On Her Blindness- Adam Thorpe Flashcards
“bumping into walls like a dodgem”
simile, relates to innocent fairground fun and enjoyment, diminished by her condition as it takes on a more sinister tone. Entertainment turned into embarrassment.
Enjambment from the end of this line reflects the jarring nature of these actions, and creates a frustration within the reading. As this is a poem of memory, it creates a son’s realisation of her suffering through this renewal of her perspective.
Enjambment from the line before formulates an isolation in this act.
Hopeless difficulty
Words chosen to end stanzas; “not finding”, “searching”, “hear”. Creates a sense of strain/ difficulty- the inescapability of this through these becoming the lasting impression of each stanza.
“she pretended to/ ignore the void, or laughed it off”
“ignore the void” phrase surrounded by caesura, creates an enclosed idea in the same way the mother felt alienated in her “void” as an inaccessibility of understanding comes between her and her son.
Fricative- discomfort of son despite message of poem. The juxtaposition here shows family’s attempt to rationalise , with the idea that his mother is able to ignore dark thoughts.
Religious imagery in “void”
Biblical allusion from the beginning of Creation Story, where God creates a world following “the earth was without form, and void”- shows an absolute absence of anything and a total lack of livelihood- creates feeling of disparity and lack of sanctity the mother feels towards her drained life.
“to drive the old Lanchester/ long after it was safe”
“Lanchester” becomes a subliminal association with the past when she had her sight- wasn’t burdenous, hence her clinging to this for longer than she should.
“old” represents the defunct and a lack of functioning, familiarity in the car and the simultaneous decline that could be an offer of comfort.
“long after it was safe” affinity with that it is discontinued/ does not work, as she finds a level of safety in this despite obvious danger (desperation for affirmation/ familiarity)
“Bear being blind”
plosives used resemble an underlying anger in sudden confession that opens the poem. Outburst of honesty presents a strain in expressing her inability to cope/ live contently despite the facade she has been presenting to the world. Unexpected within the repetitive stoicism of the narrative- anger suppressed to be accepted.
“slow slide [ ] as blank as stone”
prolonged sounds of sibilance show agonising loss of familiarity - shift from anger after mention of lost experience- loss of childhood innocence through previous images.
distance between ‘s’ sounds completes this image of an unstoppable agony, completed with “stone” ‘set in stone, permanence, inescapability.
“my father joked”
Fathers voice introduced before the mothers despite her being central to the narrative. Mockery in fathers words resembles how the voice of sufferers is overridden by societal dismissal and jokes. Presents cause for her stoic approach.
