The meal a poem by susan e berger

Fear, anxiety, and shame, these are just a few of the emotions instilled upon the innocent children and mother in Suzanne E. Berger’s poem titled “The Meal.” These emotions have been brought forth from an abusive and domineering father with an insatiable need for perfection. My personal interpretations of the underlying messages found throughout the poem have led me to draw the above conclusions.

There are only two lines in the poem that directly refer to the mother. Despite this lack of reference, the lines create a very powerful image to me, that she is a victim of abuse. The two lines, “they are waiting for the mother to straighten her lipstick”(11:749), and “her mouth uneven as a torn hibiscus”(23:750), suggest to me that she had just been slapped across the face resulting in her lipstick being smudged

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This is not the case at this family’s dinner table, indicating that something is very wrong. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1997. Or is the poem nothing more that what it appears after first read, the poets portrayal of a quiet family dinner? A closer look will convince one otherwise, and have the reader thanking their lucky stars it isn’t their family.

The theme of abuse seems to be even more prevalent towards the children. Their fear of angering their father is also noticed in their actions during dinner, “their forks move across their plates without scraping, they wait for the milk and gravy”(14 and 15 :750). Without him this poem couldn’t even exist. In normal households dinner is a noisy, festive event with the tinkling of glassware, animated conversations, and a general mood of happiness. Although he is only mentioned in such seemingly innocent lines as “the father carving the Sunday roast”(22:750), to me his presence is overbearing in the poem. He is the main character, the reason his children are “emotionally starved”(750) and his wife battered. I then picture her daintily wiping away any evidence of the blow to her face and forcing a smile as if to say, this isn’t happening, everything is perfect.

Approximate Word count = 615
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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