Monkey, Crosses the River

To Help the Monkey Cross the  River; by Thomas Lux This is a link to the poem so you can read this irony filled humorous poem if you have not. We are reading animal poems this week as a theme and this poem along with one about a fish I really like. We are also looking into the different types of irony, dramatic, situational, and verbal. Some irony is very overt and easy to identify and other times it is embedded deep within the poem or story itself. Some people will even identify irony that is specific to their own experiences or cultural norms, these will not be identifiable by you the reader, but if explained and supported by others are just as valid. The Irony starts right away with "I sit with my rifle on a platform," (4) this stirs the idea that the speaker is hunting or going to shoot the monkey. The speaker is not hunting the monkey but ironically helping the monkey by shooting at him (verbal irony here puts the emphasis on the word "at"). The speaker checks the river "looking up river first..."(8-11) for crocs and snakes, these are the true predators of the monkeys. They know the monkeys will be crossing the river "for fruit and nuts," (2). The river is wide and the young monkeys are not good strong swimmers yet, this makes it easy for the crocs and snakes to eat the young; the speaker makes this point "the monkey has hands like a child's," (25). Even though the speaker seems to be a champion for the monkeys, his acknowledging the prowess and hunting skills of the crocs and snakes doesn't go unmentioned. The speaker seems to admire how the crocs and snakes position themselves in the river, because they have learned when and where it is the most opportune time to catch a monkey by precise calculations (13-14). This animals doing math reference is a good example of dramatic irony, in that it uses a human learning concept and applies it to the instinctual hunting behavior of two predators hunting the same prey.  The speaker watches carefully to see if he needs to intervene, with the hope the monkey will make it on his own. If the monkey finds himself about to be eaten the speaker fires multiple shots just behind the monkey (19-21) to hurry him up little. I find that shooting these shots are two fold; first they serve to scare the monkey for he might feel as if the gunshots splashing in water are that of the snapping jaws of a croc; second they serve an even greater warning or scare tactic to the snakes and crocs which are or could be in very close proximity to the actual bullets hitting the water. Contrary to what most people think a bullet penetrates the water very little and is deflected sharply downward upon impact. The water absorbs almost all of the bullet's energy within the first foot of penetration. The crocodile has very thick skin and would require a well-placed shot to humanly kill it or stop it in its pursuit of a prey, monkey in the water. The snake, even a big snake is still a small target. The last bit of irony in this poem I want to talk about is the last line, "the smart ones, in a cage, can be taught to smile." (26) This is ironic because the caged monkeys seemly safe from snakes and crocs are not safe from predators, humans. The speaker spends a great deal of his time watching and helping the monkey survive and live the way they were intended to live, wild and free. This seems to be totally lost on the humans that argue "they are the ones truly keeping the monkeys safe by capturing them," and as an added bonus teaching them how to smile, not live wild and free.