Analysis Of The Victims By Sharon Olds

In Sharon Old’s “The Victims,” the narrator highlights the effects of divorce as perceived by him or her as a child. Throughout the poem the narrator clearly seems to hold resentment toward his parents’ divorce. As the parents split, the effect of divorce is made clear—everyone in a family becomes the victim of a divorce, and that there is no clear winner or loser; there is only grief and pain. Although the father is criticized early in the poem, the tone later shifts towards distaste of the mother who has affected the children’s view of their father. The poem, “The Victims,” emphasizes that the effect of divorce is harmful to all parties involved using a major shift from a tone of resentment toward the father to a tone of pity toward him as the narrator has aged and become more

The main issue in this poem, divorce is a common problem that damages everyone involved in its circumstances. However, in the very first line, the narrator declares, without shame, that he or she was glad when his or her parents got divorced. This strange feeling is not often associated with kids when their parents split; the feeling is usually one of remorse and sadness. This strange feeling is made reasonable as it is indicated that her mother “took it and took it in silence”—a rather dark selection of words which suggest that the father is the source of the family’s difficulties (1-2). The father’s departure is even compared to the departure of one arguably the most hated president in the history of America revealing that the children and mother had no desire for him to stay. Furthermore, the speaker elaborates on the father’s problems after