The Struggles of Being a Wife and Mother How does Rita Dove display the struggles of being a wife and mother in Daystar? The poem Daystar tells a story of a woman and her day as a mother and wife. She plays a role as a stay at home mom, most likely while her husband is at work. The woman feels like she has no freedom in her life. The day to day is a full time job for the woman. Just as a man working in a factory all day and receiving a lunch break, the woman in this poem works in her home all day receiving an hour to herself in which she enjoys while she can. It’s obvious that the speaker is emotionally and mentally exhausted. The absence of rhyming makes the poem feel more like a personal story being shared. It’s not very lyrical, but it feels more natural to read. Many people feel that because women stay at home to take care of the house and the children, they shouldn’t be tired or they aren’t really working. In Daystar, Rita Dove demonstrates Elements of poetry, such as; Auditory Imagery, Tone, and …show more content…
Which only adds an extra weight to the struggles she’s having being a wife and mother. The fact that she has to wash her daughter’s diapers, she was in the back yard with the field mice, indicates that they don’t have much money. “But she saw diapers steaming on the line” (2-3). This line suggests, not only did they not have a washer and dryer but they still had to use clothes lines. There are not too many families that still use clothes lines or don’t have washer and dryers. Having to hand wash everything is a job by alone. “And just what was mother doing out back with the field mice” (15-17)? The woman being outside with the field mice makes me think maybe they didn’t live close to the city. Auditory imagery is expressed in these lines. “Sometimes there were things to watch the pinched armor of a vanished cricket, a floating leaf” (8-10). It’s easy to feel the feelings the woman is feeling during this
Day's curious nature made her want to see first-hand the conditions of life for those who were poor. She adventured through the poor district and looked into the houses and looked into the people, both containing very depressing things inside them. Day did this a lot, and as she did it she would imagine the characters in The Jungle, and imagined their existence in this very alive and very real neighborhood. It would become her childhood that she wou...
“He would knock knock on my door, and I’d pretend to be asleep ‘til he got right next to the bed, then I would get up and jump into his arms,” (Beaty 2-4). A sentimental play between a son and father, but one morning the knock never sounded upon the door. “Until that day when the knock never came and my momma takes me on a ride past corn fields on this never ending highway ‘til we reach a place of high rusty gates,” (Beaty 6-7). As one can see, Beaty uses imagery to allow the reader to imagine the corn fields and the highway that seemed to extend for miles on end. Extensively, the mother had taken her son to visit his father in prison, but the boy did not comprehend the window separating him from his father. The boy tried effortlessly to break the glass so he could jump into his father’s arms, all the while his father sat silently and
At the beginning of the story, the author gives us the feeling that a child is narrating this story. She also shows that the child, Sylvia, is at that age where she feels that adults are silly and she knows everything. “Back in the days when everyone was old and stupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right, this lady moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup.” (Bambara 470) Sylvia also tells us about her environment while referencing Miss Moore. “And we kidna hated her too, hated the way we did the winos who cluttered up our parks and pissed on our handball walls and stank up our hallways and stairs so you couldn’t halfway play hide-and-seek without a damn gas mask. Miss Moore was her name. The only woman on the block without a first name.” (Bambara 470) This is our introduction to Miss Moore. She is an educated, well groomed person and the children resent her because she is different and their parents force them to spend time with her in the interest of education.
While reading the poem “Daystar,” written by Rita Dove, its readers most likely do not ask thought-provoking questions like “Why did Dove write this?” or “What is the true meaning behind this poem?” but the poem has deeper meaning than what its outside layer portrays. Dove, an African American woman born in 1952, has not only viewed the racism of the United States society, but she has also seen how gender can or cannot play a role in the advancement of a person’s life (Rita Dove: The Poetry Foundation). The poem “Daystar” not only takes an outside perspective on the everyday life of a woman, but it closely relates to Dove’s family history. Dove uses the experiences of her life as a woman, and the knowledge gained from living in countries other than the United States, to depict the pressure and desire felt by mothers and/or wives on a daily basis.
As a housewife and a mother, Godwin's protagonist leads a fairly structured life. Her activities are mostly confined to caring for her husband and child and caring for their home. Though she is obviously unsatisfied with this, as shown by her attempts to discard this role, she is not comfortable without such a structure. Even when she has moved into the white room, she develops a routine of brushing her hair in the sun each day. When she decides to write a poem, she shies away from the project once she realizes how many options are open to her; the idea of so much freedom seems to distress her. Even when she thinks that "her poem could be six, eight, ten, thirteen lines, it could be any number of lines, and it did not even have to rhyme," the words themselves are rushed, the pacing of the sentence communicating her nervousness and discomfort.
It was hard for her mother to have a baby at a young age herself and try to make ends meet was not easy. She needed to lean on others for help, which she thought at the time was right thing to do, but got caught up on her new family. This is why Emily had so much resentment towards her mother. This story is a great example of a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship. The story does great job showing the mother’s anguish over her daughter, and a depressed teen that needed her mother and is struggling to overcome a very unhappy childhood.
The daughter assumes her mother is mad at her,” When asked, she said she would grab something later/ and it made Kayla afraid to ask what she’s done.” (lines 10-11). Momma is not mad, but hiding the fact that they do not have enough food for all of them to eat. The narrartor says,” Momma put me down in my bassinet/ and began to lick the crumbs from my sister’s plate.” (lines 17-18). The poem is suggesting that their house is not in the best of conditions and they do not have a yard to play in: “When all the scampering children were bundled up/ and sent down to the parking lot of the Masonic Lodge/ to pass the football, futile task that it was,” (lines 12-15). This shows they have nothing but an empty lot to play in. The inside of the house is not in the best of conditions either: ” the fugitive football on the cracking counter.” (20). Even though the mother is not in the best situation,she still loves her
The story leads the reader on an exploratory journey to witness the neglect by Emily's extremely guilty mother. This is described by the children's cry when they are left with strangers, lacking attention and love due to the fact she is a single parent at a time where this was not commonly accepted in the community, causing a lot of emotional distress.
She states that there is “No time for a sestina for the working mother,” however, the poem is, in actuality, a sestina about a working mother. Seemingly, this irony illustrates the competitive feelings involved in juggling the commitments of motherhood and outside employment. Additionally, she uses references of “as if shot from a cannon” (7) and “It has tamped her down tight and lit her out the door” (22), as well as the multiple uses of flight. Garrison appears to use these images to demonstrate both the hectic pace of this lifestyle, the push the narrator feels moving from mom to employee, as well as, the guilt she experiences. Finally, she presents opposing images of sunshine and shadows, anxiety and happiness, and talking and listening to express the various sentiments involved in her
To conclude, “Daystar” and “To a Daughter Leaving Home”, both shared various similarities and differences regarding symbolism and mood throughout both poems. It was easily seen that even in general societal time periods, the mood of “To a Daughter Leaving Home” was very common. Though, in “Daystar” a lot of the responsibilities of a mother was leased over the years and I believe that more roles in the household are now equal. Poetry in these contexts allow the readers to realize the reality of life taken from a parent’s perspective and maybe some of the changes that it has took over the years. I personally enjoyed reading both poems, because it not only gave me the real life outlook of parenthood, but it shows me how my parents view me and
m connecting the Fox poem by Rita Dove to a song called Independent Women by Destiny's Child. The song Independent Women talks about a girl who does everything for herself. Like when its says the shoes on my feet, I’ve bought myself and when it says the clothes i’m wearing, i’ve bought myself. The song made me connect to the poem Fox by Rita Dove because in the poem it talkings about how she loves herself and how she loves what she has and is more than any man. When she says that she loves what she has and it enough for her and it's more than a man can handle makes me think that she can do things herself and she don’t need a man so she is an independent Women. Also in the song it says I depend on me makes me think when the poem says which is
..., a loss that everyone can either sympathize or empathize. However, instead of focusing on the pain and heartbreak of not having a mother, the narrator instead takes strength in the fact that her mother is connected to nature. Although her mother is not physically in her life, her body has, instead, been buried in the ground like a seed. This brings the narrator solace because at least her mother’s essence will always be present as long as there are trees, grass, and animals.
John prescribes rest for her and places her into a room which is covered in yellow wallpaper that she finds repulsive. One thing that is very important is how the room used to be a nursery. This is ironic because she is almost treated as a...
Anita once wrote a poem for the song “Monism’s,” and sung to the familiar tune of the William Tell Overture. She describes a typical day of mayhem through the eyes of a mother. Stay at home mothers often know that at times, their lives can be somewhat frustrating. In spite of all the chaos, stay at home moms get the huge responsibility and task of having only one chance to raise their children in such a way that makes a difference in their children’s lives and in society.
Her character is portrayed as being anxious through the author’s choice of dialogue in the form of diction, which is “waves of her [the mother] anxiety sink down into my belly”. The effect of this is to allow the readers to establish the emotions of the narrator, as well as establish an the uneasy tone of the passage, and how stressful and important the event of selling tobacco bales for her family is. Additionally, the narrator is seen to be uncomfortable in the setting she is present in. This is seen through the many dashes and pauses within her thoughts because she has no dialogue within this passage, “wishing- we- weren’t- here”, the dashes show her discomfort because the thought is extended, and thus more intense and heavy, wishing they could be somewhere else. The effect of the narrator’s comfort establishes her role within the family, the reason she and her sister does not have dialogue symbolizes that she has no voice within the family, as well as establishing hierarchy. The authors use dictation and writing conventions to develop the character of the narrator herself, as well as the mother. The narrator’s focus on each of her parents is additionally highlighted through