Corrupted Beacons of Light
... Material objects that advertisers convince people are necessary for happiness lead to a life of meaningless and loss of purpose. Neruda believes that people are robbed of “gold or sugar, honest lives, [and] happiness” (lns 26-27). People are robbed of the true treasures of life because they are too wrapped up with the worries of the modern world. Neruda also discusses the idea of truth in contrast to other fleeting ideas. In “Pedro is the When and the How” there is a sharp contrast between “the truth that falls/ like rain, the long-awaited answer” (lns 17-18) and “the streets [that] come and go” (ln 19). The truth in Neruda’s poem comes freely and is appreciated, long awaited, and long lasting. The streets or fleeting ideas of the world however, are temporary and destructible. The streets were created by man and do not last, but the rain is beyond man’s control and has a more sustaining value. Neruda also adds his own social commentary concerning happiness. There is a cynical tone in Neruda’s poem. When Neruda states that “they telephone us/ with urgent voices/ to tell us that it is forbidden/ to be happy” (lns 39-42) he does not necessarily take this statement to be true. Neruda refuses to believe what the modern world is telling him but rather, is saying happiness is not forbidden but is indeed possible. Happiness is possible by following the truth that leads to “honest lives” (27) and disregarding the materialistic ways of the modern world. Nothing can end the human goodness or light we have inside. In “Never an illness, nor the absence” (61) Neruda explains that each person inherits with kindness; it is something everyone is born with. This idea of man’s initial goodness is similar to the idea expressed in the poem “It happened to me with some fellow who came” (59), in which Neruda describes a war against one’s own shadow. This shadow represents man’s doubts and depressions. Neruda concludes that people constantly fight their shadow because “they are as they were born” (ln 19). If humans are born with this darker side that they batt...