The Diet

Question 1

Purpose

Answer 1

Criticise expectations of women to be submissive
Body image
Control of women
Loss of identity

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

• Parallelism – stanza both starts and ends with clichés. This suggests the inescapability of such expectations.
• The poem is written in free verse, avoiding any rhyme or rhythm. The lack of conformity reflects the main character’s rejection of reality to follow her obsession with dieting and losing weight.

• Internal rhymes of ‘dinner, thinner’ and ‘stone ‘bone’ increase the pace of the poem, symbolising the speed of the woman’s transformation.

Question 3

Links

Answer 3

Anon - A loss of identity (due to outside forces) – Anon. This is shown through lack of name being said and others talking about them.
Woman who shopped - loss of identity. Both link to expectations of women (shopping and dieting)
Map woman - the change the women go through is presented as emotionally damaging and weakens their self -esteem. They both seem to lose their identity