Reflection Of Meaning In Maxe Kumin's 'Woodchucks'

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In the poem “Woodchucks” by Maxine Kumin, how does the speaker strengthen a sense that everybody has a murderous intent deep inside? Throughout the essay, you will see that Kumin introduces the speaker as a frustrated farmer trying to get rid of a problem she is going through. The speaker tries to kill the woodchuck by successfully gassing them. The speaker is frustrated and angry furthermore because his solution is not working in order to protect his garden. Down the line in the poem the farmer finds another means on how to kill the woodchucks and feel like this is the only option to get rid of them, however, wants the woodchucks to not feel the pain. The speaker starts to accumulate hatred as his humanity drives away. Kumin is illustrating the speaker as a pacifist farmer who’s wicked intent gets the best of him. Kumin also inserts two metaphors about the Holocaust, which gives a creative and new perspective on the poem, that this is what was inside the mind of Nazi troops. This has a correlation to everyone has a murderous intent deep inside. “I, a lapsed pacifist fallen from grace puffed with Darwinism pieties for killing now drew a bead on the little woodchuck’s face.” This shows that the speaker begins to fall from his humane side and the villain side started to come out. The uncontrollable lust for blood could not be stopped and it continued until he killed a plethora of woodchucks. Another example showing the author giving an atmosphere that everyone has a

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