Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "The Falling of the Freedom Fighters," Roque Dalton presents a compelling reevaluation of how society treats its dead, particularly those who have died for a cause. This poem effectively problematizes the traditional and simplistic ways of honoring the dead, arguing for a more nuanced understanding of their legacy and impact on the living.

Initially, Dalton outlIneshow the dead used to be manageable: they were easily compartmentalized and commemorated through rituals, monuments, and ceremonies. "We gave flowers to the uptight ones / we gave the relatives the names on one long list," he writes, indicating the various methods employed to pay homage and create lasting memories. The language here implies a sort of commodification of the deceased, transforming them into manageable entities that can be assigned "national borders" or "remarkable peace." The monumentalization of the dead, symbolized by "a monstrous marble tomb," underlInesthis process of containment.

The problem arises, Dalton argues, when the dead begin to ask "ironic questions" and become more numerous, tipping the scales of the majority. The dead are now portrayed as sentient, even ironic, beings who are aware of the superficiality of the living world's attempts to honor them. They are no longer content with the ritualistic and often hypocritical displays of remembrance that seldom capture the complexity of their lives or the causes they died for.

The poem subtly critiques the exploitation of freedom fighters or martyrs for political or nationalistic agendas. The line "to these we gave national borders" suggests that the valorization of the dead often serves to uphold the very systems or ideologies that might have led to their demise in the first place. Similarly, "to those we gave remarkable peace" underscores the irony that the dead are awarded peace posthumously, even when they might have fought against oppressive conditions that denied them peace in life.

Dalton's choice of the word "unmanageable" is especially poignant. By becoming unmanageable, the dead are essentially rebelling, even in death, against being used or misunderstood by the living. Their questions, though not specified, hang in the air, provoking the reader to think deeply about the ways society honors or misrepresents its heroes.

The final lines, "And it seems to me that they fall more and more / on account of being / more and more / the majority," are both literal and metaphorical. They suggest a growing number of those who die for causes, but they also indicate the increasing weight and collective consciousness of the dead-a force that cannot be ignored or easily managed by the living.

In this poem, Dalton asks us to consider not just how we remember the dead, but how that remembrance serves or fails the principles for which they stood. The poem becomes a mirror reflecting our societal values, urging us to grapple with the discomforting questions that arise when we confront our ways of memorializing those who have given their lives for a cause.

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