WEEK 3 QUESTION 2

In the poem titled "Commitments", the author Essex Hemphill is talking about his life as a homesexual and how he is so different from everyone else in the family. The images throughout the story highlight the fact that in the photos he is the only one that has no children in his hands and the small children are held by their parents. One of the highlights that Hemphill stated was "My arms are empty, or around the shoulders of unsuspecting aunts expecting to throw rice at me someday." Here he is a homesexual and everyone else in the family is married with children. The interpretation in the end of this quote means that if his family find out that he is homesexual that rice will be thrown at him. Meaning that most likey it will be very difficult for them to accept the fact that they have a homosexual in their family. He is afraid of how his family might react toward him after they find out.