eat me Flashcards
summary
The poem details a sexual relationship in which the speakers partner derives sexual pleasure from feeding her and getting her more obese. Inevitably it is unclear if he dies or is eaten
form and structure
Ten brief tercets- restrictive and controlled (just like her)
end stopping
End stopped lines on the final line of each stanza, apart from stanza six, which reinforces routine and control
The end-stops throughout the poem slow down the pace, enabling the reader to fully appreciate the unsettling images and they bring finality to the final moments of the poem
Final three lines are end-stopped, signifying the end of life and their relationship
meter
no strict meter creating a natural and conversational tone
rhyme
The rhymes are slant rhymes, with the surrounding consonants changing in each line
This subtle rhyme scheme represents the disguised and manipulative nature of the speaker’s partner and her mistreatment
There is a discreet, but regular rhyme scheme of AAABBBCCC
“When I hit thirty, he brought me a cake”
you would think its talking about age but ironically its talking about weight- 30 stone (celebration of weight not her existence dehamuanises her)
introducing male pronouns shows male over female dynamic
what does title suggest
alice in wonderland- childlike/juvenile, sinister
sexual connotations
‘the icing was white but the letters were pink, they said eat me. And i ate, did what i was told. Didn’t even taste it.’
white=pure pink=permeation of this purity and innocence by this mans dark desire, corrupts the joyful connotations of cake
pink letters- feminine (man tries to make it more appealing to disguise his dark intentions
didnt taste it- frendzied eating to submit to male fantasy
-removal of ‘i’ pronoun in ‘didnt evgen taste it suggestions dehumanisation. shes an object for his satisfaction (removes speakers agency).
cesura after eat me- shows force, submission to his desires
‘then he asked me to get up and walk round the bed so he could watch my broad belly wobble, hips jugger like a jaugernaut’
twisted nature and fetisisation of the man
sonic based imagrey through alliteration, creates rhythm mimicing the movement of her body
juggernaut- object, dehumanises her more
‘The bigger the better, he’d say, i like big girls, soft girls, girls i can burrow insidebwith multiple chins, masses of cellulite’
strips narrator of individuality
alliteration of ‘b’ creates rhythm, mimicing movement of her body
burrow- desires to be engulfed, suggests maternal role?
cellulite- likens her to a biological form/mass objectifying her for his needs more
“And I ate, did
what I was told. Didn’t even taste it.”
The speaker’s straightfoward tone shows her adaptation to this life of submitting to her partne
The pauses from the use of caesura mimic the speaker’s detachment from her actions and her dependance on her partner for basic needs
she has become numb to the situation
‘i was his jacuzzi’
suggests warmth and comfort, again likens her to an everyday object used for leisure
‘the bigger the better he’d say,
I like big girls , soft girls i can burrow inside’
The partner’s emphasis on ‘girls’ reduces the speaker, and women in general, to a child-like figure who reinforces his own power through her dependance on him
This misogynistic view is emphasised by the plural use of the word ‘girl’, which generalises and belittles women to remove their individuality in order for the partner to see the speaker as an object that exists purely for his satisfaction
The repetition here demonstrates the partner’s excessive Th greed for the speaker’s female body
he finds comfort in his fetishes through burrow
epetition of ‘big’ underlines that the size of her body is the sole reason for his interest in the speaker
‘my only pleasure the rush of fast food, His pleasure to watch me swell like a forbodden fruit
parallelism in pkeasure repetition
forbidden fruit- reference to genisis and temptation also links to title
‘His breadfruit’
biblical allusion to bread- he worships her
breadfruit is sweet and fleshy: again links to title ‘eat me’, he consumes her life
‘his desert island after a shipwreck. Or a beached whale on a king-size bed craving a wave. I was a tidal wave of flesh’
she offers salvation to his sexual needs
beached whale- isolated/stuck craving mobility/freedom/strength to get out
tidal wave of flesh- shows how he dehumanises her existence.
but a tidal wave has power, potential for domination
‘too fat to leave. too fat to buy a full fat pint of milk, too fat to use fat as an emotional shield, too fat to be called ‘cuddly, chubby, big built’
trapped- idea of male control, cycle of manipulation
cant use bbody positivity as a sheild due to health concerns
‘the day i hit thirty-nine, I allowed him to stroke my globe of a cheek. His flesh, my flesh flowed. He said, Open wide, poured olive oil down my throat’
sign he is never fully fulfilled
raw ingredient strips away humanity, doesnt hide intent through cake anymore
allowed- hint of agency
flesh flowed evokes wave and potential for power
frictive alliteration shows intwertwining bodies
use of italics
shows his domineering imposal of his fantasy and how he is the figure of authority
‘i rolled and he drowned in my flesh. I drowned his dying sentance out’
imagrey of suffocation- like a tidal wave, he drown in it
he drowns in his fetish
uses her power potential suggested earlier
‘his eyes bulding with greed’
sinister- even in death his desire prevails
‘there was nothing left in the house to eat’
cannabalism as so fat she cant move
the end of the poem is ambiguous
end stops here create a firm and final death to partner’s obsessive desire
dramatic monologue
Tells a startling story with the climactic ending of the speaker fighting back against her partner
The speaker is a voice for the countless women who become confined in abusive relationships
Such enjambment is often used to convey the speaker’s movement and her increasing size - ‘tidal wave of flesh/too fat to leave’
many metaphors
nauetical semantic feild- The vast image of the ocean creates the potential for power and domination later in the poem
-Connects her weight with oceans and waves, demonstrating the vast and expansive nature of her changing body
possessive language- Underlines the objectification of the speaker through likening to ‘his’ objects
Literary techniques
allteration throughout highlights speakers weight and partners obsession
plosive sounds mimic body wobbling
