In Finuala Dowling's poem, "To the Doctor who Treated the Raped Baby and Who Felt Such Despair," the speaker attempts to reassure the doctor who is given the horrible task of treating an infant rape victim. Of course the doctor is in a state of shock and agony at the evil he is having to fix, even to the point where he asks "Where is God?"
However, the speaker gives the doctor, and the reader,...
In Finuala Dowling's poem, "To the Doctor who Treated the Raped Baby and Who Felt Such Despair," the speaker attempts to reassure the doctor who is given the horrible task of treating an infant rape victim. Of course the doctor is in a state of shock and agony at the evil he is having to fix, even to the point where he asks "Where is God?"
However, the speaker gives the doctor, and the reader, the calming knowledge that for every one evil example of man's inhumanity, other people in the world are putting themselves last in order to care for and nurture others.
For example, "when the bleeding baby was admitted to your care faraway a Karoo shepherd crooned a ramkietjie lullaby in the veld" shows the reader that far away from the operating room, another baby was being cared for and sung to. As the baby is being "stitched," in a safe bed in a safe home, another baby is being read "another chapter of a favourite story."
The poem is an appeal to the doctor not to give up hope. Additionally, it supports the overall idea that humanity is generally kind and compassionate and that one horrible crime against a child is not indicative of the whole world.
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