As legendary poet and hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur once said, “The seed must grow even if it is planted in stone.” » Those who live in poor neighborhoods are prone to live lives void of education and full of crime. Early in life, these disadvantaged individuals are often led down a path to incarceration due to their tense environments. Although they have the potential to succeed, they are by nature "seeds" trapped in "stone", seemingly incapable of growing beyond the confines of a prison cell. However, as Tupac Shakur notes, regardless of predetermined dire circumstances, the seed is capable of breaking through the stone barriers that surround it and seeking the light of day. In his work “Carp Poem,” Terrance Hayes evokes a similar theme, where he describes a moment when an African-American poet visits a prison to present poetry to a group of young African-American boys. In his poem, Hayes explains how disadvantaged people can overcome the distractions of crime through the power of knowledge. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The speaker in “Carp Poem” first illustrates the deprived environment the prison is located in in order to imply how the disadvantaged people are lost in crime. In the first stanza, the speaker describes that he "parked under the spray paint embedded in the granite/grooves of the Frederick Douglass Middle School sign" (1-2). The visual imagery that Hayes incorporates of the "spray-painted granite" immediately suggests the impoverished environment of the community. The granite grooves of the Frederick Douglass High School sign are reportedly not only covered in spray paint, but "encrusted" with spray paint, suggesting the excessive vandalism that occurs in the neighborhood. The continued degradation of the college suggests how endless generations have fallen victim to the cycle of educational neglect and resort to crime. Ironically, the vandalized property belongs to a college named in honor of Frederick Douglass, a “historic African American activist who achieved freedom from slavery through education” (Encyclopedia of Southern Culture). The deterioration of the school, named for an individual who used his knowledge to extricate himself from slavery, mimics the deterioration of the community's hopes and dreams of breaking out of the cycle of hardship. Additionally, Hayes vividly describes how the middle school students are “male-sized children [who] loiter like shadows” (3). The juxtaposition of young middle school students portrayed as adult men suggests the loss of children's innocence due to their romanticization of the immoralities of adulthood. Additionally, he uses a simile to describe how they "loiter like shadows", asserting the impure characteristics of the schoolboys with connotatively criminal diction like "loiter" and "shadows". The speaker even goes on to describe how Frederick Douglass Middle School is "a stone's throw" from the "New Orleans Parish Prison" (6.5). The short distance between the prison and the college symbolizes the tendency of students to be incarcerated in a short period of time. Usually another institution, such as the local high school, is located near the college because students are expected to progress in their studies. In this community, however, a prison is placed near the college, indicating that students will instead pursue a life of crime instead of pursuing a higher education. Despite the community's challenging environment, Hayes is optimistic thatthe community can end the cycle of crime through knowledge. Hayes offers a light of hope, as the speaker humanizes young boys in prison, reflecting on how the disadvantaged can be freed from criminal activity. with their desire to acquire knowledge. When the speaker enters the prison, for example, he sees "two dozen black boys" in a classroom (10). Immediately, the audience notices the choice of diction in referring to the incarcerated people as "boys." instead of convicts, criminals or prisoners. In doing so, the speaker recognizes the boys' dedication to self-improvement, which ultimately humanizes them. The speaker's humanization of the boys reminds the audience that whether they are criminals or not, they are just people; these are young boys who make mistakes and should be given the chance to improve. The speaker then compares the boys to carp, later describing how the carp could help anyone cross the pond provided they had "tiny rice balls or bread to put in [their] mouth » (14). Food is able to strengthen the carp, just as knowledge is able to strengthen people so that they can rise from adversity. Because knowledge is able to strengthen people, as food strengthens carp, the "little rice balls" and "bread" are symbolized as knowledge. Since the carp can help anyone cross water, provided they have food to eat, the speaker explains how the power of knowledge can help people move from their past to life. desired objective. In the case of prisoners, this means escaping their lives of criminal activity to be uplifted by the speaker who offers them knowledge during his visit. This is ultimately why the speaker describes incarcerated people as “boys” rather than criminals. The boys come out of their crime-filled lives and plan to change for the better, as they realize their mistakes. Their first step toward change is to gain knowledge from the speaker, who notices the boys' determination to improve by recognizing them as human beings rather than just fugitives. Additionally, the speaker expands on the possibility of living a crime-free life in a limited environment. The speaker further illustrates that a crime-free life is possible through the power of knowledge. He first alludes to Jesus, saying that there must have been a fish that "was so hungry that it leapt up [Jesus'] sleeve which he then miraculously changed/into a narrow loaf of bread" (16-17). The carp that jumps inside Jesus' robe due to his determination to eat more food, symbolizes the incredible motivation of the prisoners to attain knowledge. Just like the hungry carp that leapt towards Jesus, the prisoners, eager for knowledge, seek knowledge while awaiting the presence of the speaker. In fact, the speaker even describes the carp, which jumped into Jesus' sleeve to become a "narrow loaf of bread." The carp's determination to obtain more food reaches the point where it becomes the true food source, thus being able to benefit other hungry carp. That being said, the transformation of the extraordinarily hungry carp into a loaf of bread is representative of the ability of any individual to rise from any given situation and become a source of inspiration and knowledge which, in turn, benefits and help others in the process. . Furthermore, the speaker affirms his belief in the uplifting power of knowledge when he says, "I also believe, at least in the power of food,/ having seen a gateway.