Introduction
The relationships between parents and children may fascinate and challenge simultaneously. Some parents want to protect their children in unexpected situations, but it is usually hard for them to be separated, although it is shared. There are also situations when the impact of parenting is not enough to predict all threats and perceptions of the world outside.
The poems “To a Daughter Leaving Home” by Linda Pastan and “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy introduce two strong points of growing up and women’s attitudes toward changes. On the one hand, parents can do nothing but accept the fact that their children leave home. On the other hand, despite their influence and support level, society continues shaping their behaviors and attitudes. In Pastan’s and Piercy’s poems, the theme of women and their thoughts on children will be examined through the tone, diction, and connotations.
The Use of Language to Support the Theme in the Poems
In “To a Daughter Leaving Home,” the language and words convey the speaker’s anxious but supportive attitude toward a child leaving home, underling the importance of respect, cooperation, and inevitability. A quotation that helps develop the point of parent-child separation predictability is “the hair flapping behind you like a handkerchief waving goodbye” (Pastan, 2021, p. 1204). In almost every line, the speaker demonstrates her respect toward a child by controlling her intention to interfere and predict damage.
The combination of such words as “I kept waiting for the thud” or “screaming with laughter” proves a contradicting aspect of women’s thoughts about children because parents never stop thinking and caring for their kids (Pastan, 2021, p. 1204). Despite the preferred supporting tone and positive emotional implications, the author cannot ignore the irony of parenting when adults admire their children’s independence but always find it difficult to let them go. Pastan’s poem ends at the moment of separation. It lets the reader think of multiple options for the child; verifying there might be another outcome is not very successful and is even terrifying.
Compared to Pastan, Piecry’s diction and connotations provoke more depressing and frustrating experiences of parenthood and children’s home leaving. In “Barbie Doll,” the quotation about the girlchild’s “consummation at last. To every woman a happy ending” shows how tragic imposed expectations could be (Piercy, 2021, p. 1205). Although the story begins with a child “born as usual,” its progress “in a magic of puberty” when “her good nature wore out like a fan belt” evidences the correctness of the mother’s concerns and fears (Piercy, 2021, p. 1205).
Parents try their best by caring for their children and offering the most exciting things and clothes. However, it is not in their power to eliminate gender prejudice, oppression, and false outlooks. In her intention to get rid of her “big nose and fat legs,” a young girl prefers to end her life to demonstrate everything she could “look pretty” (Piercy, 2021, p. 1205). The author’s diction and play on words underline parents’ frustration about society’s impact on innocent children’s lives. This thought cannot but bother adults about the future of their children.
Conclusion
In poetry by Pastan and Piercy, motherhood is a crucial element of interpersonal relationships and the inevitability of children leaving home. Every mother can develop her attitude toward their children’s possibilities and progress in this world, but no one can deny that society has its impact. While Pastan explains the importance of childhood care and cooperation through its positive but anxious tone and connotations, Piercy’s diction and experience reveal the maddest outcomes of complex perceptions and associations. Both poems contribute to a better understanding of women and their thoughts on children, focusing on respect, support, and faith in a better future.
References
Pastan, L. (2021). To a daughter leaving home. In K. J. Mays (ed.), The Norton introduction to literature (14th ed., p. 1204). W.W. Norton & Company.
Piercy, M. (2021). Barbie doll. In K. J. Mays (ed.), The Norton introduction to literature (14th ed., p. 1205). W.W. Norton & Company.
Loading...
