To discuss Ishmael Reed’s “Untitled” from an environmental perspective, think about how Reed uses the word rape. Usually, rape refers to sexual violation. In Reed’s poem, there is a violation. However, the violation doesn’t have to do with a human body but with the environment. Alaska's land has been subject to “rape.” Its territory has been brutalized and torn apart. If Alaska’s environment is a victim of rape, then there is a predator. The predators seem to be the people who own large Cadillacs and nice jets. Living in other states, they’re the ones dismantling Alaska so that they can use its oil for their pleasure.

Jamaica appears as a rape victim as well. Reed describes the former colony as “ravished.” Its environment was ransacked for its sugar. Jamaica’s assailants are linked to Mansfield Park. The name of a Jane Austen novel, Mansfield Park calls to mind images of titled, well-off people living comfortably in England.

Both Jamaica and Alaska have had their environmental resources pillaged. The attackers are presented as outsiders. They’re not from Alaska or Jamaica. Reed might be calling attention to how people tend to handle environments that they don’t have to live in. He could also be trying to say that the environment, like people’s bodies, tends to be treated violently—particularly when deemed foreign or different.