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What is the theme of "Identity" by Julio Noboa Polanco?
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The overriding theme of “Identity” by Julio Noboa Polanco is the importance of individuality. The speaker is all too aware that he's different from other people, but he's unapologetic about it. He is unique, an individual, and that's just the way he likes it.
The theme of Julio Noboa Polanco's extended metaphor poem "Identity" is freedom through individuality. Throughout the poem, Noboa Polanco contrasts individuality and conformity by juxtaposing two kinds of plants: weeds and flowers. These two images serve as metaphors for two kinds of lives.
The potted flowers represent conformity within a group of people. The potted plants are more secure: they are "always watered, fed, guarded, admired." However, being a beautiful potted plant comes at the cost of being "harnessed to a pot of dirt." In this way Noboa Polanco draws the conclusion that though it may be easier to conform to what a group of people deems beautiful, it comes with costly restrictions.
The ugly weed represents individuality. The ugly weed clings "on cliffs, like an eagle / wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks." Though not as beautiful, the weed is free, and unlike the multitude of potted flowers, there is...
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only one ugly weed. Noboa Polanco claims that even though it may be more difficult and less classically beautiful to have a unique identity, it is inherently better.
Noboa Polanco concludes the poem,
If I could stand alone, strong and free,
I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.
"Identity" by Julio Noboa Polanco is a poem about a singular identity awash in a constrained group culture. The poem starts by comparing unnamed individuals to flowers.
Let them be as flowers, always watered, fed, guarded, admired, but harnessed to a pot of dirt.
These flowers have what they want. They have no fear of going without. The sun will not stop shining on them, and they will always have admirers. However, they will never be free. They must stay where they are, at the mercy of those who tend to them. These handlers give, but they may also take, plucking the flowers from their happy home. The narrator does not want to be a flower. He would rather be free. This, he feels, would make him feel the "madness of the world." He's willing to make some sacrifices for that. He's willing to be unseen and shunned. The poem ends with these lines.
If I could stand alone, strong and free, I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.
The narrator is struggling with his identity through the course of the poem. The things he wants are different from what others want, and he goes through the ramifications in this poem, but it's a trade he's willing to make. Being strong and free is more important than being beautiful but weak and trapped.