Nissim Ezekiel: “Night of the Scorpion”
Note: For Full notes Consult Mamta Publication Guide.
Summary: Nissim Ezekiel is a great love-poet and in his poetry he has dealt with practically every variety of love-experience. He is essentially a poet with a well-marked Indian sensibility. He had firsthand knowledge of the Indian scene and has feelingly rendered it in a number of poems. He was a city dweller; he was touched to the quick by the squalor, dirt and misery, the exploitation and corruption.
“Night of the Scorpion” was originally published in Ezekiel’s 1965 collection, The Exact Name. This piece is considered with high praise due to its simple elocution, and yet its ability to survey difficult Indian concepts. It concentrates the subject of a dialectical clash between the colossus presence of the west and its impact on the cultured orient. Also, it brings forth the essence of human nature and presents a real image of rustic India in contrast to the town, the position of women in society, and other important themes of Indian society. This displays a new and artistic talent in Ezekiel's poetry. In this poem the speaker tells a story from his infancy in which his mother was bitten by a scorpion. The poem is about an event that the poet has been haunted throughout his life. One night a scorpion bit his mother and all the superstitious citizens of the village did illogical things rather than serving and curing her. The poem exposes the superstitions that dominate the minds of Indians. The poem has no rhyme scheme. It has eight stanzas with a different number of lines.
The poem begins with a remembrance of the time the poet’s mother was stung by a scorpion and how the “diabolic” creature created a commotion and fear in his home. The poem begins with a simple declaration: "I remember the night my mother / was stung by a scorpion". The scorpion had entered the speaker's home because it wanted to hide from the rain. When it bit the speaker's mother, it was hiding beneath a sack of rice. The superstitious villagers came to help his mother and were united to sympathize with her pain. These superstitious villagers tried to soothe her by striking another set of explanations about how the pain would rid her of her sins from her previous life. The pain would help in making her next birth more fortunate. They said that the scorpion poison would purify her blood and make her free of worldly attachments. The speaker’s mother gained consciousness; she broke the silence with a prayer to God. She was grateful to the almighty for sparing her children from the excruciating sting. This depicts how much she loved her children.
In short, Nissim Ezekiel's poem 'Night of the Scorpion' describes the reaction of the people when his mother was stung by a scorpion. They are quite ignorant people who view the incident in their way. The poet wants to create awareness in the minds of the reader of the ignorance and superstitions that still have their grip on the minds of the masses of India. It is an attempt to reform these ignorant and superstitious beliefs.
Textual Questions
Comprehension
A. Answer the following in a single word, phrase or sentence ea
1. Where was the scorpion in the poem?
Ans. The scorpion is in the house of narrator hidden under a sack of rice.
2. What are the peasants compared to?
Ans. Peasansts were compared to ‘swarms of flies’.
3. Who is the 'Evil One?
Ans. Scorpion is the ‘Evil One’.
4. What is the ‘peace of understanding' referred to?
Ans. This referred to calmness of the neighbors.
5. How long did for the poison to lose ‘its sting’?
Ans. For twenty hours.
6. What drove the scorpion to hide under sack of rice?
Ans. ‘Steady rain’.
7. What do the peasants try to do once they came into the home?
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