To A Daughter Leaving Home

Linda Pastan

When I taught you
at eight to ride
a bicycle, loping along
beside you
as you wobbled away
on two round wheels,
my own mouth rounding
in surprise when you pulled
ahead down the curved
path of the park,
I kept waiting
for the thud
of your crash as I
sprinted to catch up,
while you grew
smaller, more breakable
with distance,
pumping, pumping
for your life, screaming
with laughter,
the hair flapping
behind you like a
handkerchief waving
goodbye.

As I read this poem, I can't help but get a little teary eyed. I know, pathetic. "To A Daughter Leaving Home" reminds me so much of my own mother and the way she cares for me and follows me into the future. The way Linda Pastan connects the young child riding a bicycle to a grown woman fearlessly taking on the world is simply brilliant.

It's true, I will skin my knees because I'll fall off the bike. I will definitely ride too fast but my mom will always be right behind me, ready to bandage my bruises.

Youth and Love

"As for Hamlet and his attentions to you, just consider it a big flirtation, the temporary phase of a hot-blooded youth. It won’t last. It’s sweet, but his affection will fade after a minute. Not a second more." Act 1 scene 3

Listen, young women. Men are not genuine. Men only lust after you. All men will rape you. NO!!! You need to hold onto the fact that the world is filled with many wonderful, caring, and strong men. Just like Laertes, from Hamlet, warned there are those who only want to use you for their own gain. However, do not let a great man slip through your fingers because you are afraid. Be cautious but leave your heart open.

Purity Disguised

So often those who are depicted as the most pure are the ones with the most heartache. Tess of the D'Urbervilles lived her whole life as an innocent, country girl until the day she was raped and ruined. Even though her heart did indeed stay pure and holy, the world labeled her as the scum of the Earth. She suffered through the death of a child and her husband abandoning her. Tess even drove her hatred straight into the heart of Alec D'Urberville. Having pure intentions seems to be the equivalent of being good and abiding by the law in this culture. However, Tess' act of ending Alec's life made her the most pure of all. Tom Hardy, the author of the book, utilizes many biblical references to Jesus and his death on the cross to purify sin. In a way, Tess is her own savior. She cleansed her self through the murder of the man that soiled her. As the Bible says it, "An eye for an eye."