaning of the poem.  In this poem the poet brings out the traditional system, superstitious beliefs of the innocent villagers.  And affection of a husband to his wife, and selfless love of the mother.

Thus the poem expresses the culture and strong beliefs of Indian villagers, also A Mother is a Mother in any situation.

Thank you

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