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Question
Six humans trapped by happenstance
In black and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.
Their dying fire in need of logs;
The first man held his back.
For on the faces around the fire,
He noticed one was black.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:
Explain with reference to context
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Solution
These lines are from the poem, ‘The Cold Within’ written by James Kinney. The poem touches on how each of the people around the fire died because of the “Cold Within,” and because of their inability to accept each other. It so happened that due to an accidental or arranged event they were together on that bitterly cold night. However, they were not together willingly. Each had a stick and even if one would give his stick to keep the dying fire going they would have survived. But the first man did not give his stick due to racial prejudice as he notice that one amongst them was black. It was not the cold weather that killed them but the frigidity of their hearts led to their deaths.
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