An Analysis of the poem “The Forsaken”

Original draft date: June 2, 2011

The poem “The Forsaken” tells the sad life story of a Chippewa woman (Chippewa is one of the aboriginal peoples in Canada). When she was still young a mother, she was already abandoned by her husband. It can be implied by her own struggle to find food for her baby which is supposed to be done by the male spouse. But since she was the one doing his obligation, he definitely forsook her and their baby.
Alone, she had to protect her child and survive in the severe storm (“Once in the winter…a Chippewa woman /With her sick baby/Crouched in the last hours/Of a great storm”). To worsen the situation, her baby is sick with nothing to eat. She even has to fish in a frozen lake. When she had no luck in catching a single fish, she bravely cut her own flesh and used it as bait. Only then she was able to amass a heap of them (“She took her own flesh/Baited the fish hook/Drew in a gray-trout/Drew in his fellows/Heaped them beside her”). But as a young woman, her difficulties aren’t over yet. She still has to take a multi-day trek through wolf country to get herself and her baby to the safety (“She faced the long distance/Wolf-haunted and lonely”). Then, on the third day, she saw the chimney smoke of the fort hanging in the trees and heard the sled dogs. Only at this point she can give in to her exhaustion. (“On the third morning/Saw the strong bulk/Of the Fort by the river…Heard the keen yelp of ravenous huskies…then she had rest”).

On the second part of the poem, the young Chippewa woman had already become old. In fact, “very” old because her son was already an old manwith his own children (“Years and years after/When she was old and withered/When her son was an old man/And his children filled with vigour”). Once again in her life, she was abandoned. She is already useless and will only be a burden to his son’s family who are traveling by canoes as a method of gathering food (Instead of traditional hunting methods, they have adopted the mink-traps of the European hunters). After camping one night in an island, she was left behind in the morning without even a goodbye from her family (“They came in their northern tour on the verge of winter/To an island on a lonely lake/There one night they camped, and on the morrow/Gathered their kettles and birch-bark/Their rabbit-skin robes and their mink-traps/Launched their canoes and slunk away through the islands/Left her alone forever/Without a word of farewell”). And again, on the third day, she finally had her “true rest” (“Then there was born a silence deeper than silence/Then she had rest”).

Although the story of the Chippewa woman had indeed been very sad, I cannot help but admire her. With all the troubles she faced, she didn’t even show a sign of fear. In the two great misfortunes that she had, she confronted them all bravely as if they were a mouse and she was a lion. When she cannot catch a fish to feed to her son, she unhesitatingly cut her flesh and used it as bait (“In the deeps of the cedars/Valiant, unshaken/She took of her own flesh/ Baited the fishhook”). When she was about to travel the wolf-haunted country, she was “valiant and unshaken”. And finally, when she was about to be left alone in the desolated island, she didn’t even feel sorry for herself nor begged her son to take her with them. She bravely waited for her death. Maybe it was because elder abandonment was an accepted practice during those times by the Chippewa people, but still, for me, it was such a brave thing to do. After all, who would want to die all by herself?

In conclusion, this poem is not generally composed to make readers cry. For me, the poet purposely constructed it to serve as an inspiration: that no matter what trouble we face in our lives, we’ll just have to think of the Chippewa woman, and our misfortune will surely be not as worse as we thought.