Jahnavi abburi asked 8 years ago
In the poem ‘Small Pain in My Chest’ by Micheal Mack, the narrator says “I could feel our wounds were pressed/ The large one in my heart against the small one in his chest.”
Why is the narrator’s pain referred to as a larger pain than that of the soldier boy?
Mental agony is often greater than the physical pain. Here in the poem, the narrator was grieved and traumatized at the death of the young soldier for no fault of his. The boy was just of victim of the greed of power and warmongering. So, the loss of an innocent life for no real reason shocked him. Such was the intent of that feeling that it seemed to be a greater pain than the mere physical injury of the soldier.
The poet Michael Mack wanted to give us an anti-war message through this poem. He has been successful in delivering that message by depicting the pity of war through the innocent soldier boy’s death.