Kafkaesque

Analysis

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Kafkaesque presents a nihilistic view on the Singaporean education system through the extended metaphor of cockroaches as students. Blind, frenzied movement is immediately made apparent by the distorted, labyrinthe structure of the poem which is analogous to the meandering and scuttling movement of cockroaches, creating a disconcerting mood and atmosphere. This demonstrates how students are forced to desperately navigate their way in the unforgiving “city”, akin to insects that struggle to survive in an environment where nobody cares for them. The immense stress that this causes them is well-known in Singaporean society. Initially, the kinaesthetic imagery of the “a thousand feeble legs/cracking out of cases” highlights the collective birth of numerous cockroaches that start off on the same plane. It is meant to put forth the idea that at birth, all infants were equally weak as suggested by the adjective of quality “feeble”. Additionally, they all possessed an inherent desire to move forward as shown through the verb “cracking” which vividly conveys a strong sense of agency to escape the entrapments of birth and start the journey of life, despite how physically weak they may be. The image of a “brown pulsating mass” accentuates this idea since “pulsating” connotes energetic restlessness. However, the fact remains that they are just a huge, uniform group of insects devoid of any individualism as implied by the noun “mass”. Cockroaches are also normally regarded as dirty pests that are all the same and need to be gotten rid of due to their sheer numbers, foreshadowing their ultimate deaths later in the poem since they are unwanted by society. Singaporean students are hence dehumanised and reduced to hordes of pests. 

The poem then moves on to discuss differentiated movement of the cockroaches, which parallels the streaming system in secondary school that separates students according to ability. Though born equal, external circumstances lead to separation and social inequality. This system has been the subject of much debate in recent years due to how privileged students are able to perform better due to access to significantly more educational resources while students from a lower socio-economic status are almost always relegated to lower streams, as highlighted by sociologist Teo Yeo Yenn in her book This is What Inequality Looks Like [1]. The interrogative “where will you go?” serves as the voice of parents, relatives and teachers that continually exhort students to study hard and make it to better streams, placing undue pressure on them. The differentiation is firstly seen through the analogy of some of the cockroaches being “Gifted with scraps;'' the pun on “Gifted” referring to students from the Gifted Education Programme who are showered with privileges and are thus better off in society. Their ability to move through the education system at an accelerated pace is encapsulated in the kinaesthetic image of them “go[ing] forth hastily on the Expressways”. The distinctly Singaporean feature of “Expressways”, which are special roads that allow motorists to travel from one area to another, is used to symbolise students in the Express stream who are able to complete their secondary school education within four years. Hence, they are able to “grow” and “thrive” better in the harsh society. This is juxtaposed with other cockroaches that “seethe in the shadows”, an image of bitterness, neglect and isolation. The harsh aural effect of the sibilant “s” consonant creates emphasis on their unpleasant experiences. This particular group, unlike the earlier cockroaches, have to “crawl by the Normal route”. The verb “crawl” suggests slow and laboured movement that stands in stark contrast with the “speed” of the elitists. “Normal route” refers to the Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) streams where students take five years instead of four to complete their education. Their choices for higher education are also limited. Subsequently, the kinaesthetic image of deprivation “shrivel slow callously purged” depicts their rejection from society, contributing to the overall pessimistic tone of the poem. The use of caesura in between every word creates an emphatic effect on their gradual deterioration, while the assonance observed in “slow” and “callously” reinforces the protracted nature of their suffering. Therefore, my poem reflects the inherent inequalities in the education system. 

Despite these differences, my poem takes on the view that all progress and pursuits are meaningless because death comes to all in the end, whether it be in one way or another. This is already foreshadowed in the mention of sustenance as “scraps”, which, although may be seen as privileges to cockroaches, it is in fact leftover food of a substandard quality. This exemplifies how the elites’ advantages over are miniscule and meaningless in the greater context of life and death. The cockroaches’ common fate is viscerally portrayed through the onomatopoeic “crunch” under car tyres, a harsh sound that allows readers to imagine the violent nature of their death. The imagery of  “shells crack/ organs spill/ wings sizzle underneath” augments this brutality by presenting a detailed description of how their bodies and innards are completely destroyed. These short, bare declaratives listed in quick succession also demonstrate the objective, unfeeling, certain and fast manner in which they are killed. Hence, despite successes and class advantages, death still comes to them and takes everything away. This emphasises the poem’s nihilistic view, arguing that life is without meaning, purpose or intrinsic value. The relentless race forward is useless as the harsh Singaporean society will only crush the spirit and soul, symbolically represented by the cockroaches’ deaths. 

The cause of the cockroaches’ suffering is presented through the symbol of ‘towers’ as passive onlookers at their deaths; representing authoritarian educational institutions that have little regard for their students’ well-being. The imagery of “teeming twisted towers”, emphasised by alliteration, portrays the institutions as having insidious and sinister qualities. Additionally, “teeming” highlights their sheer number and possible ubiquity, implying that it will be almost impossible to escape from them. This is best shown through how the towers are almost alive and personified, keeping watch over the city by “overlooking every feeler”; an omnipotent an oppressive force that polices any observable movement. Hence, the juxtaposition between “set free” and “still beneath” signals that despite seemingly able to move around out of their own accord, the cockroaches are not really free at all because they are under the superior authority of the towers. The difference in height and depth is also clearly made apparent here, with the towers being tall and hence powerful while the cockroaches are small and insignificant in comparison. Moreover, my poem also suggests that the institutions treat students as dispensable. No sympathy is given to the dead cockroaches and instead, the towers are again personified to be “calculative” and simply “breed another batch”. This demonstrates that institutions treat students akin to factory objects that can be manufactured in mass quantities when more are required, so their deaths are inconsequential since more of them can be simply produced. This idea is echoed by the bookend effect, created by the repetition of the word ‘infestestation’. At the start, the word is used in the singular form, focussing on the experience of one batch of students for the majority of the poem, while at the end, it is used in the plural form, suggesting that all past, present and future batches of students experience the same sorry fate of being at a lower state of being, replaceable and treated as nothing more than pests in society. On top of this, the use of objective third person throughout accentuates the sense of unfeeling detachment of the higher authorities toward the students. Therefore the passivity and cruelty of the educational institutions is highlighted. 

In conclusion, Singapore is a stressful and unequal society where grades can disproportionately determine a person’s worth. From a young age, students are subjected to intense examination preparation and forced to strive for perfection, myself included. This personal experience, along with recent debate on social inequality, inspired me to write this poem. Although the Ministry of Education has recognised the problem and announced plans in 2019 to scrap the streaming system in favour of subject-based banding, the grades-obsessed culture of Singaporeans is unlikely to change anytime soon. Overwhelming stress will continue to be a sinister plague that creeps on the collective minds of students, infecting our society with a sickening pestilence. This is truly a Kafkaesque world. 

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Endnotes

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[1] This Is What Inequality Looks Like. Singapore: Ethos Books, 2018.

On page 107, Teo mentions that “students in ‘elite’ schools are disproportionately from higher socioeconomic status households as compared to students from ‘neighbourhood’ schools. On the other side of the spectrum, among students placed in lower educational tracks (‘Normal Technical’), there are disproportionate numbers of students from ethnic minority and lower-income households.