Linda Pastan’s poem “Marks” is skillfully written about a woman who is constantly being judged by her children and husband on her ability to carry out day to day household responsibilities. The title sets the tone and direction of the poem right from the start. The word “marks” imposes on the idea that the woman is going to receive some type of grade. She receives different grades from each family member, like one would see in school report card. Just like a teacher would evaluate and place a value on a students work, the woman’s family evaluates and places a value on her household duties.
The speaker in “Marks” is obviously less than pleased with the idea of continually being judged, by using the controlling metaphor of grades as way of talking about her performance of family duties suggests her irritation (Norton 806). The meaning placed behind the metaphor is to express to readers the idea no one appreciates being judged. I believe the metaphor sets the poem up to read in a sarcastic and aggravated tone up until the last two lines where it turns to a more serious tone when the speaker decides she has had enough, “Wait ‘till they learn / I’m dropping out” (Pastan 11-12). It is made clear that the woman performs most of the family duties. She cooks supper, irons the clothes, takes care of two children and fulfills her husband’s needs. Instead of the family appreciating her hard work and dedication to them they respond by grading her efforts.
The husband, son and daughter all use a different grading system to access the woman. The husband grades with the typical A-F grading scale and the complete/incomplete system throughout the first four lines. She was given the following marks, “an A for last night’s supper”, “an incomplete f...
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...ould overcome it (Norton 807). The woman’s idea of “dropping out” and not performing her daily duties would force the family to recognize all that she does and more importantly appreciate all of her hard word without constantly putting a value on it.
Works Cited
Albrecht, Arne K., Nancy L. Galambos, and S. M. Jansson. "Adolescents' Internalizing and Aggressive Behaviors and Perceptions of Parents' Psychological Control: A Panel Study Examining Direction of Effects." Journal of Youth and Adolescence 36.5 (2007): 673-84. ProQuest. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Pastan, Linda "Marks." The Norton Introduction to Literature. 11th Ed. New York: W.W Norton, 2013. 806. Print.
"Visual Imagery and Figures of Speech." The Norton Introduction to Literature Shorter Eleventh Edition. Ed. Spencer Richardson-Jones and Hannah Blaisdell. 11th ed. New York City: Norton, 2013. 802-12. Print.
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Katie’s teacher, Mr. Dubey, puts a very high emphasis on the students at Katie’s school about how important school is. Because Katie starts to feel bad for using David to get into Harvard, his attitude toward the topic changes and he tells that she should be self-serving and not really care what people say and to not "ruin the rest of your life just because you feel a little guilty right now"(74). All of these conflicting messages on what Katie should be like, how she should treat others an...
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Updike, John. "A & P" Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
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She sacrificed almost all her personal pleasure for studying, but she did not see the point why she should make such sacrifice since she found the class reading as well as essays hardly arouse her interests. As she finally laid her eye on the bookshelf, seeing all the certificates and awards she had earned, Jennifer suddenly thought of what her father had told her, “school always comes first”. Tiredly and aimlessly, Jennifer signed and looked at a picture of her father. Slowly closing her eyes, she temporarily forgot about all the things like a tough life and overwhelming schoolwork which could make her stressful, and let her beautiful childhood memories of balloons, carousels and her father’s smiling face come into
Piper’s use of imagery in this way gives the opportunity for the reader to experience “first hand” the power of words, and inspires the reader to be free from the fear of writing.
From being able to save up money to buy a car and move out to West Virginia and then leaving the responsibility of finances and income to her children, Rose Mary Wall’s helped put Jeanette and her siblings through a hard and tough childhood. Although, a debate could be made that with all the awful impacts that the mother had on her children, all she really did was actually positively influence them to be able to conquer any hardship that they may face in their life. In the end, Rose Mary Wall’s character of being independent, unreasonable, and stubborn did both positively and negatively impact her children’s lives through the hardships they all faced
Ever since she was a young girl. Jeannette had set high goals for herself. Since she was so advanced in school and genuinely enjoyed learning, it made sense that she would want to do big things with her life. Whether it was being a veterinarian or a geologist, her dreams extended far beyond her homes in little desert towns or Welch, West Virginia. However, because of her poverty-stricken home life, many people believed it didn’t seem likely that she would be so successful. One day, while living in Welch, Jeannette goes to the bar to drag her drunk father back home. A neighborhood man offers them a ride back to their house, and on the ride up he and Jeannette start a conversation about school. When Jeannette tells the man that she works so hard in school because of her dream careers, the man laughs saying, “for the daughter of the town drunk, you sure got big plans” (Walls 183). Immediately, Jeannette tells the man to stop the car and gets out, taking her father with her. This seems to be a defining moment in which Jeannette is first exposed to the idea that she is inferior to others. Although this man said what he did not mean to offend her, Jeannette is clearly very hurt by his comment. To the reader, it seems as if she had never thought that her family’s situation made her subordinate to those
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
The Shocking statement is meant to grab the reader's attention and, wonder what she meant by “meaningless diplomas.” We then discover that the meaning behind the absurd comment was directed to the attitude of the teachers, shoving students through high school no matter what their grades are.
And at the end of the year, everything I had worked for finally became true. Eventually it became so bad I gave up everything for good grades; full meals, 8 hours of sleep, and even my own happiness. I didn’t even care about the grades anymore, it became all about being perfect no matter the sacrifice. And at the end of the year, everything I had worked for finally became true. I didn’t receive one of the awards for school grades, not two, but seven. At the ceremony, I got called up one time after another, the certificates piling up, people's faces becoming warped with shock. At last I had become perfect, a flawless student, a teacher's pet, and the biggest overachiever in the school. But, it didn’t mean anything to me. Staring at those awards, certificates any other student in the school would cherish and hold dearly, I felt as if I was staring at meagre blank sheets of paper. These awards were it, this was what all of that work, all of that suffering, all of those nights of tear stricken eyes and rumbling stomach had surmounted to. A cheap, silly, and pointless stack of certificates. It was then, staring at those awards, when I realised how foolish I’d been. I’d done all this work for nothing, not to please me, not to please
Updike, John. “A&P.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. Eds. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 409-414. Print.
Amanda, somehow, finds a way to be both selfish and selfless when it comes to Laura. Amanda wants Laura to be happy and successful, but does not understand that Laura is too shy and unmotivated to be either. When Amanda discovers that Laura has stopped going to typing class she is beyond disappointing. When discovered Amanda yells at her daughter saying, “Fifty dollars’ tuition, all our plans- my hopes and ambitions for you- just gone up the spout, just gone up the spout like that.” Laura quit something as simple as learning how to type; this realization struck Amanda because if she cannot do that there is no way Laura could provide for herself without a husband. Mrs. Wingfield’s worst nightmare is is for her children to become dependent on relatives and not being able to take care of themselves. After Laura drops out of typing school Amanda says, “What is there left but dependency all our lives? I know so well what becomes of unmarried women who aren’t prepared to occupy a position. I’ve seen such pitiful cases in the South—barely tolerated spinsters living upon the grudging patronage of sister’s husband or brother’s wife!—stuck away in some little mousetrap of a room—encouraged by one in-law to visit another—little birdlike women without any nest—eating the crust of humility all their life!. Amanda had always wanted for Laura to find a nice husband, but then the situation became desperate when the younger women