Accounting (Themes)

Themes

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Alegría's poem, "Accounting," assembles the major events in the poet's life. Because these events occur over a wide space of time, they reflect the author at different periods of her life. The young girl who skipped puddles is also the same woman who later grieved at the death of loved ones and who worked so resolutely for her country's freedom. The poet has not only grown older, she has changed from a child to a woman, from lighthearted play to social activism. In the final lines of the poem, the poet prepares for one last change — her own death. At that hour, she will not cease to be. Like many poets before her, she has seen that she will live on in her work. More than her memories are preserved; she is preserved within the poem's lines. When she moulds herself into these lines, she follows in the footsteps of poets as great as William Shakespeare, who also recognized in his Sonnet 55 ("Not marble nor the gilded monuments") that he would live forever in verse.

Endurance

Alegría's poem is a testament to her ability to endure and to the power that it takes for anyone to endure tragedy. She was born into a country of conflict. As an infant, Alegría's father opposed the United States marine occupation of Nicaragua. The family was harassed and even fired upon by armed soldiers. Even though Alegría was only an infant when the family finally fled Nicaragua, she grew up understanding that she was a refugee and an exile from the country of her birth. In lines 16 and 17, the poet poignantly recalls the wait for her country's liberation to become a reality: "I don't know how many years / dreaming of my people's liberation." The use of "dreaming" signifies the depth of yearning as she endured this long wait. She waited fifty-five years.

Identity

Few people think at great depth about the elements that make up their identity. And yet, we are all the composite identity of the important events of our lives. Alegría acknowledges this fact in her poem, "Accounting." In the opening lines of the poem she reveals her age and that she will list the defining moments of her life, the "few electrical instants" that marked her. These moments that marked her forever are the moments that created the adult who emerged from that moment of happiness in which the child skipped puddles. Alegría's identity is an accumulated self-awareness that she is the result of a multifaceted life lived in many places, whether Delft or Macchu Pichu. She is the result of the events that occurred in her life, whether the birth of a child or the death of a parent. All events that occurred in Alegría's life are considered collectively and become essential components of her self-identity. Alegría's poem reveals her identity to her readers in an intensely personal manner.

Human Rights

Lines 12 and 13, as well as lines 17, 18, and 19 of "Accounting" reveal what a huge part of Alegría's life has been devoted to human rights issues. In a poem of 26 lines, almost one fifth of the lines that comprise the poet's life are centered on her concern for the peoples' right to exist freely, to protest injustice, to offer aid to those most in need. The description in line 11 of "the hoarse voice" that telephoned Alegría to announce the death of Archbishop Romero reveals both the anguish that the caller felt at having to make this call, and the poet's commitment to the ideals for which the archbishop worked. Alegría was in Paris when she was called. The effort to locate her at this place suggests that her work was important within the context of Archbishop Romero's human rights work. The remaining three lines in the poem, which deal with human rights issues, are equally convincing of Alegría's resolution to improve her country. She has dreamed "of my people's liberation" and is equally aware of the "immortal deaths" and the "starving child" who need an advocate. Alegría is as marked by her commitment to human rights as she is by any other event of her lifetime.

Memory

Memory is the foundation of Alegría's poem, "Accounting." The poem is a list of the poet's most important memories, drawn from a lifetime of memories. Each human being forms new memories almost constantly, but only certain memories are retained and recalled as significant. The reader knows that the memories recalled for this poem are important because the poet has written in line three that these are the "few electrical instants" of a lifetime of memories. Memory can be a powerful tool of growth and change, and Alegría's list of memories reveals how she has grown from child to woman, from happiness to grief, and finally, to love.

Wisdom

Alegría never mentions knowledge or the growth of wisdom in her poem, and yet this theme is implicit in any discussion of this poem. The poet tells readers that "In the sixty-eight years / I have lived / there are a few electrical instants" worth recalling. The poet is reflecting on a lifetime of events, places, and people. The title of the poem, "Accounting," suggests something about this process of having reached a position of wisdom in the author's life. The process of accounting is the systematic presentation and interpretation of accumulated data. For Alegría the process of amassing memories — sifting though them, choosing those of singular importance, the "electrical instants," and finally understanding their importance in her life — is similar to the work that an accountant does in assessing financial worth. Alegría is assessing her worth and defining it by key events. To finally understand the work of a lifetime, she also needed to have gained the wisdom to appreciate all that she had accomplished.

Topics For Further Study

• Make a list of ten to twelve of your own memories. These should be the things that first come to mind when you think of your life. You might try to pick one or two items from each of the past several years. After you have a list, arrange them in some order of importance. This order does not have to be chronological, but it can be. When you have brought some sort of order to your list, rewrite it as a poem. Alegría writes her poem as a narrative lyric, but you can use a different poetic format, if you wish.
• Research the life of Archbishop Oscar Romero, whom Alegría mentions in her poem. Consider why she thought him such an important figure in trying to call attention to human rights violations in El Salvador.
• Choose one poem by another Central American poet, and compare his or her work to the poetry of Alegría. What similarities do you notice? Are there differences in theme or content? You might consider using poetry by Magdalena Gomez, Sandra Maria Esteves, or Ricardo Morales.
• Research the role of both men and women in the Nicaraguan revolution. Consider in what ways the contributions of women differed from those of men.
• Alegría's poem is a memoir, recounting the events of her life. Most people who write memoirs do so as prose writing. Choose a memoir by any other writer and discuss the differences between prose and verse memoirs.