Challenges Facing Identity: "Once Upon A Time" And "Island Man"
Construction and challenges towards identity are thoroughly explored in the poems ‘Once Upon a Time’ and ‘Island Man’. Individuality is discovered in ‘Once Upon a Time’, following a narrative storyline showcasing a conversation between a father and son, whom bitterly speaks about the truth about society and acknowledges how conformed his life was, turning to his son purposely trying to regain this childhood innocence. Whilst ‘Island Man’, focuses on cultural identity, focusing on the difficulties that a man faces with cultural differences when moving to London. Juxtaposing this dreamlike state, audiences are introduced to the bustling city life of London, where it is portrayed as nothing but loud. Both poems discover identity through the realisation of loss and how it can overcome and overwhelm us.
In ‘Once Upon a Time’, Okara uses imagery of costumes and animals to portray the significance and the effect of trying to fit into a clean and cut society. Okara compares “wearing many faces” to dresses, hinting at a society where the father felt the need to dress up and adjust his personality and behave differently to suit an audience. As an audience, we get a closer look at the many ‘faces’ he had needed to put on; “homeface, officeface, streetface, hostface, cocktailface” are all used to imply the different contexts and occasions that the faces played a part in covering the underlying emotion and motions. Repeating “face”, emphasises the significance of the author reacting to societal expectations, it could also show how all aspects of Okara’s life was negatively affected. “Snake’s bare fangs!” showcases the animalistic tendency and the loss of humanity with the use of an exclamation point to show the viciousness. Hypocrisy can simply be put as pretending or acting a certain way, creating a fake appearance.
‘Once Upon a Time’ explores the falseness in society and the underlying meaning behind words. Society superficially says “Goodbye”, when they really mean “Good-riddance” and “Glad to meet you” when they truly weren’t glad at all. Juxtaposing positivity against negativity showcases how made-up and fake people were, especially focusing on having to act differently to please others. Despite not wanting to be ‘them’, the father has undoubtedly developed ways to cope against society, having changed his identity to adapt, causing him to take action towards things that he doesn’t believe in and speak about things that don’t concern him. Throughout the poem, Okara speaks of his battle towards an insincere and false world and his coping mechanism was to change.
Consisting of a free verse poem, ‘Once Upon a Time’ is stylised with the irregular rhyming scheme connoting society as an inconsistent pattern and the frustration and negative outlook the father had on life. As an audience, we begin to see the desire to reconnect to his past and identity as we draw to an end. Awareness towards his changed identity is introduced, and the immersive reality that he hopes for is answered when looking towards his son for the gain of his humanity and innocence.
Childhood innocence ends the poem, when the father pleads “I want to be what I used to be”, showing the desperation and longingness the father has towards regaining his identity through “want” and “used to be”. Sympathetically, the audience opens up to the idea of the father having had changed his outlook through “so show me; son”. This all is dependent on the stereotypes of children that are portrayed as people, who do not fake things and show what they truly feel.
Identity is also seen in Nichols poem, ‘Island Man’, however, unlike Okara, Nichols, explores the cultural identity of a Caribbean man, a contrast to Okara’s poem about individuality. Cultural identity is shown through the motif of dreams, which is applied through the first two stanzas of the poem. Sound and natural imagery both play a significant role in the poem, portraying the paradisiacal land where the island man comes from. “The sound of blue surf,” creates a calming and tranquil environment yet, the added “in his head” implies that the waves are not actually happening in reality but is a passing memory.
Describing the waves as “breaking and wombing”, the ‘ing’ of the two words show the smoothness but also the nurturing and paternal side that carries great significance to the island man as it suggests the birthplace. “His small emerald island”, the added “his” is a possessive adjective connoting the importance of the island whilst “emerald” showcases the richness and preciousness of the island. Significance of place is challenged in ‘Island Man’, where cultural difference is shown between places, the island versus the city life. Distinguishing dream from reality is difficult to decipher until the change in tone using “groggily groggily”.
Repeating “groggily” shows the island man’s confusion and reluctance to return to reality, beginning to show the difference between places. Dehumanisation is introduced through the “grey metallic soar” creating a dull and bland image, in contrast to the colours “blue” and “emerald” to describe the land within the dream. “Surge of wheels” creates the loudness, fast-paced and over-powering strong movement to show the chaotic lifestyle surrounding a London day. Also, “soar” and “roar”, both rhyme to emphasise the man-made and bustling city but to also show how overwhelming the lifestyle change is for the island man.
Contrasts between dream and reality, are shown through ‘surf’ and ‘traffic’, as well as ironically using “sands” to describe ‘grey and metallic soar’, initiating sands from an island. ‘Island Man’ showcases isolation and the reluctance towards the different lifestyle through the wording and the structure of the poem. Structurally, ‘Island Man’ is a free verse poem consisting of informalities that are set with the use of no punctuation allowing no control and a free-flowing narrative. It also shows the vulnerability and lack of control, hinting that the island man feels weak and separated from the loss of connection from the man’s birthplace.
“Man” in ‘Island Man’ carries significance through the dehumanising effect it has as the person does not have a name but, it also shows the loneliness as it signifies one person. Audiences are shown the disinclination that the island man has, through “heaves himself”, especially using the verb ‘heave’. Nichols uses repetition of “groggily” and “muffling” to explore changes in the mood of the island man when facing reality from dream, yet it could be challenged that it also shows the struggle that the island man faces when moving from his island to London. Finally, Nichols creatively finished the poem without a full stop signifying how the island man feels about his life seemingly being endless and overwhelming fear of isolation and separation.
Both poets hint towards the challenges that belong to identity and how it can bring isolation. Okara follows a conversation between the crumbling facade of a struggling father trying to fit in and a childbearing innocence. Nichols, on the other hand, further challenges isolation through the significance of place and how it can be a disheartening and a melancholy experience, which truthfully I found more significant. Perhaps it goes to show that no matter who you are or where you come from, challenges facing identity will always seem to find another way to uncoil.
