In the poem "One Thing,' Mary Jo Bang writes how she saw her son to be. She loved her son deeply and couldn't let go of him. She writes, "The one thing he was/ Not was an object. The other thing/ He was not dead"(1-3). She says that she never took her son for granted or forgot about him or mistreated him. She also will never forget him and remember him as if his spirit were still alive. She continues to write, "Disquiet acutely attended./ Not dead. Not over"(6-7). She continues to claim that his spirit will live on and that she will never forget about her son. She also adds that he was never neglected and never mistreated. Mary Jo Bang had a close, loving relationship with her son that she will never forget, not even for a day.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Elegy #6
In the poem "You Were You Are Elegy," Mary Jo Bang Reveals that her son had a drug problem and that may have been the cause of his death. She never directly confesses to how he died but we are able to make assumptions through her writings. In the poem she writes, "How drugs when drugs were/ Undid the good almost entirely/ But not entirely"(11-13). She writes how drugs had ruined her sons life. She also writes however, that they did not ruin him completely. She is a mother and she will love her child no matter what. She will never stop loving him and never stop seeing the good in him. She continues to write, "Everything Was My Fault/ Has been the theme of the song/ I've been singing"(34-36). She believes that it was her fault her son had become addicted and possibly that it is her fault he is dead. She blames herself because she is the mother and children have to be raised properly by their parents. Mary Jo Bang reveals her sons addiction and choices in life through her poem.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I still can't believe you read this book! i must have been very interesting as well as moving to read about a death of a son.I'm sure the perspective is quite unique which makes it all the more engrossing. My favorite lines are"The one thing he was/ Not was an object. The other thing/ He was not dead"(1-3). I think you did a great job analyzing it. It sounds like you have gotten into the mothers head and figured out what she would write about.
I agree with Mikayla! Reading about the death of a son is probably really tear jerking, even for you! Considering this book seems to be based on this relationship with a son and his mother I bet you have quite an insight on parenting!
It's good to see that we can connect to the death now. because in your fifth post we saw she was devastated but now we learn about his drug problem, its like putting a name with a face, we don't know everything but at least we can get a picture. It seems right that she would blame her self for his addiction, but if she states in the other poem that she never treated him wrong then there had to be something deeper that she couldn't help him fight because he didn't tell her. But, at least she still treasures him and doesn't look at his addiction as the representation of him. It's also good to know that she still felt he was human and that she still felt he was real and not a dead object. This is something i'd like to read, though it sounds tough to read and not be upset.
This is a sad poem because i feel like the mother had a close bond with her son but at the same time she was unable to reach him in a level that could truely help him overcome his drug problem. I think that this poem is very touching especially because of the fact that it talks about the relationship between a mother and a son, an interesting dynamic, as it is hard for a song to let his mother is in his teen years (one of the most important times for parents to reach out to their children).
Post a Comment