Marks

Out of all the poems I read, I enjoyed this one much more. I thought it was very funny and it kind of relates to my family life.

T The tone in this poem is kind of depressed and sardonic. It is depressed because she seems a little upset that her family gives her arbitrary rankings to measure her value. Instead of mentioning her love and kindness, the husband and kids mention her dinner, how she was in bed, and laundry. They say she is passing the class of being a mother and wife, but there is still room to improve. It is sardonic because she jokes that she is dropping out of being a mother/wife. She is irritated and tired of her family taking her for granted, but is sarcastic and comical about it.

W The word choice is very effective in relating her performance to school work. A, B plus, incomplete, average, improve, Pass/Fail, and dropping out all relate to grades and school. Pastan shows that she does some things well and others not so much, just like students do in real life.

I There is not very much imagery in this poem. Although I can picture her family acting like teachers giving her grades on being a mother and wife, there are no vivid scenes crafted with details. The details just show what her husband, son, and daughter think of her performance.

S As for style, there is little rhyme scheme or patterns that I can pick out. Every four lines it switches perspectives. It goes from husband to son to daughter and each of these sections are ended with a period. These are the only periods in the poem and separate it into 3 obvious sections. The only commas in the poem are for lists and appositives. They help the poem flow better and make it grammatically correct.

T The theme of this poem is the unfair judging of mothers in family life. Mothers and wives are expected to be the cooks, maids, and sexual partners of the husbands. They must help their kids with everything and aim to please their husband. This poem perfectly captures that because the family is giving the mother grades on how she is doing her duties. She is valued on what skills she brings to the table as a mother and wife, not who she is as a person.

I can kind of relate to this poem because my mom is similar to this one. She gave up her career after my brother and I were born to focus on being a mother. Although she is doing more things now, for a long time her job was to take care of my 2 brothers and myself. She drove us to school, practices, and games and she cooks and cleans just like many mothers. Besides that I don't really relate to this poem. I often help out with the cooking and cleaning in my house, but my mother still takes the main role. I kind of grade her on her performance by telling her when I don't like the food she makes, but that is the extent of it. I just really enjoyed this poem, so I picked it.