Analysis of Fifteen to Eighteen from Marilyn Hacker’s Selected Poems :: Hacker Selected Poems 1965-1990

Analysis of Fifteen to Eighteen from Marilyn Hacker’s Selected Poems In the poem 'Fifteen to Eighteen', Marilyn Hacker uses the rebellious years of adolescence to analyze the effects an illness can have on the relationship and family roles for both parent and child. Diabetes puts the mother and daughter in opposite roles than are traditionally seen at this age. The illness which occurs at least over the last four years of this girl's childhood forces her to grow up prematurely, take on some of the mother roles, and suffer the sacrifices that accompany it. Jessie Potter in Judith Viorst's book My Mother My Self discusses the impact that motherhood has on sexuality of the mother. "[The mother] may have been an interesting sexual partner until her child was born, but now she is too tired, too busy, she says the children take up too much of her attention. It's all culturally induced, but the result is that [the mother] goes underground sexually until the kids are grown."(59) Just as the role of motherhood often leads to giving up sexuality for a period of time, this daughter more immediately gives up masturbating to deal with her "child' of the hour. As the mother becomes the one who needs to be cared for, the daughter is forced, just as mothers usually are to give up their personal needs and desires when they become mothers. These sacrifices are not healthy for the mothers, nor is it healthy for this adolescent to be in this position of responsibility at such an early age. The poem leaves the reader wondering what will happen after the g irl is eighteen, who will care for the mother? When the daughter leaves home, she will most likely feel guilty for leaving her mother who can not care for herself. This guilt is similar too to that which so often accompanies parenting. The physical fighting and swearing in the poem are present as a way of showing how this girl is being forced from her childhood and thrown into adulthood and motherhood. "I was in shock again. I swam/to my surface to take care of my mother."(144) The liquid which is spilled during the evening is symbolic of the death of the daughter's adolescence, which reoccurs during each episode. "More often, enough orange juice got down,/splashed on us both"(144) And just as the daughter is totally in the role of caretaker, the mother snaps back and is once again in role of mother caring for her daughter, concerned about the scratches on her daughter's face.