Linda Patan Poem the Marks
Tuohy 1 Mikki Tuohy ENG 390 Dr. Buttram December 12, 2008
Grading Feminist Theory
The poem “Marks” by Linda Pastan is a short piece that focuses on a housewife’s duties being graded by her family as if it were her homework. The wife is graded by her husband, son and daughter using different three grading systems, each time being told that she could do better, but ends by saying that the family should “Wait ‘til they learn / I’m dropping out” (10-11). In an interview on “The Newshour with Jim Lehrer” with Jeffrey Brown in 2003, Pastan said that “I think I 've always been interested in the dangers that are under the surface, but seems like simple, ordinary domestic life. It may seem like smooth surfaces, but there are tensions and dangers right underneath, and those are what I 'm trying to get at.” This poem reveals the same attitude that Pastan has towards domesticity and is screaming out for a feminist criticism. By examining traditional gender roles, the way that society defines femininity through this poem, how the woman is portrayed in the eyes of her family and the idea of the good girl/bad girl opposition, some hidden agendas of the poem are introduced through a feminist criticism. In the 1960s, the feminist movement started to renew the “old tradition of thought and action already possessing its classic books which had diagnosed the problem of women’s inequality in society, and (in some cases) proposed solutions” (Barry 121). The
Tuohy 2 theory then “became a dominant force in Western literary studies in the late 1970s” (Murfin 158). Feminist criticism today is “one of the most vital currents on the contemporary academic scene. And our literary history is being substantially rewritten, not only through the presentation of neglected works by women…but also by the inclusion of a growing body of important work by contemporary women writers” (Birkerts 1651). It is one of the most rapidly growing areas of literary study. Feminist critics “believe that a
Grading Feminist Theory
The poem “Marks” by Linda Pastan is a short piece that focuses on a housewife’s duties being graded by her family as if it were her homework. The wife is graded by her husband, son and daughter using different three grading systems, each time being told that she could do better, but ends by saying that the family should “Wait ‘til they learn / I’m dropping out” (10-11). In an interview on “The Newshour with Jim Lehrer” with Jeffrey Brown in 2003, Pastan said that “I think I 've always been interested in the dangers that are under the surface, but seems like simple, ordinary domestic life. It may seem like smooth surfaces, but there are tensions and dangers right underneath, and those are what I 'm trying to get at.” This poem reveals the same attitude that Pastan has towards domesticity and is screaming out for a feminist criticism. By examining traditional gender roles, the way that society defines femininity through this poem, how the woman is portrayed in the eyes of her family and the idea of the good girl/bad girl opposition, some hidden agendas of the poem are introduced through a feminist criticism. In the 1960s, the feminist movement started to renew the “old tradition of thought and action already possessing its classic books which had diagnosed the problem of women’s inequality in society, and (in some cases) proposed solutions” (Barry 121). The
Tuohy 2 theory then “became a dominant force in Western literary studies in the late 1970s” (Murfin 158). Feminist criticism today is “one of the most vital currents on the contemporary academic scene. And our literary history is being substantially rewritten, not only through the presentation of neglected works by women…but also by the inclusion of a growing body of important work by contemporary women writers” (Birkerts 1651). It is one of the most rapidly growing areas of literary study. Feminist critics “believe that a
Cited: Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Critical Theory. Manchester, New York: Manchester University Press, 2002. Birkerts, Sven P. Literature: The Evolving Canon. Needham Heights, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon, 1996. Murfin, Ross and Supryia M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003. Pastan, Linda. Interview with Jeffrey Brown. The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. PBS. 7 July, 2003. Pastan, Linda. “Marks.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. by Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005. 833. Rich, Adrienne. “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch et. al. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001. 1762-1780. Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. New York: Routledge, 2006. Tuohy 8 “Marks” by Linda Pastan My husband gives me an A For last night’s supper, An incomplete for my ironing, A B plus in bed. My son says I am average, An average mother, but if I put my mind to it I could improve. My daughter believes in Pass/Fail and tells me I pass. Wait ‘til they learn I’m dropping out.