The Death Of Santa Poem Analysis

Analysis of “The Death of Santa” by Charles Webb In Charles Webb's “The Death of Santa Claus,” the speaker describes an old and worn out Santa Claus who is having serious health problems who later on dies. Santa dying helps us determine the theme of death. Not just death, but also the death of children's innocence and imagination. The beginning of the poem tells us about the Santa and his worsening condition which will, later on, take his life. Towards the end, the poem tells us about a kid who doesn't `believe in Santa anymore along with his peers. This kid is growing up and he’s losing his imagination. If he doesn’t believe in Santa then Santa dies in his world. Webb starts off by saying, “He’s been having chest pains for weeks” (1).

“He’s let his Blue Cross lapse”(4). He’s going to the hospital to get healthier or by getting more kids to believe in him. The fifth through eighth support this by saying, “Blood test make him faint”(5) and “waiting rooms upset his stomach”(7 - 8). At the hospital, Santa doesn't get a lot of help and he thinks nothing of it, “it’s only indigestion anyways, he thinks”(8 - 9). These lines tell us about the people who don’t know if they should believe in Santa or not. Santa returns to his workshop and starts working, while kids continue to stop believing in Santa Claus. And eventually, he dies of a heart attack, “he feels as if a monster fist has grabbed his heart and won’t stop squeezing. He can't breathe, and the beautiful white world goes black”(11 - 15). This shows that once you stop believing in things that bring you joy the world goes black. This also shows that a lot of people don’t believe in Santa anymore. “Mrs. Claus tears out of the toy factory wailing”(17 - 19). There are people out there that try to make other people believe but it’s not helping enough. The speaker still believes in Santa but all of the kids around him don’t, “I’m eight telling my mom that the stupid kids at school say Santa’s a big fake”(23 - 26). Later on in the poem, the speaker’s mom starts to tear, “Tears in her throat, the terrible news rising in her eyes”(28 - 30). The mom is sad because to a lot of kids Santa is