Repsonse 1 Week 2

Carylyn Forché’s “For the Stranger” highlights the travels of two forbidden lovers—forbidden for their heritage, culture, and marital status—as they travel through a Central America occupied the American military. The two lovers “have [. . .] nothing” (49) and “neither [. . .] / really knows” (3-4) which city they intend to travel to on the train. The piece utilizes largely subdued verbs, such as say, knows, touch, listen, slows, find, to have, and to be. The tone of the language creates inaction for the characters, displaying they are beyond the actions of the military, their country, and themselves. Their passive natures by the strength of the landscape: trains slip and reach, wheat bales scatter, lamps are wiped with oil, wires stretch messages. The language of the landscape creates an active power that subdues the characters, perpetuating their inactiveness and indecisiveness. Furthermore, the language of the poem, though bleak and subdued, allows the descriptions to overpower the verbs. Some of the stronger passages include, “on your tongue like a fruit pit” (2), “the wind’s broken teeth sinking into us” (9), “the coffee / sloshing into your gloves” (11-12), and “baled wheat scattered / everywhere like missing coffins” (11-12).