Analysis of Daya Dissanayake's poem interview : First Year 2nd semi

Personal Analysis of interview

Unemployment rate is high among people with the highest
level of school qualification and higher educational qualification. Higher unemployment among the educated is attributed to a skills mismatch between labour market requirements and the education system. Yet the educational institutions produce large number of graduates who are not required for the available job.

This concept is sarcastically penned down in Daya Dissanayake’s poem Interview. The speaker of the poem goes to an interview without his CV. The readers come to know from the first stanza that he got through his Advance level in Bio Science and is seeking a job. In the present time it is not possible for all the bio science students to enter the universities similarly it’s not possible for them to get job in their respective fields. To secure any job in this scenario is very difficult and this makes the candidate to request for any job. The candidate is very reluctant to take his CV to the interview as he is not going to get a job according to his qualification. Whatever he studied in school for all thirteen years becomes waste as it becomes inappropriate to get a job.

The writer symbolically expresses the carelessness of the higher educational authorities in changing the education system which is not suitable for the present job market. He uses the image of a carpenter producing ‘square pegs’ instead of round pegs and it struggles to fit in the round holes. Here the poet highlights the present scenario of the candidates who get placed in a job which is not relevant to their field of studies. Carpenter here symbolizes the education system and the pegs symbolizes the products of this education system and the ‘holes’ symbolizes the availability of job.

no one bothers to tell him
all the holes are round
and too few

These lines convey that no higher educational authorities are bothered to change the prevailing education system according to the demand of the job market. The poet also conveys the message that the job opportunity in the present world is very competitive and less in number. Thus the candidates have to compete to grab their opportunity in the quick span of time. The poem ends in a sarcastic tone.

Reference :
http://www.salary.lk/home/job-and-career/career-tips/higher-education-leads-to-high-unemployment-truth-or-a-myth