we had goldfish and they circled around and around
in the bowl on the table near the heavy drapes
covering the picture window and
my mother, always smiling, wanting us all
to be happy, told me, 'be happy Henry!'
and she was right: it's better to be happy if you
can
but my father continued to beat her and me several times a week while
raging inside his 6-foot-two frame because he couldn't
understand what was attacking him from within.
my mother, poor fish,
wanting to be happy, beaten two or three times a
week, telling me to be happy: 'Henry, smile!
why don't you ever smile?'
and then she would smile, to show me how, and it was the
saddest smile I ever saw
one day the goldfish died, all five of them,
they floated on the water, on their sides, their
eyes still open,
and when my father got home he threw them to the cat
there on the kitchen floor and we watched as my mother
smiled
in the bowl on the table near the heavy drapes
covering the picture window and
my mother, always smiling, wanting us all
to be happy, told me, 'be happy Henry!'
and she was right: it's better to be happy if you
can
but my father continued to beat her and me several times a week while
raging inside his 6-foot-two frame because he couldn't
understand what was attacking him from within.
my mother, poor fish,
wanting to be happy, beaten two or three times a
week, telling me to be happy: 'Henry, smile!
why don't you ever smile?'
and then she would smile, to show me how, and it was the
saddest smile I ever saw
one day the goldfish died, all five of them,
they floated on the water, on their sides, their
eyes still open,
and when my father got home he threw them to the cat
there on the kitchen floor and we watched as my mother
smiled
The poem you chose, “A Smile to Remember” by Charles Bukowski, was such a sad piece. I really loved the line “and then she would smile, to show me how, and it was the /saddest smile I ever saw”, and thought it carried a lot of weight in regards to the meaning of the poem. I like how you focused on the mother and how she was trying to convince herself that things weren’t the way they were. This is sort of similar to a quote by my author which says “If a revival of the myths of these cults gives women emotional satisfaction, it does so at the price of obscuring the real conditions of life. This is why they were invented in the first place”, which is similar to what the mother is doing. I saw a parallel between this poem and the prose piece you chose from “The Mandelbaum Gate” in which Matt is suggesting the same thing to Barbara, that is to pretend. He says to her: “‘You see, you mustn’t,’ Matt said quietly, go round here alone. It’s a question of your Jewish blood.’” Showing how he acknowledges the position she is in, yet tells her to overshadow it and veil it through remaining unseen. This is similar to the mother’s smile because she is veiling her true self and submitting to the myths society has laid out for her.
ReplyDelete“A Smile to Remember” would have actually been a perfect poem for my book too! The idea of external appearance, and masking internal conflicts. The characters in our books share the idea of masking an inner dispute. The way you put it in your introduction makes it the most clear. The idea that we live by stereotypes, and the true challenge is making it passed that outer frame others have created for us. After reading the passages Sparks wrote in her two books, it became extremely clear of the world she is writing about – our world. She is combating the injustices of stereotypes, much as Hosseini continuously attempts to combat the injustices of gender roles.
ReplyDeleteIn specific reference to this poem, Bukowski’s writing style is unlike any other poets. The detachment is definitely seen, as his nonchalant tone dominates even the saddest of events. I agree with your analysis, as well as I wanted to add on a few other devices that helped create meaning of Bukowski’s writing. The lack of rhythm, the story-telling style is the defining aspect of this writing. To connect to what Jared stated in his presentation, the lack of the descriptions, the lack of rhythm, is what creates the meaning. The mother is living in a household in which she is unable to happy, she has, in a way, detached herself from the abuse and the oppressive house she lives in – much as Bukowski has detached himself from this poem, and the idea of happiness.