To A Daughter Leaving Home Essay

Ever wondered what the term ‘night’ symbolized in literature? Authors more often than not use hidden objects or symbols to convey deeper ideas or qualities. The use of these symbols is extremely important in literature because it builds the meaning to be more personal and enjoyable to the reader. The poem “To a Daughter Leaving Home,” by Linda Pastan has numerous symbolic meanings that make this poem so relatable to readers’ lives. In the poem the author uses different symbols to illustrate emotion, parts of life, and points of view so that the reader can fully understand the message of the poem.
With this in mind, one of the types of themes the majority of authors focus on using is that of emotion. Linda Pastan uses a couple of emotional symbols in her poem to focus on the emotions of the parent and the child. In the poem the lines, “I kept waiting for the thud of your crash,” and the phrase “like a handkerchief waving goodbye,” are symbols of a parent panicking that their child might fall as they’re left behind

watching sadly (737). The child’s emotions are also shown by the phrase “screaming with laughter,” which shows the child is happy to have this opportunity (737). The way Pastan and lots of other authors use the emotions of parents allows the reader to be tugged on emotionally and become attached to a story while reading any kind of literature.
Another key symbol in this poem is one relating to life. There are multiple aspects of life that can be illustrated by symbols such as birth, growth, and death, which is commonly recognized in literature as ‘darkness.’ Pastan’s poem is a literary piece focused on a daughter growing up, so there are some symbols that aid in showing this idea of growth. The line “loping along beside you as you wobbled away,” paired with the statement, “my own mouth rounding in surprise when you pulled ahead down the curved path,” are both worthy examples of life symbols (736-737). When Pastan is talking about the girl wobbling on the bike, she is showing the reader that the child doesn’t have full control of her life which is represented by the ‘curved path’. Many humans recognize life as an exciting yet dangerous journey which is a suitable comparison to a curved path that is more entertaining and risky than a straight path. This symbolism used was very effective in helping get the author’s message across to the readers about life’s journey.
The final literary symbol revealed in this poem is the device that allows the reader to see the point of view of one of the characters in a piece of literature.

Most writers will use this type of symbolism to develop a second meaning within a work of writing by showing how one character’s point of view is completely different than the tone of the whole piece of literature. Linda Pastan uses two lines in her poem to show how the parent views this moment of the daughter riding the bike. “I sprinted to catch up while you grew more breakable, with distance, pumping, pumping for your life, screaming with laughter,” is a section of the poem that shows how this parent believes the further the child goes away the more fragile they become while the child doesn’t even realize what could be in their path (737). However, the Child’s point of view is completely different in that they are “screaming with laughter,” which symbolized she was carefree and happy

(737).
Symbols can be defined as anything a writer chooses to make them such as objects, sounds, or even abstract ideas. Emotions, elements of life, and characters’ point of view are very valuable concepts in any piece of literature, so it was important for Pastan to include symbols to help detail the message she was giving the reader. Without symbols of emotion in writing the words would seem flat without references to life the writing wouldn’t have meaning, and without point of view the story wouldn’t have direction. “To a Daughter Leaving Home,” is full of these symbols that give the poem volume, meaning, and direction.