…you take up all the room.”
The way in which U A Fanthorpe phrases the children’s scrutiny demonstrates that they have a certain power over there mother as their uncertainty of her problems exemplify that they are more educated and cognizant than their supposed parental figure.
Fanthorpe then advances towards the father and what the children’s view of him is. He is described exclusively by his position but the children consider him as not being able to recognize and appreciate the family that he has created.
“We are the children of the Bank Manager,
This is the man who understands audits,
Who never listens or understands,”
The poet goes further by indicating that the father can overlook his work with authority but can not even tend to his family. The above quote also illustrates to the reader that the father can figure out how to manage his job but has no time or apprehension about his families’ welfare and interests. The children then confront the fact that they will stay as infants in their parent’s visualization and the fact that the only thing their mother is useful for is her looks and nothing else is within her grasp apart from being childlike and immature.
“Who married a skylark,
Who lives in the house that he built.”
The description of their “house” rather than home demonstrates that there is no warmth and comfort between the family members whilst the furniture is also described as though it was perfect for a dolls house and ideal for “The Doll’s Children”. A very important issue in this poem is that Fanthorpe expresses the views of the children as if they were expected to talk for example in the third stanza the children reveal that they are afraid of growing up as they will leave their mother in her infancy and that they will go through the frightening process of puberty.
“We are afraid, mother, father, we are afraid.
Some day we shall turn gawky,”
The reference to the children going through the phase of growing up suggests that they are entering an unfamiliar territory which they believe will lead them towards being discarded. The children’s fear is exposed through the use of rhetorical questioning as they ask the “doll” how she will cope without them as they become older and more mature than her. “The children of the doll” assume that their mother doesn’t observe that they are moving on in there lives physically through natures processes and they believe that she will be left isolated in this condition.
“How will you go on loving us then, you who need us
To be younger than you?
When shall we see your faint suspicion….
Becoming ourselves?”
The poet advances to the stage when the children are forced to live there lives without there parental figure of there mother after she has gone searching for a renaissance into her life as a more matured and grown-up person. Fanthorpe discusses how the children feel after they have been given there freedom from the mother who invaded there childhood.
“We are the children of Norah,
Who walked out of the doll’s house
Into a city unfriendly to skylarks and squirrels,”
The above stanza demonstrates to the reader that Norah has decided to open the door to a new lease of life but has staggered herself towards a vulnerable freedom as at her present behaviour she wouldn’t be able to handle the difficulties she faced ahead. The hostile city she has wandered into is described as an unwelcoming place “Whose dance-halls were shady”, signifying that the city isn’t a place for “sweet toothed”, pretty and innocent mothers. This however is overthrown by her courage to walk away from her family and house as there is nothing that could assist to maintain her stay.
“We are the children of Norah who slammed the front door,
Who walked out alone with her courage”
We are reminded that it was Norah’s decision to turn her back on her past personality and turn over a new leaf as she “slammed the front door” on her way out. The children are also shown as capable of supporting themselves without there mother,
“As the youngest son walks alone into the forest…
It seems there is hope for us, after all.”
The phrase “walks alone into the forest” illustrates to the reader that the children have been given the launch pad to begin the new life ahead for them in there search for “unchildish places”.
The parent/child relationship in this poem is shown to be of a nature where the children want to obtain their freedom and independence from their mother and father but are halted from proceeding as they have to accompany their mother as she has herself not progressed into the characteristics of adulthood. The way forward for the children is to be unchained from there mother and this is done through her deserting her family in search for her own self-determination.
The next poem is called “On Worms, and Being Lucky” and concerns the same type of relationship but involves a more positive and optimistic relationship which is based on Fanthorpe’s own experiences with her father at a tender age. The title of the poem itself describes two things which you wouldn’t think compliment each other although both have an importance in the bond between the father and daughter.
The initial stanza begins with a short and indirect phrase which captures the reader’s attention as Fanthorpe begins to talk about sand and its various characteristics. The poet uses a more conversational technique in her writing by using the words that you would expect the character to use. This allows the reader to help picture the setting and character as we are being told what the character is saying and their thoughts.
“Two kinds of sand. One heavy, gritty,
The other, shiny weedy ribs”
The poet is discussing the two different types of sands and how the two don’t collaborate with each other using her experiences of walks down the seashore as a example of luck and how there are various kinds of luck which she discusses later on in her poem. Fanthorpe then proceeds in reminiscing about her childhood memories which many people would share with her such as, “You tramp along in sunbonnet and spade”. The use of the word “you” brings upon the impression that this is an event which many people take part in and which many people would have experienced. This suggests that Fanthorpe is sharing her experience with the readers through her informal conversational style of writing.
“And yes, there are lugworms, and you carve them out,”
The next stanza discusses the instinctive love the relationship between the father and daughter has even in the light situations such as finding lugworms. The use of italics for the word “are” makes the reader or person who has shared the experience to feel lucky and familiar with her finding. The father’s reaction to the daughter’s “lucky” find demonstrates that there relationship is very affectionate and that the two are very close to each other. I believe that the message Fanthorpe is trying to portray that some relationships see people become very close through there love and care but some peoples relationships are dependent on the freedom of the people who are part of the bonding.
“You’ve got the knack, my princess, he says. You’re lucky.”
The description of the father by describing her as a princess reveals the affection and adoration he has for his daughter and subjects her to praise by commenting about her luck. This reference from the poem specifically contributes to the contrasts of the two poems and how the two relationships are completely different. The father and daughter clearly have a very close bond which neither can cope without whilst in the first poem the children need their mother but want her to give them more independence from her childish behaviour as they grow up.
In the next stanza the poet refers to another more valuable variety of luck, in the structure of the risk taking process of betting. The child’s attitude in this verse shows that she doesn’t care or bother about this topic of horse racing as she randomly selects her choice as favourite to win the race.
“Bored by favourites,
You always picked the unfancied outsider…
Or something.”
Again the child is showered with glorification and compliments from her father which makes her feel important to him as though she has performed a miracle, thus exemplifying his feelings and fondness for his daughter.
The poet then refers to her fathers eleventh-hour when he is aged and ill in hospital and suggests that she is the one that gave him the lifeline to live longer through her “luck”.
“You held the big limp hands,
And lugged him back to life…
He clung to you luck,”
The girl doesn’t know what she has done to save him but is still willing him on to carry on his life as he is also still appreciating her luck that she has given to him from the betting to the death bed and also most importantly the love between the to which is as strong as a rock. Although she regards her luck as superficial she believes that his luck came through his optimism in the tiniest of things and that is how she considers he lived a long lasting life of love and good fortune with a little help from his daughter.
“Yours was the gift that sees life gold side up…
A serious blessing.”
The relationships between the children in both poems illustrate contrasting perspectives of how a child and parent relationship is affected by the way both contributors act towards each other. In the first poem the parents were shown as more child like than there own children which brought upon disturbances in the children’s lives whilst in the second poem the presence of the child brought upon comfort and love in the form of luck to the parent. Both poems provide the reader an insight on how a relationship between children and parents should be run as contributions are needed from everyone to maintain a loving environment for all to reside in.
