Amit Majmudar's 'Dothead'

Collin Zalewski Mrs. Klausmeier Honors English 10 8 Aug 2024 Poetry The effect of the boys’ laughter towards the speaker was tremendous. The laughter symbolizes exclusion and mockery, degrading the speaker's self-worth. To further exemplify this impact in Dothead by Amit Majmudar it states, “Their laughter had made my mouth go dry”(Majmudar, lines 11-12). Also it states, “I snatched it, twitched the tear, and squeezed a dollop on my thumb and worked circles till the red planet entered the house of war, and on my forehead for the world to see, my third eye burned those schoolboys in their seats”(Majmudar, lines 23-27). The speaker might have reacted this way because of his experience of being seen as “different” due to his cultural identity
Using the term “back then” suggests that he is looking back on it while now being older. Also the poem states, “those schoolboys”(Majmudar, line 27). If you were in that class, most likely you wouldn’t refer to your classmates as “those schoolboys,” further proving that he is older, and more mature. The speaker most likely thought that his younger self was more ignorant, and didn’t make the best decisions when making friends. An example to help show this is, “The white kids I was sitting with were friends, at least as I defined friends back then”(Majmudar, lines 15-16). This shows how he looks at himself with a mix of pity, and understanding. The speaker recognizes that he was deeply hurt and ridiculed as a child, yet it was part of his growth and understanding of identity. To further show this, when he opened the ketchup packet, and put it on his forehead, the way Majmudar described it shows how as a child that is when he started understanding his identity, and being proud of it. It states, “and on my forehead for the world to see”(Majmudar, line