The Kittens
STANZA: 1
There are too many kittens
Even the cat is dismayed
at this overestimation
of her stock and slinks away.
Kind friends cannot adopt them all
My relatives say: take them
to bazaar and let them go
each to his destiny. They'll live
off pickings, but they are small
somebody may step on one
like a tomato.
The poem has been written by Maki
Kureishi who is most conscious in this poem about the people of Pakistan and the problems that
they faced during the time of post-partition. The poet is talking about a cat with several kittens to feed and because they are huge in numbers and the cat lacks the required food to feed them, she left them alone and runs away from
her responsibilities. Some of my kind friends are denied to provide any kind of support to them all, in
addition, family members are advising me to take them to the bazaar so they reach their fate and they can survive by picking small pieces of food from there.
As these kittens are so weak and in size also small, a person can easily
crash them like a tomato.
The poet is showing the
post-partition scenario of Pakistan when the Muslims of India were migrating
to their new-homeland Pakistan. They faced several problems after leaving India and arriving in Pakistan. They had nothing to eat and they had no shelter, so, they
arrived in Pakistan empty-handed. Some of them stayed with their friends
and family but most of them were getting shelter on the immigrant campus.
So, the kittens are symbolizing the immigrants of Pakistan who were suffering
from starvation and were refused by friends and family because their homes were
already filled with immigrants and they didn’t have enough room in their homes anymore. So, immigrants were forced to live on small pieces of bread and
butter.
STANZA 2:
Or too fastidious to soil
a polished shoe will kick it
out of his path. If they survive
the gaunt dogs and battering heels,
they will starve gently, squealing
a little less each day.
This stanza has been showing the
class description of Pakistani society, where the class discrimination between rich and poor is obvious. The wealthy man has the authority to behave cruelly and even to
get them out of their path easily. The poet uses the symbol of “a polished shoe” for rich people who can easily kick the kitten out of their ways and smash them into the soil. The poet gives some conditions in which kittens cannot survive and their destiny can be dead because they also have the threat of hunting dogs. The poet is symbolizing “gaunt dogs” those
people who can exploit immigrants for their purposes, likewise, rich people
who will try to make them their slaves on low wages, for getting benefits from
their worse economical conditions. The poet says further if they become able to
survive without going through any of these conditions, then there are also some threats for them to survive because then they will face starvation and their numbers will be decreased every day. The poet is showing the image of Pakistani society and culture in
which she finds cruelty, brutality, lawlessness, and different standards for
different sects of human beings.
STANZA:3
The European thing to do
is drown them. Warm water
is advised to lessen the stock.
they are so small it takes only
a minute. you hold them
and turn your head away.
The poet describes European countries' behavior and attitudes towards third-class countries like Pakistan
and India. The European countries made us their slaves and imposed colonialism
and imperialism on the sub-continent of India. They are advising the same cruel
things to impose on Immigrants to stop their voices and control their numbers because
they did not want us to progress. They came to Sub-continent for trade but they sit over
the throne for the reason of peace and to civilize it, but then they turned their
faces from the problems of Hindus and Muslims and spread hatred among them. As result, they killed many Muslims when they were migrating. However, they did
not want Pakistan to be stable and wanted to spoil it eternally by advising that ‘Unemployment’ symbolized ‘warm water.
STANZA: 4
Then the water shatters. your hands
are frantic eels. Oddly
like landed fish, their blunt pink mouths
open and shut, legs strike out.
Each claw, a delicate nail
paring, is bared.
They are bling and will never know
You did this to them. The water
recomposes itself.
snagged
by two cultures, which
shall I choose?
In these lines, the poet is giving
the concept that unemployment is spreading in Pakistan and people are
restless to earn wages to support their friends and family but the conditions
of Pakistan remained worse than the European countries want. The symbol of “blunt
pinks mouths” indicating towards European English men whose faces are showing
their cruelty and brutality because they are exploiting the resources of other
countries for their purposes. They are not opposed by anyone in their wrongdoings because they think it is their right and believe us their slaves as well.
The poet says that now they have exposed themselves and their every cunning tips and
trick are now visible to everyone. They are blind in their pride and will
never get to know why they are letting you in trouble. So, the immigrants
are trying to stable Pakistan and save its civilization.
After having a look at both
eastern and western cultures and their societies the poet is perplexed about which
culture should she choose. Both cultures have their pros and cons. The Diaspora
of the poet is obvious from it. She is struggling with an identity crisis that is
common in societies after having a colonialism-type political system.
