In the poem Perhaps the World Ends Here Joy Harjo tell us the importance of the family and the home through the symbol of the kitchen table. The fiscal center of the home and the place of convergence of all activities in the home. The poem starts stating that the word starts and ends at the kitchen table. The kitchen table is a place of growth and leering were we gather as family and create memories. But are only the events and the people around that give it is importance, and the converging connections and relationships that make it the center. Perhaps the word will end ones we lose that connections.

Joy Harjo’s poem “Perhaps the world ends here” discusses life’s positive and negative aspects. The kitchen table is important because it is the center of the house, where everything important, big and small, happens and where a family unit lives. The image of “gifts of the earth” is used to describe food brought to the kitchen table extending the meaning of naturing into the second stanza. Food is a gift from the earth. The demonstration of eating turns out to be intrinsically associated with the land and nature, ‘gifts’ recommending the significance of nature. ” Our dreams drink coffee with us” so that their children can see them come to life. The extremely valuable kitchen table can be seen toward the end of the poem. The metaphorical “table,” which represents all of life, goes through “rain” and “sun” phases, which represent distinct times of those things. These weather patterns are used to create a hopeless illusion of happiness and sorrow for the living. The image of the “table” is always present and powerfully depicts support, regardless of the precise emotion.

How does Joy Harjo develop the idea of the kinds of conversations that take place at the kitchen table? How does she characterize the end of the world?