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Big Match

The poem is about a tragic occurrence during the civil war in Sri Lanka. It is etched in our history as the Black July of 1983. To learn about this poem, the first thing you need to do is speak to your parents or grandparents who had to experience this event.

Let’s dive in to the poem.

Title and Pun

The title has significance as there is a double entendre here. Big match stands for two things.

1. Cricket.
   It means cricket matches that are played between two schools – usually in the same town or city – annually (this is done in the form of a friendly rivalry). These are called big matches in Sri Lanka. The whole school would eagerly await these days. In Yasmine’s experience, who lived and experienced life in Colombo for the most part, big matches meant a lot of fanfare, hype and celebrations. Flags, cheering, hats, caps, motor parades – the works. This is a celebratory, entertainment-based sporting event. So, how is this relevant to ruthless bloodshed?

The poem compares the war to a sort of entertainment, especially to the politicians. She critiques the politicians who use violence and aggression of the communities to secure their positions of power (through the votes of the majority – so they will please the majority to get their votes, even though it meant that many innocent lives of minority people groups will be lost. Many families and promises and hopes and dreams will be gone forever. Regardless of these circumstances, the poet insists that the politicians view this war as a trivial thing, a mere tactic for them to gain their power.

‘The game’s in other hands in any case

These fires ring factory, and hovel,

And Big Match fever, flaring high and fast,

Has both sides in its grip and promises

Dizzier scores than any at the oval.’

The structure of the poem is important when we consider this part. It is placed between the poet trying to understand the root causes of the war, and the description of a Tamil man who is sure that he will be burned up in a few hours. The complications, the ramifications of the decisions made by ruthless politicians for their self-interest is has come to fruition and this has become a sort of game to them. The poet then inserts the above quoted passage. After mentioning how the people in power have treated this whole devastation as an advantage for them, she creates a poignant scenario of how beautiful and innocent lives are shattered, burned, broken and destroyed because of short-sighted, guiltless politicians.

The speaker address the war as a ‘game.’  She calls this frenzy a ‘big match fever,’ alluding to school cricket matches. The idea of this being some sort of entertainment is highlighted by the poem. Mentioning ‘scores,’ and the ‘oval’ once again solidifies this point. Oval reminds one of greatness in terms of cricket and conjures images of England. Test matches played at The Oval grounds are considered as pure and wholesome cricket entertainment. The comparison makes it clear that the war has become top-notch entertainment for the upper echelons of society who holds the reigns to the nation (the game is in other hands in any case).

2. A matchstick that can ignite fire

This is the other meaning – a matchstick. Such a small object which can cause devastation to entire cities. A small, almost negligible, weak and innocent flame – which grows into flaring, consuming and destructive oceans of orange and red flames. The poet points to how the violence has escalated from many years ago and mentions several incidents that were instrumental in fanning these flames of violence. Notice the fire related imagery in the poem that appear throughout the poem.

‘try to trace

The match that lit that sacrificial fire.’

‘See the first sparks of this hate…’

‘These fires ring factory…’

‘Flaring High and Fast…’

‘When those torches come within fifty feet…’

‘Curl like old photographs in flames’

‘Sri Lanka burns alive.’

These images powerfully capture how the small beginnings of racial violence can end up in the destruction of a nation.

Stanza 1

The first stanza introduces us to the situation. There is a contrast created between the ‘paradise’ where tourists flood in to experience the beauty, and the stark reality of violence. The writer juxtaposes violence with religious imagery right at the beginning of the poem – ‘temple and holy mountain’ captures the religiosity of the people and the rich culture that Sri Lanka boasts of. The significance placed on religion is contrasted with the ‘Racial pot that boils over.’ The writer hints at the irony or the hypocrisy of a people who resort to violence even when their culture is deeply entrenched in mettha – the Buddhist concept of ‘Love.’

The second part of the first stanza mentions a refugee (a person who was forced to leave the country because of a threat to life) who had probably left Sri Lanka during the violent period of 1950’s where the Tamil minority was met with many aggressive attacks. The writer repeats the word ‘lost’ to emphasize how these people who had to leave left behind their families, culture and everything that it involves – this is a identity reforming, changing process which is not easy.  He ‘hoped’ to find, shows us that there were things that he was expecting when he came back to Sri Lanka. The fact that he visited Jaffna is indicated through the phrase ‘among the palms.’

Palms are the most common trees in Jaffna, so it is most often used as an image to represent Jaffna. The writer later mentions the ‘palmyrah fences of Jaffna.’ This is the specific type of palm tree that grows in Jaffna.

Social Aspect

The lost boy lives in Toronto. His identity as a Sri Lankan will be complicated (fragmented) as he travels to Canada. The violence that he faces in his mother country makes his identity as a Sri Lankan a complex one. Just like a child who is facing physical or mental abuse at home has a complicated relationship with his parents, his home, it is somewhat similar for the refugees who face violence in their mother country just because of their ethnicity.

He will be deprived of his culture (food, religious rituals and observances, family dynamics, traditions) and his roots – his history. He will not be able to fall in love with a beautiful Tamil girl and go around the kovils, the palm trees, or the other areas of his hometown. All these social aspects will be taken away from him.

Economic Aspect

On the other hand, there are two areas of economic issues addressed in the first stanza. Firstly, the young boy who leaves, represents a large amount of people, including young people, who left the country in the 1950’s. When a large portion of the youth leave the country, there can be a big gap in the working force of a country. When educated, professionals leave the country (which happened during these times), it is called a ‘Brain Drain,’ because the economic production of the country will drop significantly.

In addition, the tourists who come to visit the island, that was widely known as the ‘Paradise,’ will be in a rush to leave the country since it is not safe. When the tourism industry is impacted negatively, the economy of the country will suffer significantly.

The writer hints at how this violence has an adverse impact on the economy of the country as well.

Stanza 2

‘This time’ the narrator is powerless. This indicates that the previous time this sort of violence occurred, they were able to help some of the people who were being oppressed. This time they are unable to ‘shelter’ (to give refuge, a space to hide) and ‘share’ (to provide lodging and food). Instead, they try to be ‘objective’ which is to be