Analysis of Symbols and Images in Ray Young Bear's poem "GRANDMOTHER"

<p>This paper explores the symbols and<br>images in Ray Young Bear's poem<br>"GRANDMOTHER." He enjoys using the<br>lowercase in his poems. They are<br>symbolically presented, though he seems<br>to violate the grammar rules. He claims<br>that the Mesquaki tribe in North America<br>is misrepresented. The study focuses on<br>the central theme of this poem,<br>"GRANDMOTHER," as the contemporary<br>American Indian's search for identity in<br>America. The poet seems to demand that<br>they must be addressed by mainstream<br>Americans practically as the Americans,<br>not only theoretically. Indeed, Americans<br>have not internalized many other Negros<br>in America as Americans. Neither have<br>they internalized the Red Indians in North<br>America as the Americans. The condition<br>of North Americans is similar to the state<br>of Black people; as Martin Luther King Jr.<br>has pointed out, even after one hundred<br>years of emancipation and proclamation,<br>there is no acceptance of so-called nonAmericans in America practically. The<br>Indian grandmother symbolizes the oldest<br>part of the earth, a rock'. This poem has<br>not been analyzed from a symbolic<br>perspective. The lowercase represents the<br>lost identity of North Americans in<br>America. The study focuses on why the<br>Mesquaki tribe has been discriminated<br>against in America. The study employs the<br>semiotic theory of Chandler to analyze the<br>poems.</p>