Stylistic Analysis Of Isella Poem
In Suárez's poem, "Isla" uses imagery and descriptive phrases elicit sympathy to me as a reader. In the poem the speaker uses the character of Godzilla to describe the immigrant experience and make parallels between himself (as an immigrant) and the unwanted monster, Godzilla. According to Brophy (2000), Godzilla movie cycle are perfectly captured in all their opposing aspirations, and constitute the basis for many postnuclear, post-human and post-robotic gures and themes which dene the uniqueness of Japanese sci-/horror/fantasy from the late 1970s through to the present day. When watching the movie Godzilla, the author states, "and though I didn't yet speak English, I understood why such a creature would, upon being woken up from its
centuries-long slumber, rise and destroy Tokyo's buildings, care, people - I understood by the age of twelve what it meant to be unwanted, exiled, how you move from one country to another where nobody wants you, nobody knows you, and I sat in front of the TV, transfixed by the snow-fizz on our old black and white, and when Godzilla bellows his eardrum-crushing growl, I screamed back, victory holler from one so rejected and cursed to another." This makes me feel for the immigrant as a reader. That statement makes me feel for the immigrant, that he feels just as unwanted as Godzilla is in the movie. The island in the Caribbean that is discussed in the poem is an image that the mother wants to forget by stating, " she meant her country, mine, that island in the Caribbean we left behind, itself a reptile looking mass on each map, on my globe, a crocodile like creature rising again, eating us so completely". She is wants them to forget about the island they left behind and anything that reminds her of it. The other image that I see is of the child being angry and displaying anger by throwing a pillow across their room, each time the "monster whipped its tail and destroyed". As a reader I noticed in the first line, the movies that were being watched were all American classic movies, The Three Stooges, The Little Rascals, Speed Racer, and Godzilla. By watching the American movies they may be trying to fit in to the American ways of life but when the child watches Godzilla, it sparks something within him and his mother. It seems to bring up anger of being an immigrant in America.
Reference
Brophy, P. (2000). Monster Island: Godzilla and Japanese sci-fi/horror/fantasy. Postcolonial Studies, 3(1), 39-42. doi:10.1080/13688790050001336
centuries-long slumber, rise and destroy Tokyo's buildings, care, people - I understood by the age of twelve what it meant to be unwanted, exiled, how you move from one country to another where nobody wants you, nobody knows you, and I sat in front of the TV, transfixed by the snow-fizz on our old black and white, and when Godzilla bellows his eardrum-crushing growl, I screamed back, victory holler from one so rejected and cursed to another." This makes me feel for the immigrant as a reader. That statement makes me feel for the immigrant, that he feels just as unwanted as Godzilla is in the movie. The island in the Caribbean that is discussed in the poem is an image that the mother wants to forget by stating, " she meant her country, mine, that island in the Caribbean we left behind, itself a reptile looking mass on each map, on my globe, a crocodile like creature rising again, eating us so completely". She is wants them to forget about the island they left behind and anything that reminds her of it. The other image that I see is of the child being angry and displaying anger by throwing a pillow across their room, each time the "monster whipped its tail and destroyed". As a reader I noticed in the first line, the movies that were being watched were all American classic movies, The Three Stooges, The Little Rascals, Speed Racer, and Godzilla. By watching the American movies they may be trying to fit in to the American ways of life but when the child watches Godzilla, it sparks something within him and his mother. It seems to bring up anger of being an immigrant in America.
Reference
Brophy, P. (2000). Monster Island: Godzilla and Japanese sci-fi/horror/fantasy. Postcolonial Studies, 3(1), 39-42. doi:10.1080/13688790050001336