‘TO HELP THE MONKEY CROSS THE RIVER’ by Thomas Lux

The poem ‘TO HELP THE MONKEY CROSS THE RIVER’ by Thomas Lux
expresses many complex ideas by ironically using a neutral and monotone voice.
While reading, the readers are able to image a documentary narrator narrating in a
nature documentary as the poem depicts a man observing a ‘scene’ in the wild. In
addition, the poet uses uneven rhyme schemes with jagged meters that produces a
confusing rhythm. Throughout the poem a persona narrates through a scene where
a monkey is trying to cross the river to get its food, while two predators, an anaconda
and a crocodile, is chasing it.
The initial theme that the poet is trying to present is the theme of the competitiveness
in the ranking system in education, especially towards the middle/high school levels.
Moreover, Lux is targeting the elitists that are avoiding all the struggles to bear the
fruit of modern education. In current societies, more and more spotlight is being put
on being the better than others. This behavior has pushed an idea of ranking
systems in schools force students to achieve better results by bringing an element of
competitiveness. Lux points out that some have an unfair advantage over others: “if
it looks like … anaconda or the croc will reach … raise my rifle and fire”. The
predatorial-prey cycle depicts the poet’s idea of the ranking system in schools by
presenting students that try hard as predators and the elitist students who get
monetary assistance or interference from their parents. By doing so, the poet
portrays two main ideas: the first one being that the ranking system creates an
unhealthy mindset for the students.
Instead of being focused on the betterment of oneself, the poet symbolizes the
climbing the ladders of the education system as “eating” the other students. To” eat”
something the prey must be killed in order to fulfill the predator’s survival. This
highlights the importance of being the best among peers in modern education
institution. By being the best, and only being the best, the talented students can
survive and thrive by stomping others and getting recognized by other members of
society. The poet compares this human behavior to wild animals that are set in a
natural environment. The stark comparison between humans and wild animals
present a criticizing aspect of the poem as the poet implies that humans are acting
like wild animals.
Secondly, the poet is trying to criticize another side effect of the hieratical education
system. The necessity of being the best among peers present in the question of
staying relevant has forced people who possess great material wealth to interfere
with the education of their child or children. “I raise my rifle and fire … just behind the
monkey” implies that the people with greater economic freedom use it in order to
‘encourage’ their child or children to survive. However, the persona decides not to
“shoot the snake, the crocodile” because “they’re just doing their jobs,”. The sense of
justification of interfering with nature’s cycle is bloated in this phrase, as the persona
is considering the side effects of his/her interference who is not in the nature cycle
itself. The poet’s mockery of the persona is presented as the persona claims that the
snake and the crocodile is “just doing their job” when, they are doing just the same
with the monkey – getting food to survive.
In conclusion, the poem can be interpreted in many different ways, but its main
theme seems to be the theme of modern education. Through vague portrayals and
metaphors, Lux creates a broad range of ideas and criticism towards the ranking
system in education. Mainly however, he criticizes the destructive nature of it, and
also the monetary interference being involved in it.