17 pages • 34 minutes read
Naomi Shihab NyeKindness
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1980A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context
“Kindness” appeared in Naomi Shihab Nye’s very first full-length collection, published when she was 28 years old. She grew up in a cross-cultural household, caught between American and Arab identities. Throughout her literary career, Nye traveled extensively around the globe; this brought her a range of experiences in both privileged and underprivileged environments, which she used to inform her writing. “Kindness,” although an early example of her work, highlights many of the themes that went on to reverberate through her later collections, such as compassion, tolerance, and understanding of others.
In its original publication, “Kindness” closed with an additional note: “Columbia, 1978.” The poem was based on a real-life experience of Nye’s while she was on her honeymoon in Popayán, Columbia in that year. While their holiday started off well, it quickly took a traumatic turn as they were robbed of their belongings and someone who had been riding the bus with them was killed. Nye and her husband were forced to recalibrate as they navigated an unfamiliar landscape without money or passports. They encountered a stranger who treated them with compassion and understanding, and Nye was inspired to sit down and write this poem.
Rather than allowing this experience to darken her view of humanity, the poet chose to view the memory through a small act of kindness. It taught her that though there is darkness and cruelty, there is also humanity that brings people together. Through her work, Nye attempts to communicate this message through the wider world.
Socioeconomic Context
Although Nye spent part of her childhood living in Jerusalem and traveled frequently, she grew up in America and was raised in a safe, financially stable environment drastically different from the one she experienced in Columbia. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Columbia saw a rise in violence, chaos, and drug trafficking. In 1965, several guerilla movements were established such as FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional, or the National Liberation Army), and others. Their efforts were funded by actions like kidnapping, torture, and terrorism, leading to a period of cataclysmic upheaval within the country.
In the 1970s, the decade of Nye’s visit, Columbia became saturated with drug traffickers; cocaine, in particular, was a large-scale export that instigated a rise in drug cartels and small civil wars. There was little retribution for much of the violence enacted during this time since many politicians and journalists were being employed by the cartels. The late 1970s to mid-1980s saw increased efforts to restore order, which only made the landscape more volatile. It is likely that the victim in “Kindness” was caught in one of these struggles, and that his death never found justice. But by immortalizing him, and men like him, Nye draws attention to the social turmoil and disparity, and highlights the need for kindness and healing all over the world.
Related Titles
By Naomi Shihab Nye
