When reading this poem I realized that there is a controlling metaphor in the poem displayed in the title. The controlling metaphor is using “marks” as grades. The poet is talking about the speakers performance of her role within her family. It is obvious that the woman plays various roles in her family and she has a lot of duties to perform. She has to satisfy everyone in order to keep her household in check. To me it seems as if she is a bit overwhelm. The poet demonstrates that even though she put all her effort in trying to please everyone in her house they still see her as being below standard. The poem demonstrates discrimination and women suppression. This issue is still a problem today in our modern world. The last line of the poem I feel is the climax of the poem. I think that it may mean that she is leaving the family because she feels unappreciated. My other belief is that she may stop trying to please everyone and try to focus on herself but still remain in her role as a mother and wife. She may devote more time to herself and just just do her best for her family.
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Introduction to Poetry:
Envisioning Poetry
ENG 2003, section 1248
Prof Jody R. Rosen
Spring 2012
W 6:00-8:30
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I agree with your interpretation of this poem. The mother is telling us her grades that her family grades her upon. I do believe that the way she grades her tells us a little more about the family. An example of this would be her husband grades with a letter grade. This shows that he has some kind of college level education. He is a little stricter with a grading policy. Her son grades her as average. To me this shows that he is a little more “laid back”. That is how he performs on school. As for the daughter it’s just pass and fail. Its either your right or wrong. She only looks at things as black and white. At the end of the poem the whole family will be in shock her she “drops out”. Its kind of hard to determine what she means by this, if she is leaving the family or if she is just giving up on certain things for the family.
KRamlogan
I agree with this posting. This poem demonstrates discrimination against women. For example how she not being appreciated by her family, the way her family is always grading her on her duties she does around the house. And what she conveying in this poem, I believe that she had enough with what she has put up with. In the last stanza she states “Wait till they learn I’m dropping out” meaning she done doing everything for them and is going to see if the family can cope with her not doing anything for them. And then maybe they will learn how to appreciate her more around the house.
The role of the woman in a house, a mother, house wife, care giver, cleaner, washer, cook, taking care of everyone and every chores only to be treated with ingratitude. She nurtures, love, understand everyone, caters for their every needs but is taken for granted as it’s her duty to everyone. But no one is returning the love she gives to make the house a home, a place everyone returns to at the end of the day to be cared for, to have their tired and starved body nurtured back to health. But in place of appreciating her dedication to the home and everyone in it, she’s being judged as thou she’s under their scrutiny, as thou she’s a factor of convenience to everyone. Instead of love she’s being given grades. This is a normal was that many a mother, house wife, is being treated. It’s as thou she’s a maid. But at the end of the day, she is silently looking at her family and observing their attitude to her and is venting her disappointment by saying she’s dropping out. She is likening it to a student’s response of dissatisfaction at school. But I don’t think being that great giver of love and dedication, she is going to neglect her family but just want them to understand how much she is giving to them and they must appreciate it, show some gratitude and love. For most mothers, that is all they need, to be loved and appreciated, and they will give their life for their family.
I agree with you explanation because the overall of the poem was to show people how the mother/wife felt about her performance in the family. The marks represent how well she did and how her family sees her. I notice that marks are going down as the poem reaches to end, it somewhat tell us that something is going happen and yet we don’t know what is it until we reach the end of the poem. The mother “dropping out” was indeed the climax of the poem, the family won’t expect that to happen, when they only believe that the mother/wife was going improve her performance. I feel sorry for the family when they find out that the mother “dropping out.”
I agree with the other posts. When you read the title and the poem you automatically know that she is hurt by the “grades” she is given by her family and it left her marks. She cooks supper, irons, satisfies, and clearly does a lot more for her family but all she gets from them is a grade and that grade results as an average. She sounds like super mom to me and her family thinks she’s not doing good enough. She doesn’t have to do the things that she’s doing for her family but she does it and she feels unappreciative. In the last line she says, “wait til they learn I’m dropping out,” I assume she means that she’s not going to cook, clean, iron , etc., for them anymore, she’ll do it themselves and she will see what everyones grades are going to be. Most likely it’s all going to be an F because she did all the work all they did was sit back and criticize.
I also agree with the interpretation of this poem. The women in the poem feels like she can never meet her family’s expectations. She does everything to keep her house in order but can never be a “star” in her family’s eyes. Issues like this are still seen in the world today. A mother who would do what ever it takes to make her household happy is just seen as a “thing”. Something that can just be replaced and continue with their everyday lives. Truth is you will never what you have until its gone.
I agree with pcesar12 that the title “Marks” is a controlling metaphor and that it represents the woman’s performance of various duties as a mother and wife. I also agree with the opinion that she is overwhelmed because of the judgement she faces from her family. I don’t think she is leaving her family though. The speaker says, “Wait ’til they learn I’m dropping out.” This could mean that she wants to quit her position as a mother and wife, but I beleive she is just stopping herself from letting the judgement get to her. Real life is not based on grades, so I think she is just taking herself out of “school” to let readers know that she will not allow herself to be judged in that way. This poem can be seen as the discrimination women face, but I belive this poem ties into the discrimination everyone faces. Within a family, it is common that people are being judged for their actions. As a son and brother I find myself being judged and also judging my family members. It could possibly be healthy for people to do this because it can make all of us better people.