My Polish Teacher’s Tie by Helen Dunmore

My Polish Teacher’s Tie by Helen Dunmore

Description of the story

This is a narrative where the protagonist, Carla Carta, is the narrator. She begins by talking about her job as a catering staff in a school. She has to wear a uniform, a blue overall, and a white cap with the school logo on it and earns £3.89 per hour. The headmaster soon announced the start of a teacher exchange program, where some polish teachers were looking for “penfriends in English schools.” Carla was interested in the exchange program; hence he asked the headmaster for the address to write to. This is how Carla gets a penfriend in Stefan (Steve). They exchange letters, including poems like the one about a bird in a coal mine, the polish poetry, and the one about being half polish and half English. Later, the headmaster informed them that Stefan Jeziorny would be coming to the school and would be staying with Valerie Kenward. Carla was not happy about the news because Stefan had not informed her about his coming. He was even more sad that he chose to stay with Valerie, a teacher, and not her, a catering staff. When Stefan came, Valerie and another teacher made fun of him, but Carla walked up to him, greeted him, and introduced herself as Carla. Immediately, Steve recognized her as Carla Carta, his pen friend. He held his hand and sang a polish song that reminded Carla of a song her mother used to sing for her.

Themes

There are two main themes I was able to identify in this narrative. The first one is identity, which was well illustrated by Carla, who began by identifying herself as a catering staff, who wears a uniform and earns a small salary. From this story, we realize that Carla had low self-esteem as she was afraid that if Stefan found out about her job, he would never want to be associated with her. Carla also identifies herself as half polish and half English. Her mother was Polish and taught her the Polish language until she was six years old. Her father stripped her of her identity when he put a stop to it, claiming that now that Carla was in an English school, speaking Polish would confuse. Although she could not speak or understand Polish after many years, she was able to identify some of the words in the poems and songs that her mother used. Finally, she was also able to identify her love for poetry as she received many poems from Stefan.

The second theme is class, which is demonstrated by different characters in the story. In the beginning, Carla compares herself with teachers. She looks at herself as someone who wears a uniform (probably just like school children) while teachers paid for their breakfast. The uniform is a symbol of a low class, while teachers being able to pay for their breakfast is a symbol of a higher class. Also, the fact that teachers hardly recognized caterers showed that teachers considered caterers as low-class people. This is stamped by the fact that the headteacher kept forgetting Carla’s name. This means that Carla was not an essential person in the school; that is why it was hard to remember her name.

Symbolism

The story has used a lot of symbols. Among them is the key symbol, the polish teacher’s unusual tie. This was a sign of hope. It symbolized a place where people were not judged based on their jobs or their class. It also symbolized Carla’s freedom to claim back his Polish identity and her love for poetry. Another symbol was the bird in the coal mine. It got lost in the underground tunnel; then, it sang until it died because no one was able to find it. This symbolized the deprivation of Carla’s Polish identity and talent in poetry. The fact that his father put a stop to her polish language, it was now hard for her to speak or understand the Polish language. Also, since she could not read poetry after school, she had been missing out on a lot. The other symbol used is the headmaster’s sheaf of papers, which symbolized how busy he was. Also, him speaking very loudly “like someone who was deaf” was a symbol of authority. Finally, there is the polish poems and song, which are a symbol of recognition. They made Carla recognize her identity and embrace it.

The topic “My Polish Teacher’s Tie.”

The title is divided into three parts My-Polish teacher’s-Tie. “My” is a symbol of ownership coming from the fact that Stefan was Carla’s friend. That is, Stefan belonged to the narrator in away. Polish teacher comes from the fact that Stefan was a Polish teacher and wrote many polish poems to Carla. Then there was Stefan’s tie, which was wider than a usual tie, and it was red with bold green squiggles on it. It attracted the attention of many, but its only Carla who liked it. This is because, to her, it was a sign of the hope that Stefan had brought to her. She described it as “a flag from another country, a better country than the ones either of us lived in.” This is because in the countries they lived in, there was marginalization-based n status, and for Carla, her identity had been lost. Therefore, the topic is a summary of the impact that Stefan (the Polish Teacher) had on Carla in helping her get her identity and self-esteem.

My reflection

I enjoyed reading through this story because I identified with the protagonist in various ways. Just like her, there are times I have lost my identity and my talents. As a kid, I loved drawing, but my parents wanted me to focus on my studies and do sports in my leisure time. This story reminded me of the many inspirations and dreams I had about my talent, but now it is like I have lost it. However, the story of Carla has left me motivated to go back and try recovering my drawing skills and inspirations. I believe that people should be allowed to be who they indeed are and not what other people want them to be. Therefore, I will go for it and become the artist that I always wanted to be.