Litany Flashcards
Overall
-explores the themes of everyday by capturing ordinary domestic life
- reflecting the small but impactful dynamics of daily life
“Passing the catalogue”
Passing the catalogue between the women suggests a social ritual common in small communities
-hinting at the economic and social constraints that shape everyday life
-by referring to this “litany” of domestic life the pot captures a world in which material items and social expectations deny the fabric of ordinary life
“ Pyrex” “American tan”
- emphasise the commercial aspects of everyday life
- the items are emblematic of the domestic sphere that surrounds the characters suggesting the ordinary life is often framed by consumption routine and appreance
“Language embarrassed them”
-captures the way language and social rituals can become repressive in everyday life
-suggests certain topics are forbidden reflecting the conservative and repressed social norms of the time
-the women are cautious in their interactions
“An embarrassing word broken to bits which tenses the air like an accident”
-imagery captures the discomfort of everyday conversation where and embarrassing word can disrupt the calm exterior and peoples lives are fraught with unspoken complexities
“Terrible marriages cracked” “cellophane round polyester shirts”
- implies the trained relationships were common but concealed beneath polite facades symbolised by ‘cellophanes round polyester shirts’
-poet illustrates how social convections mask dissatisfaction and unhappiness in everyday life
“Cancer” “sex” “debts” “pretending to read”
-speakers persepecitve as a child reflects an innocent curiosity about adult everyday life as well as learning social codes that govern ordinary behaviour
-the speaker describes pretending to read as a way of blending into the adults everyday world where topics like cancer sex and debts are unmentionable
- topics represent the hidden fears and concerns the adult deliberately keep out of sight to preserve sdecoru
- creating an repression of daily worries and truths
Anecdote “ boy on the playground” “to fuck off”
-hilights how earn the minor deviations from social norms especially in language evoke a strong reaction
-it intorduces the child to a thrilled malicious pause” underscoring the excitement and danger associated with with breaking everyday decoru k
“Salted my tongue like an imminent storm”
-‘“taste of soap”
-sensory imagery
- ground the reader ro physical experiences of everyday life
-images convey the sensory richness of ordinary moments
“A mass grave of wasps bobbled in a jar” and a “butter fly”
-imagery
-serves as a symbolic representation of the confined and delicate nature of daily existence
-trapped Wasps may symbolise the constrained lives of people bound by social codes and routines
-and the “stammering butterfly” reflects the fragility of innncend and wonder amid the rightyif everyday norms
