We all need a friend, someone who we can always count on to be there especially when you need them most. Everyone goes through difficulties and life crisis. A shoulder to lean on is the only way we can release these feelings. In Audre Lorde's poem "Hanging Fire" we see a young 14 year old girl who has many feelings in which she needs to let go but has no one to share them with.
"I am fourteen and my skin has betrayed me" (571). I interpreted the poem believing that Audre Lordes is not just the writer, but also the persona. As if she is the 14 year old girl going through these difficult moments. "My skin has betrayed me" (571), is symbolism for change. Not only what she is going through at the moment but how she is the black girl in the neighborhood, the outrage in this racist culture. At this age she is going through changes which affect every possible way of life. She is going through changes on her body which may be related to puberty. She is going trough changes inside herself, in which she does not appreciate, and so she believes that her body is betray ling herself. This can also be looked at in the line in the next stanza "my room is too small for me" (571). She does not want to grow up, life for her would be much better if time would just stop so that she may live that moment forever. But she is stuck in this world which is telling her that change is bad and that is insisting her to remain the same, unfortunately there are some things she just can't control.
Varela 2.
Loneliness can lead to many things; depression, illnesses, suicidal thoughts etc. "momma's in the bedroom with the door closed" (571), shows how she has no one to go to. She is oppressed in her own world where she is lost in her thoughts and has no one to guide her through her struggles. This line is repeated through out the poem three times, which I believe mean that everything would be different if only her mother cared.