17 pages • 34 minutes read
Naomi Shihab NyeBlood
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Blood
There is wide-ranging symbolism in the title of the poem, “Blood.” Blood is the dominant motif in the poem even though it is referred to only once in the text. It evokes the phrase “blood is thicker than water’” referring to family ties that supersede any other loyalty. Blood also refers to the blood that is spilt during conflict.
Interestingly, the speaker does not describe the young victim in the poem—the Palestinian child—as bleeding. Rather, the speaker herself is aware of how the news headlines “clot in my blood” (Line 16). The damage is hidden, which is how she chooses to respond because she lives among Americans who may not sympathize.
She has a visceral response to the story, as if a family member has been killed. There is no description of blood being spilt in the text. Rather, the speaker implies the child has been killed, unable to bear describing what she sees on the front page.
She and her father talk “around the news” (Line 22), incapable of facing the tragedy directly. In this sense, the title of the poem does a lot of the work not done by the text itself. “Blood” is the foremost symbol in the poem, but just as it remains hidden in the speaker’s body, it is referred to sparingly in the five stanzas.
Fruit and Seed
Fruit and seed are important metaphors in “Blood.” A Palestinian child is referred to as a “[h]omeless fig” (Line 18)—as one of the fruits of Palestine, he cannot be nurtured by the soil of his homeland. The fig is personified and stands as a symbol of dispossession. It has a “terrible root” (Line 18), that is, an unfortunate heritage. This root also represents the Palestinian-Israel conflict itself, something deep and immovable, yet poisoned.
The fig can be compared to the watermelon, which has no such disturbing associations—rather, it has properties that can “heal fifty ways” (Line 6). It is a soothing balm while the fig—symbolic of Palestinians themselves—is removed from its source and withering.
Despite this grim insight, the speaker mentions waving a flag of “stone and seed.” The ground may be barren, but there is a possibility that seed could still take root there, and fruit could grow again. The speaker could be referring to the Right of Return—a right enshrined in international law.
Ultimately, the speaker’s allegiance lies not with a flag, which is a political symbol, but with faith in the resilience of her own people.
Language
Unlike her father, the speaker does not have “two languages” (Line 24)—she cannot speak Arabic and does not know what her surname means. ‘“Shihab”—“shooting star”— / a good name, borrowed from the sky’ (Lines 12-13).
The speaker says her father cannot speak of the tragedy in Palestine in either English or Arabic (Line 24), as words simply fail him. However, the speaker can put her thoughts down in a poem, showing a “true Arab” (Line 29) is able to adapt sufficiently, bear witness, and tell the one story her father cannot bear to tell.
Language is very important in “Blood,” establishing identity through translation and storytelling. Language itself is one of the motifs in the poem, establishing both commonality and difference. Language can be powerful but also powerless.
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By Naomi Shihab Nye
