Katharyn Howd Machan's Poem 'Hazel Tells Lavern'

Katharyn Howd Machan's poem, “Hazel Tells Laverne”, humorously ridicules fairytales. The narrator, Hazel, recounts the night of her encounter with a talking frog when cleaning the Howard Johnson's Hotel's bathroom. The frog bargains that a kiss to his nose can turn Hazel into a princess. Hazel reacts to the offer by repeating “me a princess” throughout the poem to emphasize how ridiculous and unrealistic she finds the idea to be. Besides, frogs don't talk. Hazel blatantly declines, and flushes the “little green pervert” (20) three times down the toilet. Hazel ludicrously believes that a woman of her social status can become a princess overnight, especially with the help of a talking frog. The poem suggests realism, not idealism. Fairytales
The ironic ending to Machan's poem symbolizes inferiority of women. More specifically, the poem suggests that during that period of time, women were illiterate, and only worked low, minimum skilled positions. Hazel for example, cannot go from “rags to riches” in the blink of a kiss; her social status deceits her from such promises. She accepts that she can never amount to nothing more than being a maid, and that the thought of becoming a princess is complete foolishness. She repeats this disbelief three times in the poem, “an how i can be a princess/me a princess/me/a princess”. Hazel clearly doubts her self-worth; she does not think she's qualified to be fit for royalty. She cannot even fathom the idea that kissing a frog would actually make her a princess. Imposing a happily ever after for herself is incredulous and delusional; Hazel merely laughs at the thought and refuses to believe the frogs proposition. Generally found in fairytales, Hazel is expected to kiss the frog and live happily ever after. She instead “hitsm with my mop” (21), and flushes him back down the toilet. Symbolically flushing her chances of becoming a princess. To end with, the language, spelling, and colloquialism presented in the poem, “Hazel Tells LaVerne” by Katharyn Howd Machan, engrosses humor and gives character to Hazel's candid personality. Portrayed as a lower-class, blue-collared woman, satirized in an antiquate society; Hazel lacks ego. She is incapable of rising above her current social standing. To even consider that she could become a princess by kissing a talking frog prince was simply preposterous. Machan emphasizes that reality is very unlike