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READ THIS
"Small Passing" deals with the shock of losing one's baby in a society where death is an
everyday reality.
For the mother, the death of her own child is a tragedy beyond parallel and yet the poet gets
reminded often -- mainly by males -- that this is nothing compared with the greater tragedy
happening all around her in apartheid South Africa, where death is the norm.
On the other hand, the Black women do not see it that way. They are able to comfort her and
see in her loss a genuine catastrophe which is indeed comparable with all the other tragedies
happening around them. Hers is literally no small passing.
ABOUT THE POET
Ingrid de Kok is the professional name of Ingrid Jean Fiske. She was born in Johannesburg
in 1951 and grew up in Stilfontein, a gold mining town in what is now the North-West Province
of South Africa.
She studied at Queens' University in Canada before returning to South Africa. Today she is an
Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town's Centre for Extra-Mural Studies.
To date she has published three collections of poetry, and her poems have appeared in at least
eleven overseas anthologies. They have also been translated into several different languages,
including Turkish.
She has been the recipient of at least three prestigious prizes for her contribution to English
Literature.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"Girls carrying babies
not much smaller than themselves.
Erosion. Soil washed down to the sea."
- The poet deviates from references to people and speaks suddenly about soil erosion. What
is the reason for deviating from references to people? (4)
[Need help?]
Soil erosion has a devastating effect on the land, washing away the most precious topsoil which
contains all the nutrients for producing much needed crops.
In the same way, the hardships suffered in South Africa during the years of the apartheid
regime amounted to the erosion of the masses. Children were dying young, and it was a tragic
loss to the country as so much potential was needlessly destroyed — like the erosion
of the precious topsoil.
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- Explain why the image of soil erosion can be regarded as a metaphor. (4)
[Need help?]
Just as soil erosion washes away the life-giving topsoil into the sea -- rendering it useless -- so
the life of her baby has been erased and the little body is now as lifeless as the poor soil left
behind. Her body has expelled the baby, just as water washes away the topsoil.
Instead of the baby being alive, it is as lifeless as the soil which has been eroded. The
afterbirth, which nourished her baby just as the topsoil nourished the crops, is now lying useless
in a cold stainless steel basin. The afterbirth will be discarded as it is no longer useful. The
topsoil is flushed into the sea where it too becomes useless.
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- Why would girls be carrying babies not much smaller than themselves? (4)
[Need help?]
The reality of death and separation in South Africa meant that little girls were often required to
look after the babies. These could be younger siblings left in the care of their older sisters --
who were indeed not that much older than those in their care. It is also possible, of course, that
some of the young girls had themselves become mothers at a critically young age.
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"Come with us to the place of mothers.
We will stroke your flat empty belly,
let you weep with us in the dark,
and arm you with one of our babies
to carry home on your back."
- What colour will this baby be? How do you know? (3)
[Need help?]
This will be a black baby as it is "one of ours" as opposed to "one of yours". The
poet also speaks of carrying the baby home on her back, as is traditional done amongst South
Africa's black women.
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- What is the significance of this offer? (4)
[Need help?]
Once again the poet conveys the unity of mothers of all colours. She reiterates that mothers
do not use colour to distinguish between the significance of the deaths of children. Mothers
have so much empathy with one another that they are prepared to offer one of their own
children to alleviate the poet's suffering because they understand her anguish.
This is in contrast with the other people -- mostly males -- who tell her that her suffering is
insignificant in comparison with the suffering of the Black people in South Africa.
These mothers never make a comparison or try to reduce the significance of her suffering.
They try to help her feel better. They do not make her feel guilty by reminding her of the
suffering endured by others. They do not list the terrible incidents which cause suffering to
others. They close ranks, they protect her and they even offer her the consolation of one of
their own babies to comfort her.
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