Handcuffs have steel fangs

whose bite is more painful

than a whole battalion of fleas.

Though the itch in my heart

grows deeper and deeper

I cannot scratch.

How can I?

my wrists are manacled.

My mind is caged.

My soul İs shackled.

I can only grimace at the ethereal cloud,

a banner billowing in the sky, emblazoned

'Have hope, brother, despair is for the defeated.

Type: Free verse

Lines 1-5

Figure of speech: Metaphor

The handcuffs' are compared to an animal's teeth that bites and rips flesh of
the prey.

The handcuffs are personified

EXTENDED METAPHOR of FLEAS - describes the intense irritation and

constrained by handcuffs.

The handcuffs around his Wrists are uncomfortable and hurts him.

The handcuffs 'bites' into the skin of his wrists as if an army of fleas are
attacking (biting) him.
Lines 6-8

Feeling of unrest/sadness/anxiety gets worse

Metaphor – FLEAS are PEOPLE'S SUFFERING (I cannot scratch')

He is powerless/can't do anything to relieve the situation of his time.

Lines 9- 15

Figure of speech: Metaphor

Manacled: chained/confined-Apartheid does not allow him to think/speak

Feeling of hopelessness: Handcuffs are hurting, hands bound – can’t do

System is hurting people, because of race – can’t do anything about it.

‘shackled’- chained

Literally and figuratively imprisoned

Lines 16 – 19

“grimace’: an ugly twisted expression of pain

‘ethereal: from the sky; extremely delicate and fragile

‘banner billowing’: alliteration – emphasizes their hope/dream being kept

‘brother’: comrade bellow people suffering with him

“despair is for the defeated’- alliteration

Metaphor : their hope they must keep chins up, hoping/determining. Call to
action, to keep fighting for what is right.

Symbol:

The handcuffs:

Handcuffs is a symbol of all the suffering and injustice of life under apartheid
in the 1970’s.

Brother:
For South Africans suffering under Apartheid, liberation appeared a long way
off. Hope

Could only be found in the encouragement of other ‘brothers’ and their

QUESTIONS

- They must keep their chins up, keep hoping/dreaming.

, to keep fighting for what is right.

1.1What figure of speech is used in the way handcuffs are described as

Fangs whose bite is more painful…”? Explain your answer.

1.2 What does ‘a whole battalion’ remind you of?

1.3 What else could the phrase, ‘itch in my heart’ refer to, apart from a
physical

Itch?

1.4 What do handcuffs represent in this poem?

1.5 Choose the correct option:

If a person’s ‘wrists are manacled’ (line 11), as within the context of the

Poem, this refers to …

a) How his freedom is taken away, and so he cannot use his body as he

Wishes.

b) the fact that he can not move.

c) the old-fashioned shackles or blocks into which they used to lock up

criminals.

d) How a person can break out.

1.6 Explain the metaphor in lines 12-13: ‘my mind is caged’.

Would you say that the poem ends on a hopeful note, or has the speaker

lost all hope? Motivate your answer. Consider the historical background.
6. Choose the correct option:

Taking one thing, or a part of something, like the handcuffs, and giving it

special meaning in the whole poem, is called:

ANSWERS

a) simile

b) representation

metaphor

anabolism

The poet compares wearing handcuffs to the suffering caused by fleas.

List three aspects of fleas that the poem describes?

What do you think the handcuffs symbolize?

Quote lines from the poem that tell us that the poet's suffering is not just

physical.

What words would you use to describe the feelings expressed in this

poem? Choose from the following possibilities: accepting, angry, hopeful,

frustrated, determined, defeated

Do you think that the poet was justified in expressing such emotion?

Consider the time that the poem was written and what effect this would

have had on the poet.

Personification.

SUBTOTAL (20)

It gives the steel handcuffs sharp teeth and the ability to bite.

a) (his life is restricted)

A large group of soldiers. The person feels outnumbered or intimidated by

or soldiers. It gives you the idea of a war that is going on. It is during
Apartheid and he
has no freedom from the white policemen/soldiers.

The speaker has a very serious issue that is weighing heavily on his heart,
like an itch

that he cannot get rid of. Apartheid gives him no freedom. He lives in fear.

The man is thrown into prison, put behind bars, in a 'cage'. Apartheid i like
prison

no freedom. Suffering. Injustice.

The speaker feels like his thoughts, the fact that he is a thinking person with
his own

ideas, is not recognized by the Apartheid government (and white people). He

get the freedom to speak his mind. Black people, in general, were not
allowed to say

anything about their suffering/lack of freedom.

Yes.

The poet has a shred of hope. He says the message of hope appears briefly
in the

Sky like a very light ‘ethereal cloud’, and he heard the message that he must
not give

Up. Others who share his suffering (black, coloured, Indian) form a united
front that

Strengthens them to believe in democracy.

d) symbolism

Fangs, BITE, ITCH.

They symbolise all the suffering and injustice of life under Apartheid.

“My mind

Yes.
Is caged”

“my soul

İs shackled”

AND

Angry. Frustrated. Determined. Irritated. Hopeful.

The poet was justified in expressing so much frustration and suffering. At the
time

South Africans were living under the oppressive system of Apartheid. People
suffered

Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually and there was very little
hope for

Freedom.