Casabianca - Ayyappa Paniker

Casabianca is a poem by renowned Malayalam poet Ayyappa Paniker. It deals with the aftermath of a situation similar to that depicted in the original poem Casabianca by Felicia Dorothea Hemans. The original poem deals primarily with the themes of patriotism, extreme filial behavior, and blind obedience. In it, a young boy, the son of the captain of a warship in the Battle of the Nile, maintains his post long after the ship has caught on fire and all others flee, eventually, resulting in his demise. He refuses to abandon ship with the others as his father, the captain, had instructed him to remain at the post until given further instructions. Unbeknownst to the boy, his father has perished in the ship below, and as a result of this, combined with the exemplary filial behavior displayed by the boy, the latter is burnt by the flames engulfing the boat, to the end, remaining at his post.

                This poem however, contains a small but incredulously important twist which manages to entirely change the theme of the poem. In Casabianca by Ayyappa Paniker, the boy turns out to be alive, having fled the ship when the fire came. By this minute change in the storyline, the author has managed to change the theme of the poem from that of blind obedience to that of rational thought and logical thinking.

                The poem begins with the father, apparently deeply anguished by his son’s passing, reciting the tragic tale of the fate that had befallen his son, to a team of reporters from the press.  It is important to note that the father seems to be displayed in multiple lights throughout the course of the poem. In the beginning, to a casual reader, it seems almost as if the father is exploiting the death of his son in order to gain publicity and fame. This concept is further reinforced by the following lines:

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“The devil of a father… With tears of joy”,

“Empty tears in his eyes”,

“…Brought the brood of press reporters…to take a look at the ashes”,

“…You must publish these details in the paper”,     <spoken by the father>

“He did look more or less like me so… if you please, you can take a picture of mine”. The final line was the father’s response upon being asked if he had, in his possession, any pictures of his son.

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This is, however, merely one image of the father. Another image of him, one portraying him as a kind and caring father, one deeply saddened by the imagined passing of his son, is reinforced in the following lines:

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“Empty tears in his eyes”. In this context, the presence of the word ‘empty’ to describe the father’s tears, could be indicative of his remorse and simultaneously, his acceptance of his inability to do anything to change that which had already happened.

“These days you won’t find, in all the three worlds a son like mine”,

“Why should I turn this example into mere poetry”,

“For the third time did the father now shed his tears – this time, for the son alive”.

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The sole aspect of the father that is not open to interpretation in either case is the fact that, in the very end of the poem, upon his son’s return, his joy is genuine.  The twist of the poem occurs in the 5^th stanza, when the boy comes running towards the father. Up until this point, the reader has been under the impression that the son had lost his life in the fire. Upon his return however, the son speaks on the concept of blind obedience and logical reasoning, and how the former should make way for the latter. This is the twist in the poem. Up until this point, the poem had been following the theme of the original Casabianca, the placing of filial love and blind obedience above all else being the prominent theme. The son speaks of rational thinking and indirectly, of the value of human life. He speaks of how, the tale (which is still being taught in schools), should be altered so as to place wisdom and logic ahead of blind obedience. This could be subliminally symbolic of the teaching of religion in schools, the doing so of which, is actively stunting the logical and reasoning capabilities of future generations. This parallel can be drawn from the following facts:

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The son speaks of the “…old tale…still being taught in schools”. The ‘old tale’ in this interpretation at least, could be symbolic of religion.

The concepts of filial love and blind obedience are incredulously abundant in most religious texts. The story of Abraham, for example, blindly obeying God by being prepared to sacrifice his own son Isaac, is reflective of the concept of placing blind obedience ahead of rational thought. The lack of resistance put up by Isaac in the moments before he was to be sacrificed, is perfectly indicative of dangerously extreme filial love and the unquestionable status of the father in a household. This is not a singular example. The bible, as well as most other religious texts, are rife with such incidents. For example, God commands children to obey their parents, regardless of what the later instruct them to do (Ephesians 6:1-3). Under the law of the old testament, one of the main texts followed actively by the Jewish community, the breaking of the above law was seen as so grave an offense that God declared that the death penalty should be applied on disobedient and disrespectful children (Exodus 21:17). Such is the extent to which parental respect and filial love is present in religious scripts.

To sum it up, the son’s statement, “The old tale continues to be taught at school. We must change the tale…”, could be interpreted to be a small statement on the part of the author, encouraging rational thought, logical reasoning, and a scientific temper as such, in the youth, rather than filling their heads with folk tales that could be harmful to them in the long run

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Throughout the course of the poem, the image of both the father as well as the son, becomes more and more tangible, and less open to interpretation. The father, for one, is depicted as kind and loving figure, one who feels deep remorse for the role he played in the supposed demise of his son. Whether or not he was exploiting the death of his son, is perpetually open to interpretation. What is not open to debate however, is the love that he, as a father, held for his son, as is masterly depicted in the final stanza of the poem.

The son, on the other hand, is something of a personification of the modern generation, one that places logic and self-value ahead of traditions, unnecessary respect, and outdated customs. He is unafraid to disobey his father, but does so only because he is absolutely sure that his father would rather that he disobeyed the latter and lived, than obeyed the latter and died.

“I saw the fire coming, I reached the shore. I thought I could explain it when Papa came”, is the line spoken by the son upon his return that reflects such sentiments.  The son is an embodiment of the unspoken logic that all deem correct, but few dare to implement.