16 pages • 32 minutes read
Natasha TretheweyElegy for the Native Guards
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Loss and Memory
One theme in “Elegy for the Native Guards” is an examination of loss and remembrance. Loss operates on several levels. The first level is the idea of the “dead” (Line 6), as the dead lost their lives and the living lost those who died. On another level, corpses buried on Ship Island were displaced, or lost, by the hurricane. Trethewey twice repeats the word “lost,” referencing both lives of people and bodies swept out into the Gulf. The ranger guiding the tour of the island refers to the “graves lost” (Line 9). In the final stanza, “lost” is part of a compound word, “water-lost” (Line 20), further linking the dead bodies to the sea.
The living generally remember the dead not by looking at corpses or bones, but by viewing objects that mark gravesites. Trethewey discusses the “grave markers” and “crude headstones” (Line 19) that were taken out to sea with the dead. Culturally speaking, the manners by which people treat their dead—in funeral rites and graveyards—is significant. These practices are not only about sanitation and proper disposal of remains, but also about how people remember those who are lost. As places of remembrance, gravesites are meant to exist after the individual has passed, offering a designated space for the living to visit. Disturbing graves can lead to a feeling of being haunted (hauntology) because the site of remembrance--as well as the person it commemorates--no longer exists.
The Process of Memorialization and Constructing Monuments
The construction of monuments is a step beyond grave markers like headstones. This is a much more politicized practice—it raises questions of why certain people are memorialized and others are not. In “Elegy for the Native Guards,” Trethewey describes a specific “monument” (Line 6) created by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Their “plaque” (14) is detailed with specific attention paid to the “names raised hard / in bronze” (Lines 15-16). Bronze is a metal that exists long after more delicate materials have deteriorated. Making something out of bronze is an attempt to make that thing exist forever, or to immortalize it. The United Daughters of the Confederacy ensures these soldiers’ names withstand the elements and live on in memory.
This attempt to immortalize people who fought to keep Black people enslaved haunts contemporary Americans. It is a reminder of a time when Black people were considered less than human. Despite the fact that Black soldiers fought on the side of the Union in the Civil War, they were not given a plaque. Confederate organizations are interested in suppressing and ignoring records of the heroic acts performed by Black soldiers. This unequal treatment based on skin color continues after death through memorialization--or the distinct lack thereof. In the 21st century, there has been a movement to get rid of monuments of people who treated Black people as less than human, but many Confederate statues and monuments continue to exist in the United States today.
In addition to the plaque, the gift shop on Ship Island also participates memorialization. The trinkets they sell are “souvenirs, tokens of history long buried” (Line 12). In a sense, they sell miniature monuments, ones that can be easily transported. The commercial practice relegates racism to the past—slavery was a “long” (Line 12) time ago and is detached from modern practices. However, racism continues to proliferate in the memorialization of past events.
Racism as a Systemic Practice
Racism persisting after death is seen in not only monuments, but also in how history is presented. In addition to memorial plaques, schools often do not teach about the “Native Guards— / 2nd Regiment, Union men, black phalanx” (Lines 16-17). Trethewey’s poem and book about these soldiers is one attempt at bringing a forgotten and suppressed part of history to light. Poetry can, hopefully, create a “monument to their legacy” (Line 18). With her sentiments, Trethewey memorializes Black soldiers, giving Black readers pride in their own history.
Racism is often described as negative interpersonal interactions—for instance, how a Black person is treated by another person. Slurs and violence against individuals because of race are recognized as racist acts. However, Trethewey is highlighting racism perpetuated by organizations or systems. Racism is present in pedagogy, television programming, and historical monuments that omit discussions of slavery, discrimination, and Black heroes. Even though these are not direct attacks against an individual, the lack of attention paid to Black history and the ongoing valorization of Confederate soldiers deeply affect Black Americans’ quality of life. Monuments like the one Trethewey discusses are a “reminder” (Line 5) that Black people were treated like cattle during the institution of slavery. They had to fight, and still have to fight, to be recognized as human and equal to white people.
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