The poem “Capital Punishment” is first and foremost about a prison chef, preparing the last meal for an Americanprisoner on death row (Alexis, Sherman, 6); likewise, “The Deer at Providencia” is about a female on an unusual trip who witnesses a deer being attacked by a few men while it’s caught in a trap. The nature of the suffering of a living thing in the essay, “The Deer at Providencia” and the poem, “Capital Punishment” is portrayed by both authors as absolutely cruel, but yet is unavoidable because it’s a part of life.

The theme of suffering portrayed in “Capital Punishment” not only the case of the American citizen on death sentence, but can also be applied to the narrator. Though the chef has to organize the ultimatefood consisting of a baked potato, salad, and a tall glass of water, he doesn’t automatically believe that what is happening to the American citizen is right, or acceptable, the narrator has a sandwich hidden away for him in case he gets hungry if the electrocution doesn’t work (Alexie, Sherman, 11)

In the essay, the deer is seen to be suffering a lot when the three North American men stand and watch how a dying deer suffers and struggles, in order to have it for their dinner, they then kill the skinny deer by tying a rope around its neck and making it unable to escape, not even a single person tries out to help the deer, including the villagers and the travelers who from very diverse backgrounds, just watched silently while passing by (Dillard, Anne, 5). The narrator points out that during the lunch hour while she/he together with the villagers enjoyed the meals that were prepared out of another deer and fish that was killed on the previous day, and while eating, the villagers looked frequently at the suffering deer. The rare bottom of the deer’sneck appeared to be red and there were some bruises bleeding within the muscles, the deer could not stand or move because three of its legs were tied and linked with rope under its jaw. The deer paused continually, motionless, its eyes wearing a veil, with only its ribcage in movement, and the only sound that could be heard was its breath, the deer struggled and eventually gave up for death.

On the other hand, in the poem of “Capital punishment”, the prisoner is prepared for the last meal, but he seems not to be in need of much, the Indian killer can be seen suffering in various ways, the prisonerpressed hard his fist all the way down on a white’s man throat just to have a bet. On the other hand the narratorsemotions and pity for the deer’s suffering is not clearly seen, the narrator also does not offer open ideas on suffering. She describes how she and the villagers enjoyed a meal from anotherdeer killed on the previous day, and that she enjoyed the meat very much, though it can also be seen that the narrator was to some extent affected by the suffering of the deer, she points out that, she was the only one looking indifferent with the rest when the deer was being killed, and she said to them “Gentlemen of the city, what surprises you? That there is suffering here, or that I know it?”, she also says that she feels very old and energetic while watching the deer suffer, and she has in fact thought about suffering as well as humans, and in her view such sufferings are all mysteries(Dillard, Anne, 9).The narrator in “Capital Punishment” can be described as suffering because of his opposition of the death penalty, the narrator sympathizes with the Indian inmate, he prepares for him the last meal while he waits for his execution time to reach, he also hide an extra sandwich for the prisoner to eat incase the electrocuting process fails, and the inmate can eat it while the engineers works to restore it back, he prepares that

last meal for free just as he signed up for the last war, the narrator also says that he remembers everything as if it was his first kiss, this is because the electrocuting chair glows with brighter light when its switched on(Alexie, Sherman,19). The narrator can also be seen as suffering when she says that “I want you to know I tasted a little of that last meal with the same fork and spoon that was used by the Indian killer”. The narrator also says that another definition of the word “kill” should be added to the dictionary, he finishes by saying that he is a witness who prepared the last meal for the Indian man who was executed, and he concluded by saying “and have learned this: If any of us stood for days on top of a barren hill during an electrical storm then lightning would eventually strike us and we’ll have no idea for which of our sins we were reduced to headlines and ash.”

In conclusion, it can be seen that the reasons for the suffering of the deer and the Indian prisoner are not justifiable, first, in the current world where the execution of offenders is highly condemned by most countries, it can be said that the reasons are not justifiable, Indian prisoner is being electrocuted to death because he was a killer, he suffers so much in prison waiting for his death, and then he ends up dying a very painful death, instead the authority could have handed him a fair death free from suffering. On the other hand the reasons for the suffering and eventually death of the deer are also not justifiable; the deer is killed in a very suffering manner simply because those people who killed it wanted to have a meal out of it.

Works Cited

Alexie, Sherman. “Capital Punishment.” Making Arguments About Literature: A Compact Guide and Anthology. Ed. Clifford, John; Schilb, John. Boston: Beford/St.Martin’s, 2005. 656-659. Print.

Dillard, Annie. “The Deer at Providencia.” Making Arguments About Literature: A Compact Guide and Anthology. Ed. Clifford, John; Schilb, John. Boston: Beford/St.Martin’s, 2005. 503-506. Print.

Kennedy, X J, and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Boston: Pearson, 2013. Print.