An Analysis of 'a Young Man's Thought's Before June 16th' - Fhazel Johennesse
Analysis of ‘A Young Man’s Thoughts before June the 16th’ – Fhazel Johennesse
The historical background to the poem is June 16th 1976. This date marks the Soweto Uprising which was initiated in Soweto by black high school students. The students were protesting against being taught in Afrikaans in their local schools. The demonstration was meant to be peaceful and was secretly planned to avoid discovery by the police. On the morning of June the 16th, thousands of youths gathered with the plan to march to Orlando Stadium to hold a rally to air their grievances. However, their intended route was blocked by riot police, and what had started as a peaceful march turned bloody as police used live ammunition on the protesters. Evidence shows that many protesters were shot in the back as they were running away. [Readers Digest Illustrated History of South Africa, (1988: 440) and Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto_uprising)]
The journey that the speaker is going to go on in lines 1 – 2 suggests a struggle and an ultimate goal to be reached. The journey has been planned as the speaker refers to ‘tomorrow’ in line 1. He then talks about the road ‘that winds’. This suggests many twists and turns in the journey, which in turn suggests that the journey will not be an easy or straight-forward one. The words ‘top of the hill’ suggest the end of the journey or the ultimate goal. The final goal or destination will only be reached by means of an uphill struggle.
The word ‘only’ is used in line 3 – ‘I take with me only the sweet memories of my youth’. The speaker is ready for his journey and takes with him just what is important – his memories. His memories are his only link to the innocence of his youth, and he knows that the following day, his life is going to change forever – he will lose his childlike innocence and have to face an altered world.
The words ‘my heart aches for my mother’ could convey various meanings. The first of these could be that the young
The historical background to the poem is June 16th 1976. This date marks the Soweto Uprising which was initiated in Soweto by black high school students. The students were protesting against being taught in Afrikaans in their local schools. The demonstration was meant to be peaceful and was secretly planned to avoid discovery by the police. On the morning of June the 16th, thousands of youths gathered with the plan to march to Orlando Stadium to hold a rally to air their grievances. However, their intended route was blocked by riot police, and what had started as a peaceful march turned bloody as police used live ammunition on the protesters. Evidence shows that many protesters were shot in the back as they were running away. [Readers Digest Illustrated History of South Africa, (1988: 440) and Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto_uprising)]
The journey that the speaker is going to go on in lines 1 – 2 suggests a struggle and an ultimate goal to be reached. The journey has been planned as the speaker refers to ‘tomorrow’ in line 1. He then talks about the road ‘that winds’. This suggests many twists and turns in the journey, which in turn suggests that the journey will not be an easy or straight-forward one. The words ‘top of the hill’ suggest the end of the journey or the ultimate goal. The final goal or destination will only be reached by means of an uphill struggle.
The word ‘only’ is used in line 3 – ‘I take with me only the sweet memories of my youth’. The speaker is ready for his journey and takes with him just what is important – his memories. His memories are his only link to the innocence of his youth, and he knows that the following day, his life is going to change forever – he will lose his childlike innocence and have to face an altered world.
The words ‘my heart aches for my mother’ could convey various meanings. The first of these could be that the young