Fear

389 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: An essay on Fear

Fear

The poem “Fear” by Gabriela Mistral, dramatizes the conflict between a mother and her fear of her child growing up. The mother is the speaker in this poem. The mother is frightened of her child growing up and not needing her as much as she does as a child. In stanza 1 line 1 it says, “I do not want them to turn my child into a swallow”. The swallow symbolizes a bird leaving the nest. The mother is fearful of her daughter growing up and moving out. This line is repeated in line 7. The mother refers to “them” when she talks of who is going to change her she is referring to society. The mother is fearful that society will make her daughter become independent. In line 4 it says, “and never come down again to my doormat”. She is fearful that her daughter will not come and visit once she moves out. In stanza 2 line 9 it says, “I do not want them to make my child into a princess.” The princess represents the child’s teen years. Again she refers to society as them. It is also repeated in line 16. The mother does not want society to turn her daughter into something she is not. She wants her child to have fun and play. The mother is fearful that her child will not sleep by her at night. In stanza 3 line 17 it says, “And I would like even less that one day they crown her queen.” The queen represents the daughter as an adult figure. The mother is frightened of the day her child is an adult, maybe married, and has a life of her own. She will not need her mother anymore. She will not be dependent on her mother anymore.

Gabriella Mistral uses repetition in this poem.

Show More
Related

  • Main Themes In Christopher Mccandless's Into The Wild

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    situation is not to surrender to fear and the author shows this idea throughout the poem that we

    Read More

  • Bruce Dawe - Americanized

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stanza three again shows doubtfulness about the mother’s love. We see how the mother locks her child in because she fears the modern world. She sees the world as dangers and especially fears men. Her fear of men is emphasized by the italics used. In the final line of the stanza, the mother puts her son on a plastic pot. This is somewhat symbolic of the consumeristic society i.e. manufactured and cheap.

    Read More

  • Literary Techniques In Li-Young Lee

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the beginning of the poem, the audience is able to witness an event of a young boy asking his father for story. While the father was deemed a “sad” man, it is later shown that his sadness can be contributed to his fear of his son leaving him. The structure then correlated to the point of going into the future. The future was able to depict what would happen to the loving duo. The father's dreams would become a reality and the son's love and admiration would cease to exist as he is seen screaming at his father. Wanting nothing to do with him. The young, pure child can be seen trying to back lash at his father for acting like a “god” that he can “never disappoint.” The point of this structure was not really a means of clarification from the beginning point of view, but more as an intro to the end. The real relationship can be seen in line 20, where it is mentioned that the relationship between the father and son is “an emotional rather than logical equation.” The love between this father and son, and all its complexity has no real solution. But rather a means of love; the feelings a parent has for wanting to protect their child and the child itself wanting to be set free from their parents grasp. The structure alone is quite complex. Seeing the present time frame of the father and son

    Read More

  • The Great Fear

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    Times change and people come and go, but fear is a constant, and in “The Great Fear” by J. Ronald Oakley, he describes the wave of fear that occurred in the 1950s. In 1692, the townspeople of Salem were scared into believing that they were among witches, and in 1950’s the “Red” Scare destroyed thousands of peoples lives that were accused of being Communists. Those accused in both witch hunts were put on trial, and while many were killed in Salem, the Red Scare had blacklisted those persecuted.

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz And The Ballad Of Birmingham Family Bonds

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although the little girl doesn’t listen to the mother the first time she eventually listens in the end. For example, in stanzas 1-4, the little girl asks if she can go to the Freedom March not once, but twice even after her mother had already denied her the first time. These stanzas show how the daughter is a little disobedient at first, but then is able to respect her mother’s wishes. In stanzas 5 and 6, as the little girl is getting ready the mother is happy and smiling because she knows that her little girl is going to be safe, or so she thinks. By these stanzas the reader is able to tell how happy the mother was because she thought her daughter would be safe by listening to her and not going to the March. The last two stanzas, 7 and 8, show that the mother senses something is wrong, she runs to the church to find nothing, but her daughter’s shoe. At this moment she realizes that her baby is gone. These stanzas symbolize that even though her daughter listened to her she still wasn’t safe and is now dead. The Shoe symbolizes the loss the mother is going through and her loss of hope as well. This poem shows how elastic the bond between the daughter and her mother is because the daughter respected her mother’s wish by not going to the March and although the daughter is now dead her mother will always have her in her heart. By her having her

    Read More

  • The Dangers of Fear

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Dangers of Fear Irish Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.” Inhumanity is mankind’s worst attribute. Every so often, ordinary humans are driven to the point where they have no choice but to think of themselves. One of the most famous examples used today is the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night demonstrates how fear is a debilitating force that causes people to lose sight of who they once were.

    Read More

  • Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    The mother, however, refuses to acknowledge the child as anything but a child is a major conflict in this poem. Because she refers to her as a?child? and calls her?baby? it is clear that the mother does not take the child?s pleas seriously. The mother is certain that she knows what is best for her child and that the child?s feelings and ideas are unimportant.

    Read More

  • Anxiety

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anxiety is common mental illness in the US, which Kim Krisberg talks about in her article “Anxiety: A Normal Response That Can Feel Overwhelming. The cause of anxiety is brought up in Peter Crostas’ article “What Causes Anxiety?” Crosta also explains the treatments for anxiety in his article, “What Are Treatments For Anxiety?”

    Read More

  • Parent and Son Relationship in one of Nye, Naomi Shihab´s Poems

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a typical family, there are parents that expected to hear things when their teenager is rebelling against them: slamming the door, shouting at each other, and protests on what they could do or what they should not do. Their little baby is growing up, testing their wings of adulthood; they are not the small child that wanted their mommy to read a book to them or to kiss their hurts away and most probably, they are thinking that anything that their parents told them are certainly could not be right. The poem talks about a conflict between the author and her son when he was in his adolescence. In the first stanza, a misunderstanding about a math problem turns into a family argument that shows the classic rift between the generation of the parent and the teenager. Despite the misunderstandings between the parent and child, there is a loving bond between them. The imagery, contrasting tones, connotative diction, and symbolism in the poem reflect these two sides of the relationship.

    Read More

  • Fear In Everyman

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    Philip Roth's Everyman relives the story of the unnamed protagonist who is faced with every person's fear of illness and their inevitable death. Everyman's fear began at the age of nine when he was admitted to a hospital for a routine hernia surgery. It is this fear of illness and death which slowly became a crippling fear, driving wedges between him and people he cared about in his personal life. The fear almost becomes an obsession; he begins basing his life off how healthy he is. Because of him basing his life off his health, he starts to compare himself to his older brother, Howie, who has never been admitted to a hospital or had any surgeries in his life. All of Everyman's comparisons led him to eventual resentment and envy of his brother. This envy and resentment would have probably never happened if the little boy next to him at the hospital was still in his bed when Everyman woke up.

    Read More

  • Anxiety

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    Anxiety is one of the most fundamental emotions shared by all species of animals. When confronted with danger, the fight or flight response of the sympathetic nervous system is triggered so that we are prepared to react and protect ourselves. Without anxiety and its physiological manifestations, such as hypersensitivity to environment and enhanced blood supply to leg muscles, the likelihood of harm or disaster in threatening situations would undoubtedly dramatically increase. A moderate amount of anxiety also has the result of prompting individuals to prepare for certain events, such as exams and presentations, that clearly benefit from this action.

    Read More

  • How Did Maya Angelou Write Life Doesn T Frighten Me Essay

    1493 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fear was something she experienced when she was little. She wrote the poem “ Life doesn’t frighten me .’’ This talks about things that she isn’t scared about she it’s actually things she is the most scared about. For example in the poem she says “ Bad dogs barking loud, Big ghosts in a cloud, Life doesn't frighten me at all. ’’ Bad dogs meaning men screaming at her and telling her what to do. The poem is written like she isn’t scared but in reality she is.

    Read More

  • Fear of Death

    1658 Words  | 4 Pages

    Death it is something we all must face at one point in our lives or another. It is either a death of a loved one, friend or co-worker. Sometimes it’s the devastation from a natural disaster. No matter what makes us face the idea of death it is how we handle this realization that truly matters. When Gilgamesh is faced with the horrendous loss of his dear friend and comrade Enkidu he begins to fear death. In Gilgamesh’s youth he is proud without fear of death, it is not until he watches his friend die that his own mortality becomes a fear.

    Read More

  • Linda Pastan's Poem Ethics

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    The choice of words of the author also contributes to the development of the theme.  For example, the use of words like  "drafty," "half-heartedly," and "half-imagined" give the reader the idea of how faintly the dilemma was perceived and understood by the children, thus adding to the idea that the children cannot understand the burden the speaker has upon herself.  In addition, referring to a Rembrandt as just a "picture" and to the woman as "old age," we can see that these two symbols, which are very important to the speaker and to the poem, are considered trivial by the children, thus contributing to the concept  that the children cannot feel what the speaker is feeling.

    Read More

  • Feminism In Girl By Jamaica Kincaid

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    She only allows her to see her worth in having a clean home and a satisfied man. She never once tells the girl to follow her dreams or even talk about what they are. The mother only keeps on instructing her on even the simplest things like smiling : “...this is how you smile to someone you don 't like too much;this is how you smile at someone you don 't like at all;this is how you smile to someone you like completely...” this poem is filled with the phrases “this is how”. “ don’t do this”, and “ be sure to..” the speaker does not even give the girl a chance to speak her mind or form her own thoughts. The young girl was only able to get one sentence out the whole poem : “...but what if the baker won 't let me feel the bread?”

    Read More

More about Fear

Open Document