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The mother\u2019s unjust job is an example of a worker group set in a fabric factory in the first stanza by the speaker. The title and the opening line suggest that the mother is employed in \u201cMy Mother Sews Blouses\u201d (1), and then the reader is sure that she is a woman laborer with a low-level wage \u201cfor a dollar a piece\u201d (2). This low wage illustrates her ill-fated situation in society as an undocumented worker. Not only the mother but a group of workers in the same position, illegal workers, are working under the table. \u201cThey must be working on\u201d (3). They are working in an inappropriate factory because \u201cher fingers sliding on\/ her eyelids\u201d (5-6) shows the air is still and the lint of fabrics hurts their eyes. Therefore, the mother and the other workers have eye problems and are sliding their eyelids.<\/p>\n
The speaker also reinforces the mother\u2019s low social class by imagining the unconventional treatment of her eyes by the oculist. The unhealthy job environment has affected the mother\u2019s eyes. n a flashback, the mother seemed to have a temporary cure for her eye problem \u201cSix months ago she went\/ to the old oculist \u2026\u201d (7-8). The oculist method and the material he uses for treatment, just a tiny knife for removing the lint from her eyes, again stresses the mother\u2019s unfair position. The mother does not have any other choice because of her poverty. The peak of her problems comes to a head when the reader discovers that the treatment does not cure her eyes; it adds a new problem. For a short time, she is happy because her eyes \u201c\u2026were bright and\/ Clear for a few months\u201d (15-16), but \u201cShe\u2019s blinking now\u201d (17). The doctor uses no anesthetic or numbing medicine, just a tiny knife for cleaning her eyes. The mother is poor and does not have enough money to pay for a suitable doctor. In other words, she does not have another choice. Because of poverty, the mother has to go to the doctor, who is unclear whether he is a doctor or not. Despite many issues, such as low income, the mother does not lose hope, and she wants to develop her social status, \u201ctalking about night\/ school\u201d (18-19). In fact, the mother does not accept this destiny and wants to improve her life, maybe because she is trying to be a good role model for her kid, the speaker. Although these verses give a tone of hope in the poem, in real life, there is a low percentage of workers that can improve their lives.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the speaker uses the symbolism and irony, both figures of speech, freshly to connect to the mother\u2019s plight and other undocumented workers. The black color connotated to death or destruction. The word \u201cagain\u201d states that the disastrous event had happened before, and now they are sewing black cloth again for survivors. The black lint in the mother\u2019s eyes can be a symbol of the worker\u2019s pain and misery. The eyes, one of the most important organs, are the symbol of wisdom, as ancient Egyptians exaggerated their size to show their importance in their carvings. Now, a woman laborer\u2019s eyes are at the doctor\u2019s mercy. A knife, which can be a doctor’s tool and cure, its role in the poem is ambiguous. It does not help the mother because \u201cShe is blinking now\u201d (17). It seems the knife is an instrument to distort the worker\u2019s eyes, a symbol of sight and rationality. The irony, as well as symbolism, is in service of the poem when the speaker says the old oculist \u201cknows all about\/ eyes\u2026\u201d (9-10). The words in the quotation mark express the irony. The old doctor knows everything about eyes, but just with a tiny knife treats the poor mother\u2019s eyes. It seems the oculist is a nickname that the workers have given to a person who has a little bit more general information about the illness. The symbols and irony beautifully match the poverty and position of the worker mother.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the chosen form by the speaker does not have a traditional style with rhyme schemes, rhythm, and meter; instead, it has a modern structure in harmony with the concept of the presence of a woman laborer in society. It is an open form with three stanzas that use lines of varying length and avoids prescribed patterns of rhyme. Instead, the speaker uses a series of words with similar sounds in each stanza that calls attention to the feeling and gives tone to the poem. That makes a certain rhyme and creates pleasure for the reader. These words, for instance, in the first, second, and third stanzas respectively are: mother, dollar, working, sliding, on, on\/ went, about, out, out\/ bright, night, blinking, and talking. The presence of the alliteration, the repetition of consonant sound \u201cs\u201d in words like \u201csews, sliding, six, scraped,\u201d and the sound \u201cz\u201d in words like \u201cblouses, fingers, eyelids, eyes, she\u2019s\u201d are creating a special rhythm throughout the poem that reminds the reader of the sounds of scissors and the continuous rotation of the sewing machine. The contraction of rhyme, rhythm, irony, and symbolism is in the service of the poem to make a concept and image of the low-wage worker class.<\/p>\n
The mother\u2019s misery as a manual worker in the poem can be considered an example of a worker in society. In fact, the poem is not just the narration of a poor mother. It is the image of undocumented workers with a low-wage and unhealthy job conditions that put their health at risk. Nevertheless, the poem closes with the mother’s dream or goal to return to school and improve her life. It refers to a common dream for all miserly people who do not want to accept their destiny and try to improve their lives because life is always a big challenge.<\/p>\n
Works Cited<\/p>\n
Valdes, Gina. \u201cMy Mother Sews Blouses.\u201d Literature and the Writing Process<\/em>. Ed. Elizabeth<\/p>\n McMahan et al. 11th<\/sup> ed. Pearson, 2018. Print.<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Image of a Mother The speaker in Gina Valdes\u2019 poem \u201cMy Mother Sews Blouses\u201d is an offspring, a boy or girl, who is speaking of his\/ her mother\u2019s unfair job […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raeesdana.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raeesdana.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raeesdana.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raeesdana.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raeesdana.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16579"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/raeesdana.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16584,"href":"https:\/\/raeesdana.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16579\/revisions\/16584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raeesdana.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raeesdana.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raeesdana.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raeesdana.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}