Literature - dramatic mono (Essay Sample)

Name Professor Course Date Literature- Dramatic Mono The objective of the study is to compare between Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde and Next Day by Randall Jarrell. Audre Lorde was an American writer, radical feminist, as well as a prominent human right activist. Her poetry work focused heavily on feminism, civil right, and the manifestation of the black female identity. The poems express anger, and right civil injustices experienced throughout her life, as Juang and Morrissette (708) asserts, “Lorde described her teenage struggles with her mother as the first engagement of many battles.” She is known for her political activism in her poetry work. The political activism was not just a mean of self-expression but rather a form of critique, engagement, and fighting the world. Most of her poems are political, “and in many of her poems, Lorde explores the issue of positionality or politics” (Walk 815). In the Hanging Fire, the speaker is a 14-year-old girl who is in the adolescent age. The girl is worried about the boyfriend she likes, an upcoming dance, as well as death. She is alone with all her fears. Consequently, the comparison will focus on the age crisis of the two works of literature. Secondly, it will dwell on teenage versus menopause illustrated in the text. Lastly, it will analyze the question of death as demonstrated by the two authors. The study will show the differences in terms of the imagery amid other literary devices employed in the texts. Randall Jarrell was an American poet, essayist, literary critic, novelist and children author. His poems reflect about the Second World War. The poems are about childhood and bookish children. Most of his poetry work link the events with the person’s psyche that takes place between two people. His style reflects his sense of loneliness. In the Next Day, the speaker is a woman lamenting that she is getting old “It female speaker is as middle-class as…though perhaps deceptively so” (Dunn 22). She has made most of her major life decisions. She is worried that the grocery boy does not care about her affairs. The frustration makes her think back about when she was young and scrumptious. However, she forgets about her sons, daughter, and the husband. Age Crisis Both the authors illustrate the age crisis in their poems. In the Hanging Fire poem, the age crisis appears in every stanza of the poem. The poem introduces the speaker's age in the first line “I am fourteen” (line 1). Therefore, it indicates the age of the speaker. “My skin has betrayed me” (line 2) also shows the speaker’s concern about how her skin has started to develop acne. The development comes due to aging. It is palpable that the speaker is not happy about it. In lines 3-5, the poet points out that the speaker is having an affair with a younger man, “Boy I cannot live without still sucks his thumb in secret.” It also implies that the speaker associates herself with someone with the undesirable trait. In lines 6-7, “How come my knees are always so ashy” has significant meaning that her skin is scorched. The speaker is worried that everybody will realize that she is aging. In addition, “I have to learn how to dance in time for the next party” (lines 12-13) indicates that the girl feels she is mature enough to dance. The age allows her to dance in the party. She feels she is no longer young. Therefore, she should enjoy the freedom of dancing in parties. Lorde also points out that the girl fears whether she will have prolonged life, “Will I live long enough to grow up” (lines 32-33). She feels that she is aging so fast. Besides, she fears that she might die before accomplishing some imperative things (Mahoney 116). Similarly, in the Next Day by Randall Jarrell, the age crisis is significantly evident. The speaker is troubled by her age. The poem was written in 1965 the same year the author died. The age crisis of the speaker symbolizes his feelings, “…has everything that she wished for when she was a little girl, which looks in retrospect to us like the ideal 1950s family” (Haralson 127). The author was old at the time he wrote the poem. The author illustrates the implication of future days and how to face them. Additionally, the speaker is upset by her current lifestyle. Jarrell also points out that the speaker yearns for the day she was young, “When I was young and miserable and pretty and poor, I’d wish” (lines 13-14). At that age, everyone admired her beautiful smile. Besides, in lines 11-12, “What I’ve become Troubles me even if I shut my eyes,” it is apparent that the lady wanted the grocery boy to adore her. However, she feels discouraged by her physical appearance. She no longer gets the yearning look from the boys. For example, she laments, “See me. It bewilders me he doesn’t see me for so many years” (lines 19-20). It therefore implies that she does not fit in the contemporary world. She only knows about her younger years. “The eyes of strangers! And, holding their flesh within my flesh, their vile” (lines 23-24) significantly indicates that when she was young, several individuals noticed her adorable look. The age crisis makes her spend time alone thinking about her future. Her youthfulness is gone, and she has to deal with the future. The age crisis insinuates that she is old enough to die (Dunn 23). Anxiety and Life Betrayal Anxiety is prevalent in both the Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde and Next Day by Randall Jarrell. In the Hanging Fire, the fourteen-year-old is anxious about the new developments in her life. She is afraid that her boyfriend does not match her expectations. In line 3, “the boy I cannot live without” shows that the teenager is nervous about the direction of the relationship. She feels uncomfortable by the social behaviors of her boyfriend. She laments in line that “Still sucks his thumb in secret.” The anxiety further comes out when she invited for a dance. She is worried about how she will present herself in the dance. She laments, “I have to learn how to dance in time for the next party” (lines 12-13). She considers dancing as a necessary social skill in her life. The adult guidance is not an option here. In lines 20-21, “Too much that has to be done” indicate that she does not want to do anything. The word "nothing" shows that she is nervous about trying new things alone. The loneliness betrays her life ambitions (Mahoney 116). Additionally, the girl is uncertain of her maturity. She longs for adult guidance. The poet uses the imagery of anxious repetition to illustrate anxiety. She worries about the color of the skin. It is an important issue in the life of the teenagers. “In this case, the girl states that her skin betrayed her” She often repeats her thought. The process is common among many teens. The anxiety thoughts are entangled with the “girl reference to momma, who is behind the closed door” The closed door depicts the unavailability of the mother to the teenager. The mother does not care about the girl thereby making her feel nervous about life development. “The closed door is depicted literally (the door is closed) and figuratively (the mother is not open to her daughter)” The anxiety repetition makes the anxiety feeling intense. Furthermore, the girl feels alone in this world. The death makes anxious feeling that she is unnecessary to anybody. The world betrays her by failing to realize how badly she needs somebody being around her life (Mahoney 116). In the Next Day by Randall Jarrell, the speaker is anxious about new developments in her life. The fading beauty bothers her current life. She is no longer attractive. She is nervous about her physical appearance in future. She is fearful that she does not get attention from men. In line 52, she claims "how often they have undressed me, /the eyes of a stranger!” However, she consoles herself and says "Now I am good/the last mistaken, /ecstatic, accidental bliss, the blind/ happiness that, bursting, leaves upon the palm" She fears lack of attention, blindness, or the accidental bliss. The anxiety is triggered more when the bag boy from the store leads her to the car. “She is reminded of the time when she was young and wished for what all girls wish: to have a husband, house, and children” Therefore, the boy betrays her expectation of a smile (Dunn 22). The anxiety further deepens when she looks at her life changes. She realizes that she has been in the same position for long. However, she is certain that life will change. She states, “As I look at my life, I am afraid only that it will change, as I’m changing” The changes prompts her to hate the image of the mirror. “Her extreme sorrow for her physical appearance has left her in almost a meaningless of life state of mind. She doesn’t say she’s a wife or a mother, or a cook, but only that she’s old; “That’s all, I’m old.” Furthermore, the woman is anxious about how her family members are coping outside a home. She keeps thinking about them. In line 37, she says “My husband away at work—I wish for them. The dog, the maid”. However, the anxiety of death makes her view f...