Yes. In this poem, Neruda tries to delineate the journey of the human ‘life’ from its infancy to and beyond. With a view to expressing the changes that the ‘life spirit’ undergoes through its journey from an infant to an and beyond , Neruda uses ‘foot’ as a metaphor. That is why he calls ‘life’ during infancy as the infant foot and the life spirit of an as the ***** foot.
The whole poem can be summed up as the ‘surrender’ of life force to societal pressures. During infancy, the child’ spirit dreams of infinite possibilities and hence dreams of becoming a fruit or a butterfly. Once it starts growing in society the harsh realities of life expressed as ‘stones, bits of glass, ladder, and rough surface of the earth’, teach the infant spirit that it is a ‘foot’ which means ‘you have a role’ to play in the society and ‘you are an individual subservient to the whims and fancies of the society’. Once the infant spirit gradually accepts its defeat and tries to live in conformity with the norms of the society, it becomes an ****. This is expressed metaphorically as the ‘foot being imprisoned in a shoe’.
Once you become a member of the society you learn to live like others, giving up your pleasures and gradually you get to know the realities of life. You go on slogging throughout your life without indulging in ‘love and sleep’ which symbolically represent your rights on this earth. You forego your rights and live like an ** and serve the society until you and you get your freedom after your **. As long as your life spirit is in your body you have human awareness and you are aware of your limitations. Once you you lose human awareness and your spirit is free to enjoy its freedom.
In the poem, Neruda does not speak of the possibilities of the human spirit ‘rebelling’. Nor does he say that human spirit is being crushed by oppressive forces; the human spirit does not commit **. On the contrary, he describes the journey of the human spirit as an infant’ foot until it becomes an foot and after its how it becomes free again. From this, it can be argued that Neruda’ poem is a salute to the human spirit for braving all odds and completing one’ cycle of life and ***** peacefully, and not rebelliously.
