A Mother's Figure of Speech

A detailed Summary of A Mother's Figure of Speech


A mother is often very possessive with her things, namely her children. Sharon Olds depicts a mother's feelings about her daughter in her work "The Possessive." In it she uses detailed figures of speech to help illustrate the deeply rooted feelings and issues behind her poem. When analyzing this poem, it is necessary to break down these figures of speech and determine how they affect the understanding of the poem.

The speaker of the poem is a mother. She describes the actions of her daughter's visit to the barber. She uses very harsh language to describe this haircut, calling the barber a "knife grinder." Right off the bat we see that the mother does not want the daughter to go through with this haircut. This is seen by the exaggeration and strong emphasis put on the level of danger involved in the haircut. When she mentions "the curtain of dark paper-cuts that veils the face," she suggests this harmfulness that is invol


The mother then starts to paint a new picture. The "girl with the hair wispy as a frayed bellpull" now has a "bright helmet." This begins to connote the notion of rivalry. Using a term even more severe than rivalry, the mother calls her conflict with her daughter a state of war.

The phrase "she looks at me as if across a great distance" describes the current relationship between mother and daughter. No longer is she in the womb, attached to the mother, but stands far from her mother, different in many ways. The possession once had has turned to its coldest point when the mother sees "watch fires of an enemy" in her daughter's eyes.

From daughter at her mother's side to enemy staring at a distance, Sharon Olds marvelously uses these figures of speech. These figures of speech link the reader to the possessive world through a mother's eyes. The reader can see and feel all that there is to see and feel because of the

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sharon Olds, figures speech, , mother daughter, daughter mother, carbon steel, sharon olds, daughter mother's,

Approximate Word count = 630
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

join now Save Paper

Related Essays

  • Rebecca ... Danvers is established as the ampquotevil stepmotherampquot and Rebecca as a mother figure. ... Maximamp39s behavior and speech establish him as a father figure towards Fontaine. ... 1081 words
  • Childrens Private Speech ... This is diagrammed in Figure 5. Fig ... school childrens systematic use of private speech on a ... Motherchild interaction, private speech, and task performance in ... 1593 words
  • An exploration of Femininity in Shakespeareamp39s Tragedies.Hamlet ... what it fed onampquot 1435 . However, Hamlet is torn by the speech of his ... It is here, in the filial relationship with the mother figure in Hamlet that the strains ... 3350 words
  • death of a salesman 2 ... wife merely suffices as the acceptable notion of generic mother figure from its era ... Smith writes, ampquotWillyamp39s repeated interruption of Lindaamp39s speech...anticipates ... 1894 words
  • The Bronte Sisters, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights ... Besides the absence of a mother figure, both sisters spent most of their lives in ... to invent and delight in monsters, the love of violence in speech and action ... 2849 words

Professional Essays

  • Lacanamp39s Approach to Language ... to the ampquotlittle realityampquot of consciousness in metonymy, a figure of speech in which the part say, the breast is meant to stand for the whole say, the mother. ... 2317 words
  • Racial Affirmation in Hughesamp39 ampquotMother to Sonampquot ... that is a poem written as a speech made at ... For the mother, and by implication for all poor African ... that the grit and courage of the matriarch figure, as well ... 695 words
  • Langston Hughesamp39 Poem, Mother to Son ... that is a poem written as a speech made at ... For the mother, and by implication for all poor African ... that the grit and courage of the matriarch figure, as well ... 720 words
  • Symbolism ampamp Imagery in The Glass Menagerie ... pathetic emotions, and of the just plain sad fate of his mother Amanda and ... as functioning more or less as a synecdoche, which is a figure of speech in which ... 2657 words
  • Odysseus ampamp Athena ... all mortals/in planning and in speech, and I ... patroness to warrior, mother and surrogate mother to son ... mortal, husband to wife, authority figure to subordinate ... 2577 words
  • Figure of Satan in Paradise Lost ... She will be the mother of mankind, and yet she now knows what this ... same result, contrasting ideas and building a comparison into the figure of speech itself ... 2337 words


Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

  • "Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
    Jack M.
  • "With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
    Brian P.
  • "I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
    Sara J.
  • "I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
    Rachel W.
  • "I love this site!!!"
    Marie N.
Home Join Now Support
Acceptable Use Policy About us FAQ
All papers are for research and reference purposes only!
© 2002-2009 DirectEssays.com. All Rights Reserved.