Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note by Amiri Baraka

PREFACE TO A TWENTY VOLUME SUICIDE NOTE

Lately, I've become accustomed to the way

The ground opens up and envelopes me
Each time I go out to walk the dog.
Or the broad edged silly music the wind
Makes when I run for a bus...

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars.
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night I tiptoed up
To my daughter's room and heard her
Talking to someone, and when I opened
The door, there was no one there...
Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands

By

Amiri Baraka

Explorations of the Text

1.What is the mood of the speaker in the opening lines? What images suggest his feelings?

    Depression and lack of spirits are shown in the opening lines. The lines “Lately, I’ve become accustomed to the way”, and “Or the broad edged silly music the wind” showed the used of nature element in a negative way and pictured that nothing in the way could rise him up from the emptiness that his going through.

2.What is the significance of the daughter’s gesture of peeking into “her own clasped hands”?

    The line  “her own clasped hands” showed a childish act by the daughter. It's showed the desire of the child who want her pray to be heard by God due her love for her father.

3.What does the title mean? How does it explain the closing line?

    The title “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note” explain an introduction for a very long suicide note where it supposed to be just a short one. Meanwhile the closing line show that there's still hope when he saw her daughter praying for a better future for the both of them. 

4.Why does Baraka have three short lines, separated as stanzas? How do they convey the message of the poem?

    He separated the 3 lines as stanzas because he want to emphasize the meaning of each line or stanza. For example the line “Nobody sings anymore” explain that there is nothing can be a tonic to give him the enthusiasm to live. Reader's also can analyze each line clearly.

5.Why does Baraka begin stanzas with “Lately”, “And now” and “And then”? What do these transition words accomplish?

    “Lately”, “And now” and “And then”? showed the order of her action, moment and situation. "Lately" showed his lost of interest to live on. “And now” told that his life is getting more worse that before. “And then” showed that he realize that life is not all that bad. There is still hope for him and his child. Baraka begins each three stanzas with “Lately”, “And now”, and “And then” to go over her twenty volume suicide note. 

6.How does the speaker feel about his daughter? What does she represent to him?

    Her daughter is his ticket out of the misery of his life. He finally realize the hope by watching her daughter pray for the good of them. He felt the responsibility for the child and i think that he realize that maybe if he commit suicide and left his daughter alone, the child will also lose hope and eventually do the same thing he had done.