The poems A Stones Throw by Elma Mitchell and The Woman Speaks to the Man who has Employed

her Son by Lorna Goodison, both speak of women who have experienced pain or is experiencing pain in their different ways. This poem is about men, men who believe they have the power of judgment, just as God does. They decide to punish a prostitute for her sin when a "preacher, Godmerchant.." shows up and writes in sand. This is to say he forgave the woman. Then when the men walk away from the attempted stoning of the woman, thanks to what Jesus said, they realize they had sin as well so who were they to judge. In the poem A stones throw the desire of the mob is to stone woman for the wrong she committed and this can be seen in Lines 25 - 27,for justice must be done, especially when it taste so good. The mob was looking forward to stoning the woman but was denied the opportunity. In the poem the woman speaks to the man who has employed her son, the mother (the woman) first of all desires/ wishes for the best of her son, therefore setting no boundaries or limits to what he could become. She also wants for her son to be safe hence taking him from the job he is currently in, her yearning is for him to lose that job. The Woman speaks to the man who has employed her son: Metaphor - bloody salary- this is saying that all the son would reap is death. She wants him to leave his job because she knows what the outcomes will be. Because she had such high expectations for him Alliteration she says psalms for him Biblical Allusion Where she makes reference to Absalom - 2 Samuel 18: 33 And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!. In this scripture Absalom, Davids son wanted to take over the reign of his father and so staged a battle against him and he died during the battle. Where Absalom betrayed his father in the scripture is the same way the young man; the womans son betrayed her. After allowing him to be the best that he could be, he turns around and become a gunman, and this makes his mother loses hope in him.

Imagery A stones throw Metaphor - the last assault, and battery, frigid rape meaning that this was going to be the last time she enjoyed the sensual touch from men and the last time she would experience this kind of assault from men Alliteration Biblical Allusion John 8: 3 11

A stone throw The desire of the mob in this poem was never met because the guru, preacher, God-merchant a religious man came and prevented them from abusing the woman any further; he spoilt the whole thing. It was clearly seen that their desire wasnt met in lines 42 46, we walked away, still holding the stones, that we may throw another day, given the urge The woman talks to the man who has employed her son The first desire of the woman was never met as, her son turned out to be a gunman, something that she would have never wanted for her son. However she keeps on trying and so goes and talk to the man who had employed him. Her other desire, for him to be safe and to leave his current job as a gunman was also never met as she lost hope for him to be free although she still continued to pray. The last stanza, more specifically lines 44 46 show that it was fate for this boy to die, and her draw in the terms of pardna was going to be twice as hard, as she was playing both the role of father and mother. It was even seen from birth and in the womb that he was going to die, when she felt a sense of unease. Theme A stone throw. Injustice is one theme that can be used in connection with the title of the poem, A stones Throw. When you speak about a stones throw, you talk about the punishment greeted upon this woman. However the woman could not have committed this sin of prostitution alone, and so it comes up unfair that she alone receives this ruthless punishment, and so here injustice is seen. Also when you use

the term Stones throw it speaks about something that is not far away. The accusers were not far away from this woman in committing a sin. Lines 39 41, He turned his eyes on us, her eyes on us, our eyes upon ourselves. This made them realize that they in turn were committing a sin also. This shows in justice because they didnt know that they too, was being sinful and is only accusing the woman of her wrongs.