Alfred Romero
9/24/2022
Professor Frank
Introduction to Literary Theory & Criticism
QCQ#3
In her poem “First Death in Nova Scotia”, Elizabeth Bishop describes a stuffed loon within the scenery and how ever since her “Uncle Arthur fired a bullet into him, he hadn’t said a word” (Bishop lines 11-13).
This quote, I feel, highlights the childlike perception of the narrator throughout the poem. The kid’s perception of the loon and her cousin Arthur shows the audience what death could look like through the lens of a child. This is particularly interesting because I feel like this could be tied to the concept of how early exposure to certain content on a child can shape the way they think about said concept in the future. It’s obvious that a child that may be exposed to the performing arts at a young age may have more of a “feel” for that subject than someone who hasn’t been exposed as early. But what about darker topics like death? When a child sees violence at a younger age, aren’t they more desensitized to such acts as they grow older? You can see it through the almost comedic tone of the child with the quote above. Well, it’s not exactly comedic (kind of just has a sprinkle of that tone), but I can also see this childlike curiosity embedded behind the words. While it’s not exactly something that I find surprising, I do find it interesting to see a concept, such as death, being viewed from the eyes of a child, who supposedly should have their innocence intact.
From this point, I’d ask about the childlike perception regarding Arthur’s death. He was described with little emotion behind the words, similar in how she described the loon. Both were described by defining characteristics, but not by any emotion revolving around their deaths (at least I didn’t seem to pick up on any if they were present). I wonder why that is. Does the child think it’s okay because they’re in better places? Or does it all just not matter to the child in the sense that death is inevitable?
