Afternoons - analysis Flashcards
‘Afternoons’
title suggests the young mothers are in the ‘afternoons’ of their lives where children have taken away their identities + their lives are not their own
‘Summer is fading’
- summer represent happy times in life + verb implies their life/happiness coming to an end
- negative opening
- good times over
- vitality
‘fall in ones and twos’
mimic slow, gentle flow, change is gradual, almost unnoticeable
‘trees bordering’
- isolated, hid away, post-war house development. stopping mothers escape
‘new recreating ground’
- formal
- new stage in mother’s lives. could also suggest there is a new generation
‘hollows of afternoons’
mothers’ lives are empty
‘Young mothers assemble’
- mothers gather without choice
- duty, routine, mechanical, robotic, juxtaposes, childhood fun with adult oppression
‘setting free their children’
- children set free. freedom is what mothers crave
- ‘setting’ implies trapped, claustrophobia, no pleasure, stuck in domestic life
‘behind them’
preposition = male is breadwinner, protector, control
‘skilled trades’
- women are not recognised for how they raise their children. don’t earn any qualifications + are almost seen as unskilled
‘An estate full of washing’
- dehumanises people to chores
- synedoche
- mothers don’t own their identities + Larkin suggesting all women do same tasks
‘ Our Wedding, lying / Near the television’
‘lying’ suggests wedding album ignored like their relationship with their partners. not most important thing in their life anymore
‘(But the lovers are all in school)’
‘lovers’ are who the parents used to be before children. Or the ‘lovers’ could be younger generation in new relationships
‘unripe acorns’
adjective suggests children unaware of what life will be like when they are older. still naïve, not ready for adulthood
‘Expect to be taken home’
suggest children demand on their mothers + mothers have no choice
‘Their beauty has thickened.’
‘thickened’ suggests mothers are growing older + not as beautiful as they used to be. no time to look after themselves
‘Something is pushing them/ To the side of their own lives’
- ‘something’ suggests mothers don’t realise who or what is ‘pushing’ them
- verb suggests mothers are being forced away from their own lives. most important thing in their lives is their children. mothers are almost at the side now looking in on a life that isn’t theirs; a life they have no control over
