of free verse allows him to distinctly focus on
memories, the blues, lists, and trades, endowing
each section with its own unique character.
Figurative Language
‘‘America, America’’ is rich with figurative lan-
guage, making it accessible to readers who have
no experiential way to relate to the material. In
the first and last sections, the speaker utilizes
flashback to relate his memories to the reader.
In the first section, the memory is of his time
three decades ago in a prison called Nuqrat al-
Salman, a harsh prison in the Iraqi desert. Along
with the memories of the prison, the speaker
recalls a specific newspaper cover page that
reminds him of the separation between the
media and the horrors of war. In the last section,
the speaker’s flashback is of his childhood, and
the tone and descriptions indicate a peaceful,
pleasant upbringing. The second flashback is a
counterpoint to the first and a clever way of tell-
ing the reader how his country has experienced
both contentment and upheaval.
The predominant figurative device in
‘‘America, America’’ is imagery. From start to
finish, the speaker relates rich images that evoke
a wide range of emotion in the reader. There is
sorrow and horror in the image of the bomb
victim, and there is nostalgia in the images of
Mark Twain and Marilyn Monroe. In fact, the
third section is almost like a series of snapshots
reflecting American culture and history, as fol-
lowed by a series of images reflecting how every-
day, humble life once was in Iraq. In the fourth
section, the speaker again goes through a series
of images, but here, the imagery is intimately tied
to symbolism. The image of the heroin syringe,
for example, may symbolize self-destruction and
indulgence, whereas the vaccines represent the
opposite use of syringes—for health and prog-
ress. Similarly, the speaker juxtaposes an image
of an Afghani beard with one of Walt Whit-
man’s, as followed by the image of Saddam
Hussein against the image of Abraham Lincoln.
The symbolism is rich and clear, and Youssef
manages it without much detail or explanation.
Other figurative language in the poem
includes metaphor, such as with the Iraqi
army’s back and the bombers described as
birds; simile, as with the media truck; irony, as
with the bomb victim depicted as conquering the
front page; repetition and anaphora, as in the
blues section; synecdoche and metonymy, as in
the naming of elements of American and Iraqi life
in section three; and oxymoron, as when the
speaker asks the soldiers who kill to also resur-
rect. Readers should remember that wherever
alliteration appears, it occurs only in translation.Blues Lyrics
Youssef devotes an entire section of his poem to
blues lyrics. This section adds to the overall col-
lage effect, as the poem contains memories, argu-
ments, snapshot imagery, and song lyrics. Blues is
a distinctly American style of music, so it is fitting
that Youssef included this style in his poem about
America. Blues songs came out of the African
American folk song tradition in the South,
which included work songs and spirituals. Such
songs are characteristically repetitious, sorrowful
or longing, personal, and structured in short stan-
zas. In Youssef’s blues song, these characteristics
are evident. He uses partial and whole repetition
within and between lines, and the song is about
the speaker’s desire to see his girl. Youssef takes
the blues lyrics out of their tradition when he
introduces the segment about the stranger being
afraid. This section is vaguer and more sym-
bolic—and thus less purely the blues.Historical Context
United Nations Sanctions against Iraq
After Saddam Hussein sent his Iraqi military to
invade the small, oil-rich nation of Kuwait, the
United Nations demanded Iraq’s disarmament.
Any facilities involved in producing weapons of
mass destruction were to be destroyed; the sanc-
tions were also originally intended to force Iraq
to help rebuild Kuwait. Iraq had proven itself to
be aggressive, and there were suspicions that the
nation’s government was already using weapons
of mass destruction against some of its own
people (the Kurds). When Iraq insisted that it
would rule itself without supervision from the
rest of the world, the United Nations imple-
mented economic sanctions against the country
in hopes that the ensuing hardship would force it
to comply with inspections and disarmament.
Without cash from international trade, Iraq
would be rendered unable to wage war. The
United Nations specified that Iraq could sell
only enough oil to cover food and medicine for
its people (part of the ‘‘oil for food’’ program).America, America