The Map Woman Flashcards
What is it about?
The attempt to remove your past from your identity yet is futile as you can never escape
‘a delicate brail’
Metaphor/symbolism
Difficult to read
Few can understand your past
People are blind to your past
‘she sponged, soaped, scrubbed; the prison and hospital stamped on her back’
Sibilance
Desparation to remove her identity
Town life was un pleasant maybe violent/ she had been to prison
‘a small cross where her parents skull’s grinned at the dark’
Poor relationship with parents
Constant reminder of their death
No connection
Reality
Lack of respect
‘deep in the bone old streets tunnelled and burrowed, hunting for home’
Cyclical structure
Wanting to come back home
Still not comfortable
Link to Streetcar
Blanche bathing and in the poem she attempts to scrub away her identity
Blanche lacks confidence in her body and in the poem the woman is also not comfortable
Blanche uses costume jewlery to maintani her facade and in the poem she uses clothes to cover-up her past
Blanche is haunted by the failings of her family and in the poem she has a constant reminder of their death
Blanche leaves the South as now slavery is abolished the area is suffering so escapes by going to New Orleans, the Map Woman goes to the South to re-start her life and escape her past
Impact of the extended metaphor
Maps provide never ending information
Criticises how a womens identity is imprinted on the world
