18 pages • 36 minutes read
Rage HezekiahOn Anger
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Fish
The final symbolic image of the poem is a fish, specifically one that is “gutted” but “gleam[s].” This symbol furthers the internal and external theme of loss, encapsulating it in a final, lasting image. The outside of the fish is described in terms of a precious metal: silver. There is a strong contrast between the first word of the final line, “silvery,” and the final em dash, which can be read to signal an omitted word (or a continuation of thought beyond the poem). Silver has a high worth, but after the fish is “emptied of itself,” there is a punctuation mark that signifies a word or train of thought is not worthy of inclusion in the poem. The em dash also visually can be interpreted as the mark of gutting, the knife’s slash through the fish.
This contrast in the silvery exterior and the empty interior speaks to performing for a white audience externally, and gaining value in their eyes, but feeling internally hollow, as if an intrinsic part of Blackness had been cut out.
Fire
In the middle of the poem, the therapist leads the speaker in a fire-based ritual, and the two women perceive the symbolism of this act differently. For the white therapist, the act of burning letters filled with “resentments” is meant to be a purge of negative emotions; the fire is meant to symbolically destroy those “resentments.” This ritual happening in her fireplace couches the symbol in a contained, domestic blaze (as opposed to a wildfire or even a bonfire outside).
However, for the speaker, burning letters reveals her desire to keep—rather than destroy—her anger. The external fire is mirrored in her internal flame (as seen in the line break after “I burn”) and therein becomes a symbol of strength and power. Rather than fire’s transformation being one of erasure, the fire of anger within is one that fuels survival and resistance. This realization is the volta, or turn, of the poem.
Writing
The act of writing is another symbol that appears in the poem. In addition to writing letters for the fire ritual, the speaker writes the therapist’s synonyms for anger on an “index card.” Writing, specifically writing by hand, has formally been part of psychotherapy since the 1980s. The physical sensation of writing with a pen or pencil can help with integrating ideas (as in the case of the index cards and memorization) or releasing ideas (as in journaling and burning words). This paradoxical symbolism of writing reflects the central thematic dialectic, or tension, of holding onto anger versus letting it go.
