In the poem "Thoughts in a Zoo" by Countee Cullen, Cullen talks about how much animals suffer in their enclosures in zoos. However, I felt that, despite the title and most of the content of the poem, Cullen is talking about experiences of people and particularly African-Americans.
The imagery of the zoo seems to fit very well with the racial dynamic in America (especially at the time the poem was written, but still today). It is pretty obvious that the humans visiting the zoo represent white people. They are not only in an objectively better situation but they are the ones benefitting from the situation and also allowing it to continue. However, I'd say these are probably the more passively racist people as they don't really cause the problem and don't directly cause the animals' pain. White people are also represented by the people working at the zoo and I think that the people working at the zoo represent the aggressively racist white people. They control every aspect of the animals' lives and try to restrict them as much as possible. They even get to decide what happens to the animals' children. While this was not a problem in the early 20th century, during slavery times white slave owners had complete control of children born into slavery and could even control whether or not the baby would with its family and even whether or not it could live. The zoo workers are also directly responsible for everything happening at the zoo and maintain the conditions at the zoo, just as aggressively racist white people maintain racism. It is also fairly obvious that the animals in the poem are representing African-Americans. They have easily the worst situation of the three groups and not only are they oppressed but they are the group that is under constant scrutiny.
While this is a very accurate, charged depiction of American society, for me the most interesting part of the poem was the mention of the "Gaunt eagle whose raw pinions stain the bars/ That prison you(...)." To me, this line could have meant one of two things: either the eagle is imprisoned and is trying to get out of the cage that it shares with African-Americans or it is what's imprisoning the African-Americans. To me, the latter makes the most sense to me conceptually. If we assume that the eagle represents America, it makes the most sense that it would be what's imprisoning African Americans. America is what brought them into this situation and is also what made sure that racial inequality was able to thrive. Also, it would make a lot of sense for an African American poet to blame America for systematic racism so the Eagle being the imprisoner makes a lot of sense. However, based on the imagery of the poem this makes less sense to me. If the eagle is the imprisoner, why are its pinions "raw" and "staining the bars/That prison you" as if it had been hitting the bars of the cage? Also, I think that there are very few zoos in which the animals imprison each other so that makes it seem more like the eagle is the prisoner, not the imprisoner. Additionally, Cullen ends his poem with "Who is the most wretched, these caged ones, or we,/ Caught in a vastness beyond our sight to see?" making it seem like Cullen considers that everyone in society is trapped. To me this would mean that America isn't trapped, it's just that its ideals are trapped, specifically, freedom and equality are trapped and oppressed by the white men running America. However, as I said earlier, Cullen made it seem like everyone is trapped by something so it would also have to be true that those running America would have to be trapped by either themselves or some higher power (like maybe society in general?).
(Also, initially I thought Cullen could have been describing more minority groups than just African-Americans, but given the period in which the poem was written, I think it is pretty unlikely so that's why I pretty much only mentioned African-Americans in this context).
The imagery of the zoo seems to fit very well with the racial dynamic in America (especially at the time the poem was written, but still today). It is pretty obvious that the humans visiting the zoo represent white people. They are not only in an objectively better situation but they are the ones benefitting from the situation and also allowing it to continue. However, I'd say these are probably the more passively racist people as they don't really cause the problem and don't directly cause the animals' pain. White people are also represented by the people working at the zoo and I think that the people working at the zoo represent the aggressively racist white people. They control every aspect of the animals' lives and try to restrict them as much as possible. They even get to decide what happens to the animals' children. While this was not a problem in the early 20th century, during slavery times white slave owners had complete control of children born into slavery and could even control whether or not the baby would with its family and even whether or not it could live. The zoo workers are also directly responsible for everything happening at the zoo and maintain the conditions at the zoo, just as aggressively racist white people maintain racism. It is also fairly obvious that the animals in the poem are representing African-Americans. They have easily the worst situation of the three groups and not only are they oppressed but they are the group that is under constant scrutiny.
While this is a very accurate, charged depiction of American society, for me the most interesting part of the poem was the mention of the "Gaunt eagle whose raw pinions stain the bars/ That prison you(...)." To me, this line could have meant one of two things: either the eagle is imprisoned and is trying to get out of the cage that it shares with African-Americans or it is what's imprisoning the African-Americans. To me, the latter makes the most sense to me conceptually. If we assume that the eagle represents America, it makes the most sense that it would be what's imprisoning African Americans. America is what brought them into this situation and is also what made sure that racial inequality was able to thrive. Also, it would make a lot of sense for an African American poet to blame America for systematic racism so the Eagle being the imprisoner makes a lot of sense. However, based on the imagery of the poem this makes less sense to me. If the eagle is the imprisoner, why are its pinions "raw" and "staining the bars/That prison you" as if it had been hitting the bars of the cage? Also, I think that there are very few zoos in which the animals imprison each other so that makes it seem more like the eagle is the prisoner, not the imprisoner. Additionally, Cullen ends his poem with "Who is the most wretched, these caged ones, or we,/ Caught in a vastness beyond our sight to see?" making it seem like Cullen considers that everyone in society is trapped. To me this would mean that America isn't trapped, it's just that its ideals are trapped, specifically, freedom and equality are trapped and oppressed by the white men running America. However, as I said earlier, Cullen made it seem like everyone is trapped by something so it would also have to be true that those running America would have to be trapped by either themselves or some higher power (like maybe society in general?).
(Also, initially I thought Cullen could have been describing more minority groups than just African-Americans, but given the period in which the poem was written, I think it is pretty unlikely so that's why I pretty much only mentioned African-Americans in this context).
Taking the zoo analogy a bit further, maybe the whole "the prisoner is also imprisoned" thing refers to how whites, though oppressing blacks, were also afraid of them in a way?
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