Genetics

Question 1

Summary

Answer 1

Meditates on the way that inherited traits connect people to their past.

Question 2

How are the themes of family and inheritance shown?

Answer 2

• The poem illustrates how people’s ancestors live on in their bodies, which offer a comforting, grounding sense of connection to the past—and, ultimately, to the future.
• They know that they’re the product of love and part of a family line.
• Even though human relationships are frail the speaker’s body remains a stable record of the past.

Question 3

How are the themes of marriage and relationships shown?

Answer 3

• “Genetics” also illustrates how drastically relationships can change over time.
• The product of their marriage, the child, outlived the relationship itself. In this way, the poem speaks to the unpredictability of relationships
• On the contrary, if the speaker thought that relationships were hopeless, they wouldn’t want to have a child with their own partner. Presumably, the speaker’s parents didn’t plan for their feelings to change,

Question 4

How are themes of identity and new beginnings shown?

Answer 4

• Though the speaker’s parents have separated, this doesn’t prevent the speaker from wanting to start a family of their own.
• Rather than being an exact replica of the past, the poem suggests, each generation is unique and thus represents a chance for a new beginning.
• Genetics combine to create children who are entirely new, independent individuals.