The Analysis of The H Word: Different Types of Pain Essay Example

An individual character and identity reflect upon his or her ability to have hope during challenging times. Omar Sakr the author of The H Word talks about themes and ideas such as poverty, negative home environment although the poem does expresses hope. It is vital that Omar talks about this because it helps understand his personal context. 

Home is usually an inviting, safe place where you get love and understanding however, in The H Word the personas home is a dangerous, threatening and lethal to both the persona and people around the persona. We can infer this from the quote ‘if your home is haemorrhaging ….’. The imagery of the words ‘open graves’, ‘closed cell blocks’ and ‘haemorrhaging’ helps paint an image in the reader mind about the household environment that the persona grew up in.  When your home is haemorrhaging kids into open graves and closed cell blocks it means that your environment at home is pushing kids towards death and leading them into gaol. This may be due to miscommunication, negligence or even domestic violence as stated in his website online.

This then pushes children in the persona neighbourhood end up feeling unwanted. Children also feel that they can do anything want because they don’t know the difference between right or wrong.  Sakr growing up in south-western Sydney, has evidently experienced both mental and physical pain in his upbringing, which has been reflected in The H Word. Sakr has a realistic and true perspective on pain, that it can be caused be a dangerous, threatening and lethal environment. He has developed this perspective because of his experiences, challenges and pain caused in his childhood. Overall, Sakr has effectively conveyed his idea that homes that have negative household environments cause pain because he has used imagery to really emphasise his point.  

The persona in The H word uses experiences the challenges and problems of being in poverty. This is suggested by the quotes ‘when all you have is stale bread’ and ‘Put sauce on it’. From the use of the word when in the first quote uses flashback to convey idea. The second quotes use dark or black humour to convey it’s point. We know that the poets use flashback because of the denotation of the word ‘when’. Dark humour is to add emphasis to the last quote. The first quote helps us understand that the persona I sufferings from being hungry, desperate for food, and empty.

The effective use of dark humour helps reader understand the desperation of the persona situation, turning to sauce on stale bread to make it taste better. We can also assume that the persona eats this daily. Sakr grew up in south western Sydney in areas such as Liverpool and punch bowl. These areas where there is extreme poverty. Poverty causes pain is a realistic perspective that Sakr expresses. The reader can conclude the this because it is explained in the poem through the eyes of his persona. Sakr writing in highly influenced be from a reader would be influenced to think this because the quotes above clearly demonstrate the desperation of the persona’s situation. Sakr conveys his idea that poverty causes pain effectively because his keeps himself concise and easy to understand. 

The persona in The H Word experiences many different types of pain, although he also infers that hope can get you through hard times. The quote ‘Put sauce on it’ uses symbolism. The use of symbolism helps the audience understand that the people around the persona believed that life can get better. If you have eaten stale bread before it is hard and tasteless. Adding sauce to stale bread can make it sweeter and somewhat tasty. Stale bread with sauce is better that just stale bread Here we can see that the persona is hopeful because he is always striving for the better life and he is looking for opportunities that let him get the best out of every situation. As concluded before Sakr went through many different types of pain yet he still had hope. Sakr grew up in a desperate situation, not having food to eat or not having a safe home.  Although he still went from starvation to success. This fact clearly indicates that Sakr had hope in his upbringing. In the H word, the person Cleary expresses hope and the strive for a better life. Due to the person being a mirror image of the poet then when can infer that Sakr himself had hope.  Altogether Sakr effectively conveys his idea in a clear but meaningful way. 

In The H Word Sakr explores different types of pains such as negative household environments, poverty causing physical pain, yet he starts still has hope. Sakr adequately communicated idea through the good use of language techniques such as imagery, dark humour, flashback and symbolism. He also makes an excellent effort to keep his poem short and concise whilst adding deeper meaning. Due to the effectiveness of this poem the reader can further understand Sakr personal context. In conclusion, Omar Sakr clearly explores different types pain in The H Word, yet he conveys that there is always is hope.