English

What do the references to the birds and animals made in the poem suggest?

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Answer in Brief

Solution

Refugee Blues is a melancholic poem that narrates the constant terror that hovers a Jew couple that escapes to America and their ordeal for no one sympathises with them. The constant fear of loss of home and death haunts them. They are unwelcome even to the newfound land, America as they accuse them that they will take away their 'bread'. The poet juxtaposes the free birds and animals to the lives of Jews. The freedom that the Dog, Cat, or Fish enjoy is not blessed to the Jew couple. They remember the orders of Fuhrer (Hitler) to wipe out the whole Jew race through the holocausts or concentration camps where they were thrust into gas chambers. It is brought out that even animals in America enjoy the freedom and are respected; whereas, Jews in Germany have no right to live as per the Nazi regime. The narrator is upset that even a fish who is at the mere distance of 10 feet from the narrator can swim freely in the waters while the narrator is mourning at his and his wife's misery.

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Chapter 2.09: Refugee Blues - Understanding the Poem [Page 131]

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NCERT English Woven Words (Elective) Class 11

Chapter 2.09 Refugee Blues
Understanding the Poem | Q 3 | Page 131

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