Latin Women Pray Vs. Journey Of The Magi

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“The Grumbling Believers”
Religion is a very controversial issue in every race, time, and generation. Whether someone “believes” or not is always an issue in everyday life for many people. In “Latin Women Pray” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the writer is looking upon religious customs as a type of joke. Similarly in T.S. Eliot’s “The Journey of the Magi”, the speaker is grumbling about a trip that he once made. When comparing these two poems, one can notice a very distinct difference, yet both poems are negative towards religion. Both speakers of the poem had a bad or somewhat confusing confrontation with their religious beliefs and in the end are either confused or mad about the conclusion. How can someone be so grumpy about religion or God altogether? Maybe the speakers had a bad experience which drove them to believe this way or they could be struggling with some new found hope. Although both poems discuss religion, the tone, imagery, and purpose are very different from each other.
The tone in “Journey of the Magi” is a complaining yet determined one. The speaker of the poem is a man who took a journey to see the Christ child. He speaks well of the infant child he traveled very far to see, but he seems somewhat hesitant to say that it was an overall good experience. The speaker tells of all the negative things that happened during his trip. He tells of the grumbling camel men, his sore feet, and the bad weather. He never mentions the pretty views or the Christ child in a positive way. The only mention of the child is “-feet kicking in empty wine-skins.” It seems that the speaker harbors some sort of bitterness. On the other hand, in the third stanza he admits, “I would do it again”. Meaning that he would make the terrible journey that he so roughly speaks about again, just to see the infant. Similarly the tone in “Latin Women Pray” is negative also. The speaker, which I gathered to...