Hard Rock Returns to Prison
Response Paper
The poem Hard Rock Returns to Prison, written by Etheridge Knight, examines the life of a prisoner who has not yet fully recovered in the hospital and has to go back to the prison. The prisoner, by the name Hard Rock, has scars all over his face as well as on his head according to the author. His appearance as per the author depicts how he is a tough man- the scars on his head and split purple and lumbed ears (Knight, 1986). The choice of language used by the author is ideal for this kind of objective. The man has been taken to the hospital to try to ease his status of being so vigorous and hostile in prison. However, when he is back from the hospital, he looks completely different as he came to the hospital.
As per the author report, Hard Rock takes more than here minutes to tell his first name. Before his jail term, he had been a long time destroyer in his residential area, and he made the people live in fears. With his release to go to the hospital, the man thought that he could find his way out of the prison but when he discovered that he could say he chose to be calm and resilient (Knight, 1986). From the poem, it is evident that criminals are given heavy penalties for the criminal offences they commit. However, some criminals such as the character described in the poem are so hard to tame in prison. The forgone alternative, therefore, is to lose their complex personalities; however painful it may be.
REFERENCES
Knight, E. (1986). Hard Rock returns to prison from the hospital for the criminally insane. Reading Literature and Writing Argument.