Explication of "35/10"

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In Sharon Olds poem, “35/10,” a story is told with the writer speaking through the mother. The poem was about a mother, perhaps a little envious of her daughter. The title of the poem symbolizes the ages of the mother and daughter, the mother being 35 and the daughter being 10. I feel the writer uses imagery when she talks about the mother brushing her daughter’s hair. I visualize the mother and daughter sitting in the daughter’s room, at a white vanity, brushing her hair. As she looks in the mirror at her daughter, the mother realizes that as she is getting older and maybe less attractive, her daughter is starting to bloom into beautiful, young women. Sharon Olds poem is made up of an18 line stanza. The tone of the speaker changes by the end of the poem. At the beginning of “35/10”, I get a jealous vibe from the speaker, the 35- year old mother, as she notices her daughter’s shiny, silky hair and she sees the grey coming through her own hair. The mother is wondering why as she gets older, her skin becomes dry and scaly when her daughter is like “…a moist flower.” The author ...

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