5.

Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde (1934 – 1992, USA)

I am fourteen
and my skin has betrayed me
the boy I cannot live without
still sucks his thumb
in secret 5
how come my knees are
always so ashy
what if I die
before morning
and momma's in the bedroom 10
with the door closed.

I have to learn how to dance

in time for the next party
my room is too small for me
suppose I die before graduation 15
they will sing sad melodies
but finally
tell the truth about me
There is nothing I want to do
and too much 20
that has to be done
and momma's in the bedroom
with the door closed.

Nobody even stops to think

about my side of it
I should have been on Math Team 25
my marks were better than his
why do I have to be
the one
wearing braces
I have nothing to wear tomorrow 30
will I live long enough
to grow up
and momma's in the bedroom
with the door closed.

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BACKGROUND OF THE POET

Audre Lorde is an American poet who published her first poem when she was a teenager. She described herself as a
‘Black lesbian feminist poet’. She first worked as a school librarian and went on to lecture at various colleges and
universities. She was a founding member of both Kitchen Table: Women of Colour Press and Sisters in Support of Sisters
in South Africa. She has published poetry and prose and has received national book awards.

GIST

The poet was 44 years old when she wrote this poem. The speaker in the poem is a 14- year- old girl.
This is a sad poem which centres on a girl who is coming of age and is worried about her life. The poem focuses on
teenagers and the issues they confront: relationships, the fear of isolation, living in a sexist society and death. The
speaker believes that the entire world is against her. She craves acceptance and self-confidence. She believes that no
one is concerned about the effects these issues will have on her, most especially her mother. Ultimately, the poem dawns
upon the mental fatigue and emotional imbalance caused to a child from the absence of a parent.

CONTENT – LINE BY LINE ANALYSIS

TITLE

Hanging Fire means to delay action, to stop progress or to hang back. The title is relevant as many of the speaker’s
issues could cause her to delay progress in her life (arrested development). The title contains a gun metaphor. It is not
about guns or gun malfunction but about adolescence – a dangerous time between childhood and adulthood, a long and
risky pause. By using this metaphor, Lorde is alerting us to the threat in the poem. There’s a threat underlying the
teenager’s anxieties and there’s a threat in the repeated lines ‘and momma’s in the bedroom/with the door closed’.

STANZA ONE

Line 1 The speaker reveals herself as a 14-year-old girl who is grappling with various issues.
Line 2 She has acne and personifies her skin as a betrayer. This could also be interpreted that as a young black girl, she
has experienced discrimination because of the colour of her skin.
Lines 3-5 Teenagers are typically attracted to the opposite sex but the boy she is infatuated with is immature as he still
sucks his thumb in secret.
Lines 6-7 ‘Ashy – slang used in the African American community to describe very dry skin. The speaker is very self-
conscious about the appearance of her knees.
Lines 8-9 The seemingly small issues mentioned in lines 3 -7 are juxtaposed with greater concerns; she is afraid that she
will die suddenly.

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Lines 10 -11 She has a mother but her mother is oblivious to her daughter’s teenage angst as she is closed off to her
daughter, both physically and emotionally. A tone of sadness is introduced in these lines.
The speaker is presented as one who is insecure and lacks confidence about her appearance, about the boy she likes
and she fears death. She asks several questions to which the answers are unknown. She is isolated from her mother and
is desperately lonely. She yearns for some maternal wisdom and counsel.

STANZA TWO:

Stanza two shows further ruminations (flow of thoughts) from the speaker.
Lines 12-14 There is an urgency for her to learn how to dance but her room is too small for her to practice dancing in it.
Figuratively, the room being too small could suggests that she feels trapped.
Lines 15-18 Once again, she stresses about dying suddenly, but this time before graduation. She is seriously concerned
about how others view her but believes they will only find out the truth at her funeral. The truth could refer to her sexual
identity (Audre Lorde was lesbian).
Lines 19-21 Perhaps she has chores (There is nothing I want to do’) but she is aware that there is ‘too much…to be
done’. She could be feeling pressurised that there will not be enough time to complete what needs to be done. The
speakers expresses her feelings of listlessness in these lines.
Lines 22-23 She repeats the idea of not having access to her mother when she repeats ‘and momma’s in the bedroom
with the door closed’.
The speaker is presented as a self-conscious girl with a low self - esteem. There appears to be nothing positive about her
life. Line 15 – ‘sing sad melodies’ is an alliteration. It also adds to the sombre tone of the stanza where the speaker
contemplates hearing ‘the truth’ about herself at her funeral. She is a confused teenager who knows there’s much to do
before she dies but with the absence of adult/maternal advice, support or comfort, her isolation, loneliness, confusion and
fear of death are intensified.

STANZA THREE :

Lines 24-25 The speaker feels that she has so support and reveals her frustration when she says ‘nobody even stops to
think about my side of it’.
Lines 26-27 She experiences discrimination and sexism when a boy is favoured over her on the Math team.
Lines 28-30 The speaker expresses a typical teenage concern when she has to wear braces along with not having
anything suitable to wear the next day. She feels apprehensive of how inadequate her clothes are.
Line 31 -32 Once more, she voices her fear of dying prematurely. She deals with these grave concerns all alone whilst
her mother remains in her bedroom with the door shut.
The speaker feels as though she is overlooked by the world. She is not in control of her own world and she really does not
want to be the one wearing braces or be the one with nothing to wear. Her tone of regret and frustration is evident

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 throughout the stanza. Yet again she asks questions which go unanswered – a reminder that if she spoke to her mum
about these issues, perhaps her mum would be able to assure her that her concerns for her life are normal. By this stage,
the reader is heartbroken for the speaker and resents the mum’s insensitivity. Of course, the teenager has no idea that
her thoughts are totally normal and part of growing up. What is not normal is the absence of her mother’s love, comfort
and support during these crucial years of the speaker’s development.

IMAGERY AND SYMBOLISM

The speaker’s skin – The speaker’s anxieties are not simply a matter of being a teenager – her sense of her own
blackness in a prejudiced world sharpens her awareness of injustices due to race.

“Closed door” – Symbolises the speaker’s fearful sense of her future being closed off. Her future seems just as closed as
her mother’s bedroom door.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

There are three stanzas made up of 11-12 lines each.

The poem is written in free verse - there is no punctuation except for the full stop at the end of each stanza-this is effective
as the speaker pours out her feelings, moving from one worry to the next without a pause.

THEMES:

 The speaker appears to have an inferiority complex based on the colour or appearance of her skin.
 The difficulty of adolescence; the immaturity of her love interest, self-loathing (the speaker feels lonely, unattractive and
neglected). She even fears dying prematurely.
 Sexism and dejection: being marginalised academically and being discriminated against because of her skin.

LITERARY DEVICES

Enjambment – emphasises that the speaker’s problems are ongoing – she moves from problem to the next.
Repetition: ‘and Momma is in the bedroom/ with the door closed’
Lines 10-11/lines22 – 23/lines 34 – 38. The repetition of these lines are symbolic as the speaker repeats them at different
points in her rumination, highlighting her need for her mother’s presence, comfort, maternal wisdom and counsel. These
lines introduce the tone of sadness and heartbreak and intensifies her isolation from her mum. It suggests that her life will
just be easier if she had access to her mother. The reader resents the mother for her insensitivity to her daughter’s needs.
The reader feels the speaker’s loneliness and anxiety. The reader is conscious that the poet is 44 years old, writing as a
teenager and becomes conscious that the 14 year survived independently of her mother’s love and support. This
repetition reinforces the message to teenagers that the teenage years are difficult – everything appears to be a colossal

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problem – but these years are but a phase before adulthood – they will pass. It is a reminder to self-indulgent insensitive
parents to be present and active in their teenager’s lives.

The idea of dying prematurely is repeated in all three stanzas:

Line 8 – ‘what if I die’

Line 15 – ‘suppose I die before graduation’
Lines 32 – 33 – ‘will I live long enough to grow up’
This repetition establishes a tone of morbidity. It reinforces the speaker’s fear of death. Her suffering is in sharp focus
when the reader sees that she has no one to help her or soothe her fears.
IMAGERY
Personification: line 2 – ‘my skin has betrayed me’. Her skin is personified and is given the ability to betray her.
Teenagers have acne breakouts – it is normal but the personification highlights how she feels like the whole world is
working against her, including her own skin. This reference could also be evidence of discrimination based on the colour
of her skin.

Hyperbole: Line 3 – 4. She feels like she cannot live without the boy she is infatuated with, even though he is immature.
Her feelings are extreme/exaggerated.

Alliteration: lines 4-5 ‘still sucks … secret’

Line 16 – ‘sing sad…’
These repetitions add rhythm to the poem.

TONE AND MOOD

Tone – dejection, self-pity, anxiousness, fear, frustration.
A sombre/depressing mood is evident throughout the poem.

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QUESTIONS:

1. Name four issues that confront the speaker of the poem.

The speaker is confronted by issues relating to her skin, boys, how to dance, the size of her room, dying young,
graduating, and needing to be responsible, education, braces and what to wear (any four issues).

2. How does the line, ’my skin has betrayed me’ (line 2) contribute to your understanding of the
of the speaker of the poem?

The speaker is a young black girl who may have experienced discrimination throughout her life. She
could be referring to how the colour of her skin has betrayed her in a society where she encounters
prejudice against women and race. Alternatively as a teenager, an outbreak of acne could be seen as a
betrayal. Her skin is personified as a betrayer which has made her feel unattractive and unacceptable.

3. What does the lines ‘I should have been on the Math team/My marks were better than his (lines 26-27) reveal
about the society in which the speaker found herself?

The speaker has been overlooked for the Maths Team as the place she feels entitled to has been given to a boy. As
a young black girl, she has presumably experienced such discrimination previously.

4. Comment on the effectiveness of the lack of punctuation in the poem.

The lack of punctuation helps to reinforce that the speaker is young, is not planning or choosing her words carefully but
rather pours out her frustrations and criticisms in a colloquial way. One sentence merges into the next to show that she
does not pause or consider, as there are countless concerns in her life.

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