Sibling Rivalry

Does any particular image run throughout the essay? If so, why does the author chose it? Does it have any “metaphorical significance”? Does it transform in any way from the beginning to the end of the essay?

Patricia Smith, in her poem “Siblings”, treats each of the Hurricanes of 2005 as though they are human. She calls each one out by name and correlates their natural destructiveness with personified traits and characteristics. Smith calls them siblings, and is sure to mention their relationships with one another. The image of these brothers and sisters is a rambunctious one, full of life and energy, but also full of menace. Smith is careful to choose words that portray both sides, human and not. She wants to remind her readers of their human quality in order to make them seem more real, in a sense. They are not mechanical, but have a mind of their own, and each one is individual. She feels as though they should not be taken as a unit, but as separate entities. For although a person may have been through one hurricane, they most certainly have not been through them all.

The bulk of the poem is an introduction, in a sense. It details each of the other siblings, from Arlene to Wilma. Some are good, some are bad, but all are together. They, although different, are a close-knit family. Their personalities work together. Katrina, however, does not. Katrina lies at the end of the poem, far away from her siblings. She is the “blood dazzler”, the one who plays with human lives and sleeps with death. Smith wants her to stand out, to let her readers know just how unique she really was. People along the Atlantic have their fair share of hurricanes, and were used to the others. Katrina really blew them away, literally.