Ethics By Linda Pastan

The poem, “Ethics”, by Linda Pastan is about age, regret and the old woman’s thoughts about her teacher and the ethical question from so long ago. The same question was asked in Ethics class every fall, ”If there were a fire in a museum, which would you save, a Rembrandt paintings or an old woman who hadn’t many years left anyhow?” The author or main character in the poem probably grappled with this annual question for years. The question brings up the value of any life, both youthful and old. Perhaps in the 1930’s Ethics classes were common, but this is not the case today, unless a student enrolls in a philosophy course in college. Was this class in a university or high school? The value of paintings themselves is questioned; an inanimate
This poem, although it lacks the ability to really resonate with me, there is a moral or rather a method to its madness.
The narrative is a memory of an Ethics class and a trip to see a Rembrandt painting. Through the Rembrandt painting, the character remembers the challenging teacher. Through the culmination of her life experiences, she realizes the unity in all the elements. The painting brings together the familiar colors the earth produces through fall and winter. The author chooses those colors for important images of the earth: the dark of winter (and lack of sunlight), and the radiant browns of fertile soil.
The Ethics teacher asked the same question every fall and because of this repetition, the question stuck with her. She probably grappled with the question for many years. The question addresses the value of any life, even if it is not youthful or beautiful. The value of paintings is in the subtext: paintings are limited. The painting cannot have the same weight as memories of his grandmother, which he must have feelings and memories about. I believe it is fair to assume that the writer has palpable memories of a grandmother –a grandmother that was well enough to occupy a particular domain, “…her