 Small Towns and the River by Mamang Dai: ThemesÂ
Theme of “Life Vs. Death” in Small Towns and the River by Mamang Dai
“Small Towns and the River” expresses the idea that life and death is a ceaseless process. Life follows death and death leads to new life. There is no end to this.
“Small Towns always remind me of death” says the poet dramatically in the opening line of the poem. The poet uses the symbol of small town to represent death, while the river represents the life and eternity.
The home town of the poet is a small town which is constant reference in the poem. The town is located among the trees, isolated and unchanging. This town serves as a microcosm where the permanence of nature and rituals of life and death starkly contrast with temporal nature of human existence.
The poet mentions that someone did die recently and the town gathered to sob quietly while “looking at the sad wreath of the tuberoses” at the funeral. Life and death are unavoidable, people come and go. It is only the funeral rituals which remain constant.
The focus then shifts onto a river – presumably the river located in the poet’s home town. The river has a soul of its own. It gushes through the land in the summer, like an outpouring of grief. The poet thinks that sometimes, the river may long for more, holding its breath as it looks for a new land – an utopian society where there is no pain and suffering. The river rips through the town sees everything – the drops of rain, the dry earth and even the mountaintops. The water survives it all and hence the river knows its own immortality.
The poem’s contrast of the small: town and the river creates a sense of contrast between death and life, impermanence and eternity. The poet seems to be suggesting that while small towns are associated with death and decay, the river represents life, hope and eternal cycle that continues even through grief.
Theme of “Transience Vs. Permanence” in Small Towns and the River by Mamang Dai
The poem “Small Towns and the River” present the central theme of Transience of life in contrast with the permanence of nature and rituals.
The small towns are used to represent human life. For the poet they are reminders of death. The poet conveys a sense of timelessness and stagnation associated with small towns specifically her own home town. She finds living in a small town to be a monotonous journey where nothing changes and life moves on very slowly until it ends in death.
The towns are shown as static, unchanging, dull and gloomy. Human beings are shown to be transient as they go through the cycle of life and death.
Any death brings grief to the close knit community, highlighting the cycle of life and death.
In contrast to the impermanence of life, the poem points to the permanence of rituals across generations and the endurance of nature. The poet says –
“Life and death, life and death
only the rituals are permanent”.
In the above lines, the immediate repetition of “life and death” is an ever moving cycle. It is constantly changing millions of people are born and then they die and we never know when or where or how it may happen. But if one thing is permanent, it is rituals for they are followed throughout generations. Life and death are natural processes, hence they are always changing. However rituals which are man – made processes, remain the same and they are permanent.
On the other hand, the river is used to represent nature. The river is symbolic of nature and is depicted as being quite vibrant. It continues its journey from mountains to the plains, changes its course, and undergoes a number of changes but remains a permanent entity because the water in the river is immortal. The water survives it all and hence the river knows its own immortality.
Throughout all these hinderences, the river does not dry out, the river knows its own immortality.
“The river knows
the immortality of water”
This line, we feel the permanence of the river. However, while its presence is permanent, it is always physically moving, travelling the world and gushing forward.
This is the difference between the river’s permanence and the town’s – the town is sedentary constant, while the river is a moving one.
This contrast between the perishable human life and the permanent rituals and nature is a key aspect of the poem.
Theme of “Spirituality” in Small Towns and the River by Mamang Dai
In the poem “Small Towns and the River”, spirituality is a central theme with reference to the permanence of nature and unchanging rituals performed by generations.
Dai talks about the soul and its life after the body’s death. The line –
” it will walk into the golden east,
into the house of the sun”
refers to the sun rising in the east.
The poet refers to a local custom of placing the dead towards the west in the belief that the soul will rise from the body and travel to the house of the sun (the east). The rising sun represents a new day. Therefore, this symbolises new beginnings and rebirth. The poem alludes to the rebirth of the soul once it rises out of the body it was in.
Then the poet refers, the sunlight, which warms the “cool bamboo”. Here, the bamboo symbolises the body, while the “sunlight” symbolises life.
The sunlight restores the bamboo as life restores the body. Here, life is the soul – only with the entrance of a soul into the body can a new life be created. The soul is to the body what sunlight is to nature.
Then the poet says –
“In small towns by the river
we all want to walk with the gods”
The poet acknowledges that everybody from these towns have the aim to walk with the gods, which means that they all wish to live peacefully and happily in the afterlife. Rather than the soul entering a new body, it travels to the heavens and walks with the Gods.
 The poem concludes on the positive note of people’s longing to live happily in the other world after death.