Souls On Ice Response
Individuality is the cause of much attention in all cultures, as is groups of people. Mark Doty’s poem A Display of Mackerel speaks of a few conflicting values, individuality and unity beyond a doubt. This poem is a tale of dead Mackerel that he sees laying in a market, but its meaning runs much deeper then simply dead fish in a market.
Mackerel, a fish of sparkling black beauty and substance. They represent what society could be for humans, or in contrast, what human society should not be like. This poem speaks of their beauty due to their sparkling scales, however this is also their down fall. Because they sparkle they are noticed and then are caught and killed as a group.
“…They’re all exact expressions of one soul,” this quote states that all the Mackerel are the same, that they don’t have individual ambitions or to be an individual from the group. Doty also implies that they are selfless for staying with the school of fish that was caught and dying together, and that they appear to not care they are dead because they died together. This is a basic instinct of almost all animals on earth, unity. Humans especially appreciate and need to feel that they are part of a group. However, Doty says, “They prefer to be flashing participants.” So they do not a have a desire to stand apart from the group. This is quite similar to humans because most people would prefer to be part of a group because it is easier to slide by or be unnoticed that way. In all instances it is the individual that is noticed and scrutinized or praised.
Lets say that a person sees a large Mackerel; one of spectacular size and gorgeousness, our instinct would be to catch it. In our culture it is near the same. When people see an individual that stands apart people want to “catch” that person in various ways. They may fall into that persons group to sparkle with that person, or they join another group. This other group may consist of criticizers and cynical peoples that belong together because they share similar values, like the sparkling Mackerel.
In the end this poem reflects on humans as a whole. To an alien, if such a thing exists, would people appear to be different? Or would we all just appear to be hairless living creatures that “sparkle” in the same ways. In America we value individuality, but also we value selflessness. But opportunities to be selfless are rare and through those actions people distinguish them selves as individuals. As the first Mackerel is caught, he is selfless in his pursuit of food, for the bait, and then the rest follow to their death as a group.
Should people be distinct in their own way? Or function as a giant unified group with no interest in gleaming in their own way? Or, is it individuality that gives us belonging to a group. These questions are what runs the world of teenagers and the world of adults, whether they admit it or not. Everyone has a mind that sparkles and that is the way that people belong. Belong to the overall group of humans.
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