The feeling of being burdened and the annoyance that comes with it is brought up in other parts of the poem, in lines such as, "and I was embarrassed/by old men standing up to shake my hand/and tell me they were "sorry for my trouble."" These lines suggest that the narrator is embarrassed by his position of eldest in the family and feels a sense of patronization from the older men rather than condolence. ... Reading this piece, the poem seems to suggest that the woman feels shut out/cast out from the world, very much trapped in the role of a typical older woman. Whether the woman in the poem i...

• Word Count: 2322
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate