an analysis of the poem "ME UP AT DOES?'

The poem entitled “Me Up at Does’ by E.E. Cummings seems to be a simple presentation of words but a good scrutiny of it would make the reader aware of its deeper meaning. At first, it seems to lack grammatical correctness and a good poetic construction. However, I see this as both a personal view and preference of the author, an unusual style, which is geared towards making the readers know the deeper meaning that the poem portrays. It may somehow be likened to a writing of a child, who, in his first attempt for self-expression, is unmindful of the proper syntax that must be used in his piece of literature. However, as mentioned earlier, it is best that we take the poem as an embodiment of greater heights in human drama, or of a deeper abyss of ideas. Studying the poem closely would give us several insights about social stigma embodied to it.
Me up at does
Out of the floor
Quietly stare
A poisoned mouse
Still who alive
Is asking What
Have I done that
You wouldn’t have.

What is the poem trying to tell us? What message does it convey? Is it only merely about a poisoned mouse? What is so significant about this mouse that we should pay attention to? Digging deeper, the poem depicts an insight about a human being, watched by an outsider, and is likened to a poisoned mouse that is still alive. The poisoned mouse is a representation of a person, race, or someone from the lower status of society who is ostracized and experiencing diminution. I may then infer that the mouse in the poem is a somewhat illiterate person who couldn’t express himself literally due to limitations imposed on him by lack of education. But through simple words lined up together in poetic lines, he is able to express his ideas across.
The mouse, I would say, is one who experiences exploitation and dehumanization by people and the social order under which he exists. He was likened by his society to it – filthy, black, ugly, hungry, scavenging and hunted; a trash that must be removed to the household since it signifies all described, just like an African Negro who is a victim of apartheid in his own society. Why the mouse is poisoned is a symbolism of the many social insights and norms in his society, which the person himself is a victim by believing and following them. “What have I done that you wouldn’t have?” is a query asked to those who regard themselves as normal and usual individuals under a normal society that punishes the non-normal and the unusual, and treats them like a mouse – to be poisoned and eliminated, not to allow them to achieve equality with the rest of the members of the society. Poisoning a mouse is but a natural act by the household owner, and he is not to be punished by such act – just like eliminating the people who experience dehumanization under their hands – a normal way to do to remove the “inappropriate,” the dehumanized, the discriminated in a class society.
I m putting forward in this paper the racial discrimination experienced by South Africans, who experienced a legalized racial segregation between 1948 and 1994, through the British colonialism. The natives, however responded through armed resistance. To this, the government responded through detention without trial, police brutality, torture, censorship, and banning of political oppositional organizations. In Cumming’s poem, the poisoning of the mouse could well be paralleled to all of these mentioned. The anti-apartheid organizations in the world had links with other liberation struggles in Africa and in other parts of the globe. This resistance to apartheid is viewed as people’s struggle for socialism against the existing system of capitalism. The basic inferior regard for the Africans has their skin color as basis, and by this, they are put to diminution by the social system, segregated and denied of social services and social equality. Even though the segregation law in South Africa has already been lifted, remnants of apartheid remain in the culture of the people. Petty apartheid can still be seen in South African regions, such as a banner in a bathing area that says, “Under Section 37 of the Durban Beach By-laws, this bathing area is reserved for the sole use of members of the white race group.”
Why a mouse? This is a critical part of Cumming’s poem. He could have chosen a cat, a dog, or a horse. But these animals are of value to society and people. A mouse is entirely taken as garbage, a pest, a grubby animal that must be disposed of, due to its lack of value in any way. Just like how an African is viewed and treated in his own society, to be “poisoned” in order to wither away and show surrender and submission to a dominating white culture. Just like the mouse’s question in the poem, “What have I done that you wouldn’t have?” the African race is asking what have been their fault to be worthy of such disregard and mistreatment.