Essex Hemphill Poem Analysis

Question 1, page 305 In the poem Commitments by the author Essex Hemphill, the speaker begins with the announcement “I will always be there” and yet latter he says “I am the invisible son”. These two statements can be reconciled because the first statement refers to the speaker’s physical presence and the latter one is referring to his physiological state of mind. So when the speaker says “I will always be there”, he is very much referring to the fact that he’ll always attend family events, and will fulfill his commitments, if we look at family picture everything appears to be normal it pretty much appears as a normal American family, as the speaker tells us “nothing appears out of character” (line 34). However, the speaker also feels like
In Who said it was simple and Commitments it appears as the idea of being oneself relies on being able to express how you feel and not to be judged by society. In both poems the speakers are not able to be themselves because society will not accept them. However, in Two Small-Sized Girls the idea of “being oneself” is more in the lines that you shouldn’t be punished for being yourself, the way the speaker was punished by losing custody of her children for being gay. The speaker tells us several times “we know we’ve done nothing wrong” (Pratt, 311). However, knowing this doesn’t appear to be enough to bring her inner peace, she is still very much saddened by the fact that things don’t appear to be changing and people are still getting punished for being themselves. Lastly, in Queer Theory: According to my Grandmother the idea of “being oneself”, is more in the lines you should be able to do what you want to express yourself, like drawing what you like, and watching the movie you like. It looks like whoever the speaker is lecturing is not being given the opportunity to be himself. It appears that this poem is emphasizing that “being oneself” should consist of being able to make your own choices when it comes to the little things in