What is the dominant atmosphere in the poem?

 i) What is the dominant atmosphere in the poem?

ans: In “The Sea-Turtle and the Shark” by Melvin Tolson, the sea-turtle represents individuals, groups, or countries that appear to be weak but are really clever and work within the system to gain the upper hand through perseverance.

The shark represents those who appear to be strong but actually underestimate those whom they believe to be weak.

ii) The sly reptilian marine withdraws, into the shell of his undersea craft Comment on the use of the quotation in the poem.

Ans: The sea-turtle begins the churning seesaws of his descent into pelagic hell. His claws can rip a rhinoceros’ hide or strip a crocodile to fare-the-e-well. He gnaws and gnaws his way to freedom, beyond the vomiting dark.

iii) Use the following words in your own sentences in a figurative sense:

steel scrap, leathery head, oceanic dark, ravenous jaws, beyond the stomach walls

Ans. The sea-turtle and the shark are said to represent the American negro and the White American, respectively, because the poem is taken from the book Harlem Gallery, where it is listed as the work of a black poet. On a literal level, the narrative is about a sea turtle that manages to get out of a shark’s stomach. 

The storey of the sea turtle and the shark can also be interpreted as an allegory, describing the struggle of the weak or poor to survive in the face of the powerful or wealthy. However, a more specific sense refers to the struggle of American negroes against white domination.

It depicts the history of the negro’s survival in the cruel atmosphere in America symbolized by the sea and the shark. Just as the turtle cuts its way out of the shark’s stomach, the negro attempts to be free of the oppression of the white.

iv) Comment on the allegory use in the poem?

Ans: Strange but true is the story of the sea-turtle and the shark- the instinctive drive of the weak to survive in the oceanic dark.

The sea-turtle is driven by instinct to survive in the oceanic dark, but sometimes swallowed whole by a hungry shark.

With ravenous jaws that cut sheet steel scrap, the sea turtle gnaws his way out of the shark’s belly and to freedom.

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