Summary | The Night Of The Scorpion | Nissim Ezekiel

Summary

        In this narrative poem, the poet gives a scary picture of superstition driven India. It carries Ezekiel's stringent of satire against the many maladies that affect Indian society. It also explores the benign love of a mother for the child which itself is a conspicuous feature of Indian-ness.

        The poet vividly brings out the emotions experienced when a scorpion bites his mother. The pain, the suffering which the author undergoes after being stung by a scorpion on a rainy day is described here.

        A scorpion crawls into the poet's hut on a rainy day and hides under a sack of rice. It bites the mother and quickly moves of the hut. Hearing the agonizing cry of the mother the peasants thronged into the hut and tried various techniques to negate the poisonous effect of the scorpion's bite.

For the whole text and M.C.Q. of this Poem, please click the below link below

>> Poem

        They uttered God's name many times. The superstitious villagers cast shadows of scorpion on the wall to locate the scorpion. They even made sounds by clicking their tongues. They believed that every movement of the scorpion would spread the poison in the mother's body. They sat around the mother and prayed consoling her that her suffering would wash away all her sins of the previous birth and this birth. Meanwhile the father who was skeptic and a rationalist kept preparing mixtures of herbs and applying on the wound. He also poured hot paraffin wax on the wound.

        The priest performed holy rites to ward off the evil. Finally after twenty hours of suffering the mother woke up. The moment she opened her eyes the only words she uttered were that she was thankful to God as the scorpion had not picked on her children.

• What made the scorpion enter the house?

The poet Nissim Ezekiel in the poem 'Night of the Scorpion' has narrated his childhood experience which has left a deep impact on his mind. He talks of the sufferings endured by his mother when a scorpion bit her on a rainy day. It had been raining heavily for a long time and water had collected everywhere. The poet with his parents lived in a small hut in the village. A scorpion who could not save itself in the wet mud made its foray into the hut and hid underneath a rice sack for protection.

• The poet talks about clash of ideas (rational vs irrational). Find out the lines from the poem representing the same.

        The poet Nissim Ezekiel in the poem 'Night of the Scorpion' has narrated his childhood experience which has left a deep impact on his mind. He talks of the sufferings endured by his mother when a scorpion bit her on a rainy day. The village people gathered and with their irrational ideas tried to reason out for the mother's suffering and consoled her with their prayers. On the other hand the father who was a rationalist did not believe it but tried every curse and blessing to cure his mother. The line in the poem that suggests this is 'My father, skeptic, rationalist trying every curse and blessing, powder, herb and hybrid.'

• How did the villages think that the pain is good for the poet's mother?

        The poet Nissim Ezekiel in the poem 'Night of the Scorpion' has narrated his childhood experience which has left a deep impact on his mind. He talks of the sufferings endured by his mother when a scorpion bit her on a rainy day. The father was very much worried and tensed. Being a skeptic and rationalist, he never believed in superstitions. But when he saw his wife groaning in pain, he was very terrified and tried all means to save her. He allowed the villagers to say their prayers. He called the holy man to perform the rites and he himself put the hot paraffin on the wound and tried to burn it. He only wanted to save the life of his wife.

• How did the mother react after regaining consciousness?

        In the poem 'Night of the Scorpion' Nissim Ezekiel has beautifully narrated the mother's reaction after being bitten by the scorpion. The mother suffered for twenty long hours groaning in the pain after being bitten by a scorpion. When she regained her consciousness the life thing she did was to thank God for picking on her as his victim and saving her children.