Travelling Through the Dark

Grade 12 Compulsory English

Travelling Through the Dark

 

Summery

 

William Stafford's poem "Traveling Through the Dark" examines the killing of a pregnant doe by a hit-and-run driver, and the dilemma faced by the speaker who is also a driver. People generally travel in the dark when there is some urgency or when they have some immediate destination to reach. Speaker is traveling in the dark with some special purpose. So he is in a hurry. On his way he finds a dead deer on the edge of Wilson River. He stops to drag off the dead deer into the canyon in order to avoid possible accidents. But on touching her side he finds that it is still warm and it contains a fawn waiting to be born. In death the traveler discovers life, but not normal life that emerges from the womb into the world, for the fawn is "never to be born." This unhappy realization causes the traveler to hesitate. His mind is filled with mixed-up emotions: pity, anger, frustration, and confusion about how to act. He even wonders if the fawn can be saved, but knows all along that the fawn can not be born when the mother is dead. The car is mechanically alive and its lights are pointing the speaker towards his destination. In the final couplet the traveler thinks hard for all, he knows that his love and pity towards the fawn can not save it. He knows that his delay is only a waste of time, so he pushes the doe into the river and marches towards his destination.

(Q) Explain the title of the poem. Who are all those driving through the dark?

The title of the poem “Traveling Through the Dark” is very suitable one. People generally travel in the dark when there is some urgency or when they have some immediate destination to reach. So, the speaker of this poem is traveling in the dark with some special purpose. But when he finds a dead doe on the road, he is in dilemma. He is in confusion either to show deep love and emotion to an unborn but alive fawn in the belly of the doe or to save the passengers on his car as a dutiful driver. After much thoughtful meditation, he pushes the dead doe into the river in order to reach his destination and save the passengers. The ‘darkness’ indicates One of nature's beautiful creatures has been killed and pitilessly left on the road, unburied and unmourned to cause future accidents. The driver's inaction suggests moral darkness. The darkness also suggests the narrator's confusion about what to do with the deer. "Traveling through the dark" also symbolizes the spiritual void of humankind in its insensitivity toward nature.

(Q) How does the boy, the narrator, look at his uncle and his aunt 

                                           or 

        Describe the relation between Thomas (the boy's uncle) and his wife.

The narrator, the boy, thinks that the relationship between his uncle and aunt was not so good. He describes that every Saturday night, his uncle would lift his wife on to the chair and she would beat him on his head with the china dog. The readers realize that the relationship between them was good. Her beating Thomas was an act of playful marital activity. Though the uncle and aunt were quite contrary in behaviors and temperament, they loved each other very much. She did not like Thomas’s drinking habit, so she was against his outing program. On such occasions she would go to her mother’s house. When she went to her mother’s home, she left a note asking him to eat eggs from the pantry and to go to bed taking his shoes off. On Sundays she would not allow him to play checkers.

(Q) The plan was to go to Porthcawl for the outing. Did they ever reach here? Why?

- Thomas and his friends planned to go to Porthcawl for the outing. But they never reached there because the narrator has revealed very early in the story that ‘they never reached Porthcawl’. Similarly there are various indications that suggest that they never reached Porthcawl. The internal intention of Thomas and his friends’ outing was to get drunk, merry make and release themselves from the burden of life. In the name of outing, they wanted to enjoy by drinking and playing cards. This clearly can be seen when they carry twenty cases of ale (alcohol) for the outing. As soon as they started their journey, they stopped at the public house and got heavily drunk. They stopped at several public houses and got drunk. On their way, they stopped at the river and joked and teased each other splashing water to each other. The moon was already up, so they drove towards their home. On the way they sat down in a circle in the field and started drinking remaining cases of alcohol.