How Things Work
Today it’s going to cost us twenty dollars
To live. Five for a softball. Four for a book,
A handful of ones for coffee and two sweet rolls,
Bus fare, rosin for your mother’s violin.
We’re completing our task. The tip I left
For the waitress filters down
Like rain, wetting the new roots of a child
Perhaps, a belligerent cat that won’t let go
Of a balled sock until there’s chicken to eat.
As far as I can tell, daughter, it works like this:
You buy bread from a grocery, a bag of apples
From a fruit stand, and what coins
Are passed on helps others buy pencils, glue,
Tickets to a movie in which laughter
Is thrown into their faces.
If we buy a goldfish, someone tries on a hat.
If we buy crayons, someone walks home with a broom.
A tip, a small purchase here and there,
And things just keep going. I guess
Analysis: This poem may seem very simplistic, but if we use our knowledge of life, history, and a little imagination, the theme is huge. At fist glance we come to see the speaker of the poem talking to his daughter about the way society works. You spend money and that money that you spent will be spent by someone else. The Secretary of Treasury stated: "The money that you currently own, belongs to someone else who is waiting to pay another person." That is an overview of it. Now if we take into account this cycle that he talks about, in reference to money, we as the reader and thus interpreter must find the true meaning of this cycle. I personally believe that in every piece of written literature the author is placing a hidden message which he/she leaves it to the reader to find. My interpretation of the cycle goes as follows: The cycle of money may seem endless, but it has an ending. It may end up in the trash, literary, or it may be ripped and thus ending its cycle. Just as the money's cycle must end, so must a human cycle: life. For every person that dies, four are born.
"A belligerent cat that won’t let go of a balled sock until there’s chicken to eat." I found a special interest in this quote. The cat represents a person, the sock that is "balled" represents society, and the chicken represents a higher standing member of society. The cat could be anyone we consider evil: a banker, a landowner, even the devil. He never lets go and continues to oppress its victims who are the common members of society, or the balled sock. The chicken, who becomes the distraction is a prestigious member of society to whom the cat can take advantage of. The main theme being: Social Darwinism. We consider ourselves to live in a civilized society, but why is that. Because we have a "structure?"Perhaps because we have an economic currency? What is the real definition of civilized, since the word and definition was created by a "civilized" member of society. The answers can be found within one's interpretation of society. And just as Soto commented, "...things just keep going. I guess."
WOW! I liked your analysis of this poem. You did a great job deciphering the poem, going beyond the words. Although I liked your analysis upon the meaning of the poem, I felt that you could have focused more on the structure of the poem, i.e (rhyme scheme, number of stanzas, number of lines, etc.). But your analysis was still great.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed that poem, and your analysis was very thorough. I agree with your theory about the hidden meaning within the poem, and I think you are right on track about how the cycle does eventually end. Good job!
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