Chapter 2 "Reapers" Summary

"Reapers" is an eight-line poem told in the first person. The poem describes black field workers sharpening their blades and then chopping silently at the weeds in the field. A horse-pulled mower also moves through the field, cutting everything in its path. The mower's blades slice a field rat, which lets out a squeal. The blade, glistening with the rat's blood, continues chopping weeds.

Chapter 2 "Reapers" Analysis

The poem presents a bleak picture of destruction. The workers sharpen their deadly weapons and continue their slashing without emotion. The blades of the mower cut through the field rat and keep moving. All except for the narrator ignores the evidence of the blades' destruction, the rat's blood. There is a sense of lifelessness in the poem that ties into Karintha's adult state of mind in the previous chapter.