I have always had a profound interest in artists and writers when they use their respected mediums to portray a moral or message through a topic like the apocalypse. The world as we know it is coming to a stand still, civilized society as we know it crumbling to the ground. Anything that has to do with the world ending has always made me extremely interested, and I do not think I’m alone. Why is that though? Why does general theoretical chaos in fiction interest people so much? I think the answer to that question can be found in a powerful and insightful poem by Franny Choi. From the very beginning of class, I have absolutely loved, studied, and analyzed Franny Choi’s poem “The World Keeps Ending, and The World Goes On.” Not only does the poem interest me greatly with my fascination and curiosity towards apocalypse-like stories/subjects, but it also manages to foreshadow so much of what we talk about and discuss throughout our first half of this semester (also known as sailing west). This poem also reminds me of another essay about the end of the world called “End Times for Humanity.” Both Franny’s poem and this article touch on subjects that I will dive into with this close reading of Franny Choi’ poem. In this project, I will be breaking down the poem’s, themes and symbolism it uses to discuss matters of race, war, and common everyday life experiences. I will also be creating an audio performance of the poem being read out loud.
So what makes people interested in the apocalypse and the world coming to an end? Does the answer lie in the grand scheme of things? Do we just like imagining the entire world going under because we are all sadistic? No, it is normal to wonder what the end of the world might look like. Movies like the Terminator franchise and Mad Max both have their own takes on what humanity would be left with due to technology rising against us, or a world wide water and fuel shortage forcing humans to fight for survival. Those films are apocalyptic ideas brought to the extreme, and show how humans have always had an interest in apocalyptic storytelling. However, they do not take into account all of the little actions and human occurrences that take place during an apocalypse, which is exactly what the poem by Franny Choi is arguing. This poem does not argue that the world is dying, rather, it is trying to tell us that the world is already dead, even though it keeps going and going.There are a multitude of different aspects of human society which have broken down as a result of our own greed, malice, and violent tendencies. I will now attempt to do a close reading of this poem, breaking it down and analyzing a few lines to exemplify the message Franny Choi was trying to convey and to show how the poem relates to our first half of this semester.
- “Before the apocalypse, there was the apocalypse of boats: boats of prisoner’s boats cracking under sky-iron, boats making corpses bloom like algae on the shore.” This very first line of the poem relates to our class discussion and overview of slavery such as in equiano and . The “corspes” the poem brings up are the countless enslaved people that have perished during the transatlantic slave trade.
- The “apocalypse of the bombed mosque” refers to violent idealism relating to terrorism and its extreme affect it has on the world as a whole. Which is also brought up again when she writes about the “apocalypse of the taxi driver warped by flame” and the thousands of innocent everyday hard working lives that are lost due to violence.
- “There was the apocalypse of pipelines legislating their way through sacred water” This refers to white colonialism and our blatant disregard for not only other cultures that hold “sacred” ground, but for nature itself.
- “Before which was the apocalypse of dogs and slave catchers who faces glowed by lantern light.” Again, this is a reference to our country’s past, involving enslavement and violations of human rights, using dogs for malicious purposes. This relates to our reading of Equiano.
- “Before the Apocalypse, the apocalypse of Bees.” This line refers to how we as a collective species are killing our own planet and wildlife which is important to keep the earth thriving, such as bees. “The apocalypse of buses, border fence apocalypse.’ It is obvious that this line is in reference to our treatment of immigrants and how we deny people from all walks of life to cross into our borders (which relates to The Dew Breaker.)‘Coat hanger apocalypse”, could refer to so many unprofessionally done abortions that women in poverty most likely experienced. “Apocalypse in the text book’s selective silences.” I am almost certain that this line is referencing how textbooks do not tell the full truth of our history, hence the “selective silences.”
- “The apocalypse of the settlement and the soda machine. The apocalypse of the settlement and the jars of scalps.” I believe this line is referencing our negative impact on native american culture and how much killing and slaughtering we actually did. The “radioactive rain” is of course a reference to our nuclear wars we have caused.
- “The apocalypse began when Columbus praised God and lowered his anchor. It began when a continent was drawn into cutlets. It began when Kublai Khan told Marco to “begin at the beginning.” This whole sequence of lines refers to white colonialism and how fast its negative impact swept countless cultures (and lives) away.
- “By the time the apocalypse began, the world had already
ended. It ended every day for a century or two. It ended, and another ending world spun in its place. It ended, and we woke up and ordered Greek coffees, drew the hot liquid through our teeth, as everywhere, the apocalypse rumbled, the apocalypse remembered, our dear, beloved apocalypse. It drifted slowly from the trees all around us, so loud we stopped hearing it.” I personally believe that these last few lines exemplify exactly what Franny Choi is trying to convey to the reader. She is saying that all of these different apocalypses have happened time and time again, impacting humans in a negative and counter productive way (as well as the negative effect we have had on our planet).
“The World Keeps Ending, and The World Goes On” discusses topics such as race, gender equality, colonialism, and human rights. You can really see the amount of foreshadowing this poem does for the first half of our semester. What makes this poem special however, is that it takes a concept such as the apocalypse, and doesn’t just attribute it to one major subject. Franny Choi makes it clear that there are many different moving parts to the world ending on a daily basis, it’s not just one aspect or one major event (like in the Terminator franchise, or the Mad Max films). This poem is not about one collective apocalyptic event. Rather, it is many apocalypses taking place over a period of time (some taking place simultaneously). Daily apocalypses that sweep multiple places on earth affecting everyone and everything, yet the world keeps on going on. This poem is trying to make people aware that the world is constantly ending, and has been doing so for a very long time. Ever since man first had conflict, there would of course come corruption and power. With that corruption and power came mistakes. Mistakes towards our fellow humans and the earth itself that sadly, we might not be able to come back from. I believe Franny Choi is trying to say that the world ending is nothing new, and no matter how many times it will end, we will continue to not notice it, and continue to make these same mistakes.
Below is my attempt at reading through this poem in one take. I tried to match the same tone Franny Choi did while reading it aswell. It took about seven recordings for me to do it right, I hope you enjoy it!
Works Cited:
Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/franny-choi.
Aeonmag. “The Human World Is Not More Fragile Now: It Always Has Been: Aeon Essays.” Aeon, Aeon Magazine, aeon.co/essays/the-human-world-is-not-more-fragile-now-it-always-has-been.
Choi, Franny. “The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by…” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/151513/the-world-keeps-ending-and-the-world-goes-on.
“Mad Max.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Mar. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Max.“The Terminator.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Apr. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terminator.
Sprockets and Springes 