Walking Around by: Pablo Neruda

Theme for both poems: Reflections and Emotions

The poem, Walking Around, dramatizes the conflict between man vs. society, particularly this conflict relates to the speakers thoughts and emotions. From Pablo Neruda, the speaker tries to be a “man” but remembers how difficult his past has been. “It so happens I am sick of being a man.” In the poem currently the speaker takes a walk through the city while observing his surroundings and compares it with the life of a woman, but in general reflects about societies way of living. The poem clearly stresses that the speaker is tired of living in the world around him.

However, the poem begins with several examples of why and what stresses the man of being a “man.” For example, “The smell of barbershops makes me break into hoarse sobs,” which portrays why he is sick of being a man. The fact that the poem is an example of Vanguard Literature, Walking Around highly demonstrates the influence of surrealism because it does not consist rhyme, but instead expresses the feelings and emotions of the man written in free verse.

Although the poem addresses a variety of examples of the speaker thoughts it does not contain any rhyme visually the poem still consists of figurative language. For example, anaphora when it says “ It so happens that I’m tired of being a man.” and “The only thing I want is…” but there is still other examples of repetition in the poem. The music device simile also shows when the speaker says, “That’s why Monday, when it sees me coming with my convict face, blazes up like gasoline and it howls on its way like a wounded…” because it is an example that he feels like a prisoner because he can’t escape from his everyday life. Lastly, metaphors are addressed in the poem when he mentions, “It so happens I am sick of being a man” not only it is the most important theme, but because he remembers how difficult his past has been especially when he worked a lot on comparison with the woman that only painted their nails.

The overall point of Neruda’s poem is to understand everything that is in the mind of the speaker. When he mentions that he is tired of technology and that to see movie theaters, merchandise, and elevators proves that he is tired of all inventions made by humans. It seems that that the humans do not appreciate the beauty of nature through point of view because they have been over thrown with factories and buildings.

By the end of the poem the speaker seems to believe that humans have lost their individuality because all the people want is to have what other people have. Being that the speaker grew up in the wilderness explains why he misses his past. Although, disappointed of the new inventions and the destruction of nature and man itself the speaker is tired of living in the world around him.