Final Analysis on Dahlia Ravikovitch's "You Can't Kill a Baby Twice"

The poem "You Can't Kill a Baby Twice" by Dahlia Ravikovitch was a piece in direct response to the massacre at the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila during the second Israeli invasion of Lebanon. At its most literal level, it is a criticism of the event; it showcases what happened and how people were affected. It is very emotionally traumatizing and rousing. At its next level, it presents themes of loss of innocence over the loss of life: that the babies being killed are the young ones inside of all of us being lost to the cruelty of the world instead of actual babies being killed (of which, to be fair, there were plenty). These two levels were basically how far my depth of understanding went (besides maybe an ostensibly over-analyzed layer about the holocaust). But as my research continued and as I gathered more and more insight and perspective into the piece, a third level arose. This one exhibited the sentiment that the loss of innocence comes from the commanding to individuals by a state to perform  terrible acts, that the individual soldiers of the Israeli army were forced to act as an extension of the wishes of the Israeli government against their own wishes. These three layers of meaning in the poem are how my understanding of the poem developed with increased research and contemplation.

The first layer was the literal one: the historical analysis, the criticisms of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. It is a layer that can be understood completely merely by brief research on the first line of the poem, "By the sewage puddles of Sabra and Shatila," (Ravikovitch 1). This is where Ravikovitch first presents the setting and the focus, the massacres. Then she goes on, describing more about the event. "Night after night. / First they shot, / they hanged, / then they slaughtered with their knives" (Ravikovitch 6-9). This describes the methods of the killers in the massacre. The Phalangists (the killers) shot, lynched, and gruesomely stabbed and slashed the victims over the several days the massacre occurred. Ravikovitch also describes one of the things that happened during the massacre, when the Israeli soldiers on the outside lit the camps up with large searchlights to aid the Phalangists, "Our soldiers lit up the place with searchlights / till it was bright as day" (Ravikovitch 16-17). The most obvious layer was essentially a description of the events that took place, used to highlight the brutality and barbarism of the event. It's directness does not remove its meaning or its power. It is the most obvious layer, and still manages to hold such a powerful message in it.

The second layer goes beyond literal death. It focuses more on the loss of innocence rather than the loss of life. Each description of children's deaths, like this one, "And the children already lay in puddles of filth, / their mouths gaping, at peace" (Ravikovitch 22-24), is actually a symbol for innocence. Her focus on the children and emphasis on the fact that once they are dead, they cannot be removed again is a testament to this. "No one will harm them" Ravikovitch 25). Once innocence has been removed from a person, it cannot be removed again. You cannot lose innocence twice, which brings us to the title line, "You can't kill a baby twice" (Ravikovitch 26). While this statement is true on a literal level, it is also a symbol. Once the metaphorical baby has been killed, innocence has been removed, it cannot be 'killed' again. This layer exists to highlight the cost events like Sabra and Shatila have on all of us, not just the victims; brutality kills the babies inside everyone, hollows them out and shoves them into a world where innocence is dead.

The deepest layer focuses on the unwillingness of individuals to do things their overlords tell them. First it is important to note the identity of Ravikovitch; she is a lifelong resident of Israel and a Jew. So when she says "Our sweet soldiers" (Ravikovitch 29), she refers to the Israeli soldiers, the ones responsible for (in theory) guarding the refugee camps, but in reality the ones who encouraged, let in, and aided the Phalangist militia that carried out the massacre; the ones found responsible by hearing for the massacre later. But she still empathizes with them. Her view is that the soldiers were not responsible, that the Israeli state was. She maintains that everything done by the soldiers was done begrudgingly, under direct orders from the higher-ups. "a soldier yelled at / the screaming woman from Sabra and Shatila. / He was following orders" (Ravikovitch 19-21). she emphasises that what the soldiers did was done while being directly overseen by the state. She also emphasises the fact that the soldiers didn't want to be there, they just want to come home undamaged, "All they ever asked / was to come home / safe" (Ravikovitch 31-33). They were not there to kill Arabs of their own personal vendettas. They did not wish to witness the brutal murder of thousands. They just wanted to be safe and in their homes. But they were soldiers, who exist only as extensionsions of the evil wishes of their state, and so they partook in this heinous event.

"You Can't Kill a Baby Twice" is an incredibly meaningful and evocative piece. It exists on many layers, each one more arresting and revealing than the last. It's most literal layer is a criticism on the massacre of Sabra and Shatila. This layer expresses the hideous deeds and repulsive actions carried out during it, highlighting the terribleness and loathsomeness of what happened. The next layer is hidden in the symbolism of dead babies and children, and carries the message that atrocities kill innocence in everyone, and once innocence is lost it cannot be lost again. The deepest layer is one that communicates that individual soldiers exist only as continuations of the wishes of their state, and the soldiers were not to blame for the massacre. They did not want to be there. They were forced to be where they were and behave how they did by their commanders. They, like everyone involved in events like the massacre of Sabra and Shatila, lost something that once lost cannot be lost again. They lost their innocence. Ravikovitch presents these distinct, and yet intertwining layers in her poem to show the faults and to criticize what happened at the massacre of Sabra and Shatila.