We are the Wounders and We are the Healers: A Paradox

Surbhi Jain (21213684)

3BPSENGNCR

Humanities and Social Sciences, Christ University, Delhi NCR

AEN321N: Additional English III

Aditi Dirghangi

20 August 2022
 We are the Wounders and We are the
Healers: Paradox
Linda Hogan is a native American writer, novelist, environmentalist and writer of short stories.
She has a particular affinity with nature because Native Americans place a high value on the
natural world. She wrote several pieces, one of them is titled "Waking up the Rake."

The essay starts with the odd but beautiful comparison between the narrator and her grandmother
about how they both are so similar in nature despite the contrasting factor that one person is old
and another is young. They are both morning people and one can see the future of the narrator
who was a young child in her grandmother. Similarly, the past of the grandmother can be seen in
the narrator. The phrase "the new interwoven with the ancient" in the text refers to how closely
they resemble one another that it seems like they are intertwining and becoming one. She also
says that it is the earth’s old habit of turning over and over again as history repeats itself.

Rake is a metaphor for removing the old or the dead to make room for the emergence of the fresh
and youth in the title "Waking Up the Rake." In general, rakes are used to remove dead leaves,
but in this context, it signifies that as old people pass away by "raking," it makes room for new
people to arrive, continuing the inexorable and never-ending cycle of life and death.

The narrator continues, "Our job is our Altar," indicating that she regards her work as her
religion and puts a lot of effort into it. We can observe that the narrator talks about how silence is
needed to enter the world of birds in the sentence "There is a silence needed here before the
individual enters the bordered world the birds occupy..." This implies the same respect and
reverence that one would exhibit in a temple or church. Additionally, she quotes a sufi who said,
"Yes, worship God, go to church, sing praises, but first tie your camel to the post." She does this
to illustrate the idea that one should finish their work and take care of the practical matters before
praying to God. She blends work and religion when she accepted a position at the "Birds of Prey
Rehabilitation Foundation," making her work her religion.
She chose the job to clean cages primarily because she loves birds and wants to be near them all
the time. She thought of birds as her teachers. She deals with numerous animal corpses and dead
bodies on a daily basis at work. She became so engrossed in her profession that she now
considers the rat skin, pristine white jaw bones with ivory teeth and deer carcasses to be
beautiful. She describes the brilliance and beauty that the medieval doctors discovered when they
dissected the dead bodies and observed the scarlet organs and smooth, glistening bones. A
gorgeous leather coat is made from those dead bodies or "the leathery skin." In this case, we
observe that the narrator finds beauty in the dead carcasses of animals, which is highly
counterintuitive given that most people regard life to be beautiful which is the opposite of death.

The narrator wishes to protect birds since humans cause a lot of harm to them, including
shooting, hitting with cars, getting caught in leg hold traps, poisoning, and becoming entangled
in wire fences. Animals approach humans too closely, and humans must approach animals in the
same way in order to heal them. However, when the birds are being rehabilitated, they develop
an excessive amount of trust in people, which is quite detrimental for them in the long run.
Because of this paradox, people both heal and harm them, which is why it is said that "We are
the wounders and we are the healers.". Humans and animals have a love-hate connection in
which they are both essential to one another but also harm one another in various ways.

The paradox of psychiatry, where the identifying and categorization of problems and illnesses
both allows them to be treated with and healed but also makes them more prominent and
conscious, is comparable to the paradox of the healer and wounders in Waking up the Rake.

Without identifying the issues, we will not be able to solve them, but by doing so, we also
reinforce them. The same issue arises when nursing the birds as reliance develops as part of the
healing process.

Surbhi Jain
(21213684)
3BAPSENGNCR