Layli Long Soldier’s “38” emphasizes the connection between the fundamentals of language and history. Throughout the poem”38″ Soldier utilizes words, sentences and letters, all making up the foundation of language, to honor the history of Dakota 38 and the men who were executed. Soldier gives little attention on interesting a reader and more attention on providing the raw accounts of the Dakota 38. Soldier creates a contradictory tone by telling the readers that the 38 Dakota men were hanged after Christmas, a warming holiday. Through the contradictory tone, Soldier brings attention to the brutality of the mass execution. Solider also corrects on her diction to help the readers understand the past tense of hung and that “the correct past tense is hanged” reiterating the significance of language in retelling history.
One part of the poem that stood out to me was the aftermath of Andrew Myrick’s death. Finding out that when Myrick’s body was found, his mouth was stuffed with grass emphasized the inhumane action. Solider emphasized the cruel behavior by breaking up her sentences which also tells the readers that the structure of a sentence is a significant aspect of language. Similarly, Soldier ends her poem with broken structural sentences and refers to the grasses that was once found in Myrick’s mouth which leaves the reader to think about the creulty and inhuamne nature humankind can possess.
It was very interesting to think that the author didn’t try to interest the reader but the readers are interested anyway. Soldier just prepared a raw story and presented facts that the reader could gain information from. Andrew Myrick’s death also stood out to me and was a very ironic addition to the rest of the story. It also gave the readers a sense of how cruel his words and actions towards The Dakota nations really were.
I found you used the example of Christmas and the irony of the hangings at that time to be well thought and I personally did not recognize this when first reading it. Now thinking about it, this does increase the brutality of the mass deaths since Christmas has always been known as a time to celebrate and their actions instead challenge this. I also liked how you examined Soldier’s tone through breaking up her sentences, I also did not realize this when listening to it. Overall, you wrote a very interesting analysis to read!
I liked how you mentioned that she didn’t spend time interesting the readers, but instead she informed them about a part of history that is left out of American textbooks. You brought up a good point about the way language impacts the way you retell history. Myrick’s death was also something that stood out to me and it made me feel very sad. This is the first poem that made me feel so many emotions.
I like how you mentioned about the contradictory tone the author used to emphasize the execution of the Dakota men. The holiday of Christmas is when family members gather and be thankful of each other. However, the men were executed by the very government that celebrated such a holiday the day before.
I really appreciated the fact that the author did not to write what she thought the audience may have wanted to hear. Rather, she tried her best to prove the raw account of the Dakota 38. This is a great point that you brought up and I believe Dakota 38 gives great honor to the men who were killed.
I didn’t even catch that contradiction and juxtaposition you mentioned between Christmas and their hanging. It’s interesting how she chose to put those two side by side, emphasizing on the tragedy. Putting together the warmth of Christmas and the cold injustice of a massacre definitely is a detailed tone she used that had a purpose to intensify that tragedy.