effects - alan jenkins Flashcards
two sentences
before and after death of husband
irregular rhyme scheme
becomes more regular at the end - realised what he’s done
one stanza
the significance of his mum
enjambment
outpouring of emotions
title
belongings
influence
consequences
’ i held her hand which was always scarred’
intimate action - personal relationship
past tense
scars are a reminder of the past and her sacrifice to the family
‘chopping, slicing from the knives which lay in wait’
cooking - domestic, family
stab in the back
metaphor for the hurts that children or adult offspring may inflict on their parents.
‘the knuckles reddened, rough from scrubbing hard’
caring
asyndetic list of tasks indicates the hard work involved in bringing up children before the days of labour-saving devices
‘giving love the only way she knew, in each cheap cut of meat in roast and stew’
generational - doing the right thing
ungrateful speaker
can’t afford expensive meat
‘they had taken off her rings, the rings she’d kept once in her dressing table drawer’
blame, distance
marriage or gifts
defined by our modest possessions
‘from the time we took a holiday ‘abroad’
only rich could travel
mocking, ungrateful tone
‘only now that he was dead. and her watch? - classic ladies model, gold strap, it was gone’
caesura - before and after identity
stereotypical woman
can’t adjust to change
‘watching soaps and game shows i’d disdain’
normal
hatred
mother and son were apart not only in generations but in attitudes and education.
does this confession imply understated love and gu
‘chops or chicken portions, english, bland
no care
‘funny foreign stuff’
alliteration - basic
doesn’t like change
‘not all the weeks i didn’t come’
abandoned her
contrasts her behaviour towards him
guilty
‘when she sat night after night staring unseeing’
temporal deixis
oxymoron
empty
‘heaved herself upright’
struggle
uncomfortable
‘drink after drink’
losing herself
alcohol - can’t cope
‘she wouldn’t touch’
trying to connect to him
‘blinked unseeing at the wall’
lost herself
blank
regressed
stopped functioning
‘learned contempt’
personal
self-criticism is clear, all the more effective because it is understated
lower - did everything
‘tv blared in the corner’
meaningless
white noise
‘drown some pour soul’s curses and moans’
no control
regressing
‘please don’t leave but of course i left’
regret
echolalia
‘a nurse bring a little bag of effects to me’
things represent her individuality and her life.
represent the emotions — the ‘effect’ — including love, that his mother’s life and death had on him.
headlines
the effects of loss
regret of our past behaviours
we take people for granted
grief can cause a loss of identity
you don’t know love until its gone
death can change a person
we try to remember our loved ones through their habits
we are ungrateful towards our parents
