[ENG] The sea eats the land at home - Quotes & Analysis

Author

Kofi Awoonor

Main themes

• Destruction in speakers’ hometown caused by violent flooding

• Ocean consuming the land is an extended metaphor for the colonisation and exploitation of Ghana by the british army

• Widespread disorder and culture loss

Effect of present participle/Gerunds

• Use of gerunds to describe the ‘sea’ suggest colonists’ mercilessness and apathy

• E.g “running in and out of the cooking places.”

• The human-like  -ing verbs suggest some level of calculation and disingenuous motives behind the army’s actions

• As if they almost causally disrupt communities, indifferent to the dwellers suffering

“Running in and out of the cooking places”

• Cooking places” are associated with coziness and warmth, reflecting how colonisation has stripped people of the life they once knew.

• May be referencing the sea submerging traditional communal cooking places or gathering sites, suggesting a loss of unity and solidarity. 

“It came one day at the dead of night”

• Came during night , when people are sleeping - they are vulnerable

  • Ominous tone as the force wants to keep themselves hidden

  • Shows mercilessness as they strike at the time when people are most vulnerable

“Destroying cement walls”

• Impactful imagery of the sea ruining houses and structures of the townspeople

• Highlighting the army's power in that it has the ability to take down materials as strong as cement. 

• “Cement walls” serves as a symbol of protection and safety, as walls in our home would normally shield us from the outside world.

• Reflects the uncertainty and concern of the people as their previously solid shelters have been torn down, leaving them exposed and vulnerable to the consequences of colonisation.

“The cooking pots and the ladles”

• The sea is also detailed carrying away “cooking-pots” and “ladles” from their homes.  The sinister sibilance here may reflect the army’s underlying hostile intents. 

• These utensils symbolize food and nourishment, insinuating that the colonizers have deprived people of a source of energy, life and growth.

• Furthermore, it could suggest the gradual loss of traditional Ghanaian food and cuisine, a large part of the country’s culture.

“Its a sad thing to hear the wails”

• ‘Wails’ - like an alarm, siren

• Blaring, auditory imagery

• Echoing through the town

“Mourning shouts”

• In grievance

• As if they have lost something, something has died

• Whatever they have lost will never come back

“Calling on all the gods they worship”

• The women, in grievance of their losses, turn to “all the gods they worship.” 

• The intensifier “all” spotlights their anguish and their desperate aching for some form of help or reassurance, reinforcing the significance of the matter.

“Angry sea”

• Personification of the sea

• Cruel, powerful oppressor

“Her ancestors have neglected her/ Her gods have deserted her”

• Anaphora of ‘her’ creates emphasis

• Desolation, dejected

“It was a cold sunday morning / the storm was raging”

• Allusion to christian faith

  • Disaster occurred during traditional church-going hour

  • Amplifies culture, religion loss

• Asyndeton creates choppy feel , suggests desolation

“Goats and fowls were struggling in the water”

• Trying to swim but the storms rage is too powerful

• Colonisers malicious intents

“Cruel sea”

• Attributing human motives to elements of nature

“Lap-lapping of the bark water at the shore”

• The plosives used to describe the “angry” waves with “the lap-lapping of the bark water at the shore” amplify the cruel objectives and strength of the sea, and therefore the townspeople's inferiority to the overwhelming domination of the colonisers

“Above the sobs and the deep and low moans”

• Long ‘o’ sounds foreshadow essence of the next line

• Mimics the humming - reverberations of the colonisation

“Eternal hum of the living sea”

• Never-ending cycle

• Doesn’t see an end

• Feeling of hopelessness

• The effects of colonisation will always linger as long as the country continues to live

“Taken away their belongings / Adena has lost her trinkets / Which were her dowry and joy”

• Loss of pure childlike happiness

• ‘trinkets’ could connote culture loss

• Loss of assured future

“Eats the whole land at home”

• Ends with the refrain “eats the whole land at home”, with the addition of “whole” indicating that the entire country, its culture and identity, has been lost to colonisation. 

• “Home” has connotations of identity, heritage and roots as well as familiarity and wider community. 

• The consonance and assonance in this last line (whole/home) creates a sense of hesitant surrendering and mourning.