Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Flounder" is a narrative poem by Natasha Trethewey that delves into the experience of fishing, but also explores the themes of race, identity, and duality through the nuanced relationship between the speaker and her Aunt Sugar. Written in simple language yet replete with meaningful imagery, the poem encapsulates a shared experience that becomes a metaphor for understanding the complexities of life.

The poem begins with Aunt Sugar handing the speaker a hat, commenting on the speaker's fair skin and implying the need for its preservation: "You 'bout as white as your dad, / and you gone stay like that." Right from the start, race is a salient theme. The hat, ostensibly a functional accessory for shielding from the sun, becomes an emblem of the speaker's racial identity and an inheritance from her father.

The meticulous detailing of clothing-Aunt Sugar's nylons and the speaker's white knee socks-provides a glimpse into the characters' lives, highlighting generational and personal differences. The imagery of legs dangling above the water introduces the theme of the threshold or the in-between. It evokes a picture of two individuals poised between different elements-water and air, light and shadow, innocence and experience.

This threshold is also inhabited by the "silver backs of minnows" that dart between "the sun spots and the shadows." Just as the minnows navigate these contrasting worlds, the characters too are navigating spaces both literal and metaphorical: black and white, young and old, knowing and unknowing.

Aunt Sugar teaches the art of fishing, instructing how to cast the line, bait the hook, and wait. Her spitting tobacco juice into a coffee cup while hunkering down establishes her as an experienced, gritty character. She is the guide, both in fishing and, metaphorically, in navigating the intricacies of life, especially those entangled with race and identity.

When Aunt Sugar catches a flounder, its duality becomes a powerful symbol. One of its sides is black, the other white, and it "flip-flop[s], switch[es] sides with every jump." The flounder's dual coloring serves as a metaphor for biracial identity, embodying the idea that one can belong to two different worlds yet exist as a singular entity.

Trethewey employs the simple, straightforward act of fishing as a platform to examine the complexities of race, duality, and identity. As Aunt Sugar passes down the technique of fishing to her niece, she also subtly imparts life lessons and ancestral wisdom about navigating the world as a person of mixed heritage. In capturing this nuanced interaction and making the ordinary extraordinary, Trethewey's "Flounder" extends its tendrils into broader discussions about the multilayered experiences that form our individual and collective identities.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...