P-p-P-p-Please—NO!
J-j-Ju-j-Just—NO!
B-b-Bu-b-But—NO!
Sh-sh-Sh-sh-Sh—
I do
this for the common good:
I must
assert my personhood;
if you
say yes, I say yes too,
then I
am just a mirror of you—NO!
P-p-P-p-Plea—NO!
J-j-Ju-j-Jus—NO!
B-b-Bu-b-Bu—NO!
Sh-sh-Sh-sh-Sh—
What you want is to give me
just
option-A or option-B;
don't
want bloody wars, don't want dull peace,
don't
want you saying, “Oh, calm down, please!”—NO!
P-p-P-p-Pl—NO!
J-j-J-j-Ju—NO!
B-b-B-b-Bu—NO!
Sh-sh-Sh-sh-Sh—NO!
“This,
or this, or this?”
NO!
“That or
that or that?”
NO!
“Which,
oh which, oh which?”
NO!
“WHAT
oh What oh What?!”
NO!!!
Conflict between one’s self and with another person demonstrates how a person’s confidence can be fragile and delicate. The speaker cannot decide what he wants, yet does not want another person to council him and decide for him. He repeatedly hesitates, as he continues to mutter “P-p-P-p-Please—NO! /J-j-Ju-j-Just—NO! /B-b-Bu-b-But—NO! /Sh-sh-Sh-sh-Sh—” (1-4). The repeated mumble highlights the speaker’s inability to form structured ideas and confidently say something to the other person. The dispute between the two people involved in the poem (the speaker and another person) highlights how the speaker is fragile and unable to voice his opinion. One person repeats “no” after every stanza, showing the authority that person has over the other. When the one person shuts down the other, the speaker cannot be his own person, he must follow the directions of the other. The poem demonstrates how some people manipulate others with low confidence levels.
ReplyDeleteThis is about a two-year-old. That's an important detail of these interactions--that's why I put it in the title.
DeleteI definitely felt this way at some point in my life. I think the fact that this speaker is two makes it more powerful in highlighting the inability to verbally (or not verbally) express frustrations. Especially when you have only two options to choose from because that’s all your parents give you. I was not expecting to resonate with the feeling of constraint; how the two-year-old was trying to convey that the way they were being treated was not a correct response or understanding to their feelings. The very small fonts of the stuttering as if the parent was trying to calm the two-year-old felt almost like the parent was not in control, but the two-year-old didn’t know that. Mostly because the only relevant focus is on the need to express their frustration, something I also do towards my parents, even at the wonderful age of eighteen. I also enjoyed the nice family dynamic touch at the very end of the poem, where the “No!”s get increasingly agitated. It is like the frustrations of the two-year-old/ every child in a nice eight lines. The exasperation builds and escalates and I can hear the tantrums I or my younger sister would throw (although my sister hasn’t quite left that phase). I think the collage before the poem might be misleading for some, but it perfectly captures the frustrations felt by all parties. The younger women are positioned to show some sort of limitation or restriction that definitely amplifies the irritated feelings presented in the text. But it’s also interesting how there is a motherly figure on the bottom right, most likely representing the mother figure in the poem where she is giving the two-year-old the choices, but then also has to deal with the pushback and the frustrations. My mom was like that whenever my sister and I complained about dinner as she was serving us. All in all, I enjoyed this poem a lot.
ReplyDeleteSo snarky! "even at the wonderful age of eighteen ... my sister hasn’t quite left that phase" ~ there's a punkish sort of purity in saying No, directly. Teens tend to slide more into indirect digs, psychological warfare. But a two-year-old will just come at you with a good old-fashioned battering ram of total blunt resistance: Whatever you're offering, nope.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the use of the shrunken letters in the poem because it really helps me picture the helplessness of the young speaker. Furthermore, it represents to me how the feeling of helplessness is always a resonating sentiment present in the speaker’s mind. I relate strongly to this poem’s sentiment, especially the line where the speaker (child) discusses how saying yes when the other person (adult) says yes makes them feel they are just a mirror of the adult, and are unoriginal in thought. In my relationships with everyone I know, whether they are an adult or more around my age, I always worry about being influenced in a way that erases my original thought. Like the speaker, I don’t want to cause uproar by voicing my opinion, but at the same time, I don’t want my sentiments to just be accepted and ignored. I enjoy the simplicity and directness in the aspect the speaker’s chosen response to all of their parent’s begging and questioning is simply “NO!” Of course, since the speaker is two years old, they likely cannot muster any other complex contradictions. However, this reaction is relatable to all who have ever felt helpless but undeniably correct in an argument. When something someone says is angering me, especially when they assume I want something, or am a certain way, or act like I only have the choices they give me, I become incredibly frustrated, screaming “NO!” in my head. Of course, as one ages, screaming “NO!” to someone isn’t appropriate anymore if you disagree with them. However, it is still completely valid.
ReplyDelete"the use of the shrunken letters in the poem ... really helps me picture the helplessness of the young speaker." ~ Those shrunken letters are supposed to represent the helpless voice of the adult, in the face of a child's self-empowering NO (see if that changes how the poem hits for you? reading it with that attribution).
Delete"Of course, as one ages, screaming “NO!” to someone isn’t appropriate anymore if you disagree with them. However, it is still completely valid." ~ Of course it's inappropriate? Of course it's completely valid? Who taught you to believe that :)
Reading both of those statements, I'm inclined to single-word disagree with you ... a well-timed 'no' can be the most powerful and liberating response to irrational and entitled adults, sometimes totally appropriate; a scream itself is useful, and understandable, but also an act of violence ~ the feeling underlying that act is valid/real/true, but the indulged entitlement to enact violence on others, not so much in my book.