Alicia Zakon’s Poem, Remote Control

Two of the main elements in any poem are theme and symbolism. This holds true in Alicia Zakon’s poem titled “Remote Control”. It essentially tells about the relationship between a man and a woman, and how the man has the remote control to the woman's life. The symbols used are very meaningful to the overall theme. The theme of "Remote Control" is also very important, and not just a topic for a good poem but a real problem in society too. The writing would be much less effective if not for the symbols used throughout the very strong overall message.

Symbolism is defined as the practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships. The whole poem is, in essence, one giant symbol. The opening line questions, "Why you let him play you like a video?". All in all, this summarizes the entire poem. Zakon uses symbols to question a woman why she lets her boyfriend, or possibly husband, treat her the way he does. Zakon asks why she lets him control her, ultimately stating he has the remote control to her life. She says that he "Change your channels because he can't stand your show", meaning he tells her how to act when he does not like her attitude. The line "Hypnotize you until the screen turns blue", representing the man putting the woman into a trance so to speak, so she says exactly what he wants her to say, and does exactly what he wants her to do.

However, when Zakon states ...