Trapped Within Human beings without all the materialistic “necessities” are just animals that have hidden their true natures deep within and the true beast only comes out when needed to survive. There is no opportunity escaping who you really are internally, & throughout Lorna Dee Cervantes’ poem Uncle’s First Rabbit she haunts her audience with the harsh reality that we can’t out run who we truly are. Violence is something we were exposed to since we were young kids — seeing it on television, hearing about it on the radio, etc. Due to such high exposure, we all had different reactions towards it. He brought it [the rabbit] home with tears streaming down his blood soaked jacket…he cried all night and the week after. ”
In that quote Cervantes shows how the boy is reacting towards the act of violence he just committed, clearly in a negative manner. The boy then begins being revealing whom in actuality he is, and how much killing the rabbit affected him gradually throughout the poem. After understanding his nature he desires to break away from it all, somehow finding his own personal inner peace where he isn’t forced to look back on that horrific moment ever again.
The boy’s longing for escape is unmistakably evident from the beginning of the poem with such lines as “He dreamed of running, shouldering the rifle to town, selling it, and taking the next train out. ” Even though his desire is to leave he later discovers you can’t abandon who you are. The line “Fifty years have passed and…” is repeated twice & the reason being is just because time passes doesn’t mean your character will alter. It is apart of who you are as a whole. Therefore the boy is stuck to drown in his own ways.
He forces himself to remember scenes throughout his life that have left many memories, which left him scarred. Making himself suffer while reliving each traumatizing remembrance he has gone through. Thinking about something usually leads to another thought, then another & another and before you know it you are thinking about something completely different than the first thought you began with. The boy seems to have a flow of thoughts ranging from his the death of his baby sister, to the war he was in. Still not being able to escape no matter how hard he tried to, trap within.
The following quote at the end was repeated twice showing what he wish he could do, but still wasn’t able to. “…How he’ll take the new pickup to town, sell it, and get the next train out. ” Towards the end of the poem the boy appears to finally accept that no matter the amount of his longing to just get away he can’t run away from himself, it’s just his nature. Cervantes’ Uncle’s First Rabbit is the ideal example of how we are unable to hide how we truly are.
We can cover ourselves up with all our worldly belongings, or create a false personality and try to appear as something we are not. Or attempt to even bury ourselves deep within so no one knows our true ways. However, in the end we always seem to break free. Our inner demons live and show until we can lock them up again & store them deep within us for no one else to see or even know about for that matter. Just as the boy did, not acting upon what he wanted letting his memories & desires rage inside of him.
Works Cited
- Cervantes, Lorna Dee. Uncle’s First Rabbit. 1982
