The first novel I read was The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter. The
poem I felt connected thematically to it was A Servant To Servants by Robert Frost. In The Magic Toyshop, the
Jowle family (consisting of Finn, Francie, and their mute sister Maggie) are an
optimistic one despite their oppressive conditions under the household rule of
Maggie’s husband, Uncle Phillip. After being beaten by Uncle Phillip, the
households only symbol of hope- Finn’s
attitude towards the world, is taken away and Finn falls into a state of
depression. This can be parralled through the line “I see it’s a fair, pretty
sheet of water. / I stand and make myself repeat out loud / The advantages it
has, so long and narrow, / Like a deep piece of some old running river / Cut
short off at both ends” (17-21). The Jowle family is trapped as the lake is,
they have been “cut short off at both ends” by the oppression of Uncle Phillip.
Protagonist Melanie is also represented in the piece through their distractions
of material possessions. For Melanie, who came from wealth, what her new home
lacks is the materials she had prior. But in such hostile conditions, brought
on from the relationships Uncle Phillip has between everyone in the household,
she begins to understand the beauty of the Jowle family, and knows she must put
away childish materialistic thoughts and face the damage Uncle Phillip has done
to these people. In the poem it reads: “It took my mind off doughnuts and soda
biscuit / To step outdoors and take the water dazzle / …When a storm threatened
from the Dragon’s Den” (26-30), which shows the speaker abandoning worldly
things, and dismissing their ignorance to the storm building up around the
house. The “Dragon’s Den” can be paralleled to Uncle Phillip’s work shop,
symbolically placed in the foundation of the home to show the heart of the
house as nothing more than Uncle Phillip’s sadistic desire for control.
I agree that within this poem there is a strong sense of oppression expressed by the speaker throughout. Line 9 in particular gives an idea that the speaker is oppressed. There is an obvious inner struggle for this speaker and seems that her oppression has caused her to become indecisive and anxious as she repeatedly says “I don’t know” (8). I thought that the connection you drew between the depression shown by your characters and expressed throughout the poem was well done; especially the way you referenced the line “cut off at both ends” and paralleled it to the broken family in the novel you studied. Through this poem the speaker seems to be telling a story, her story, to perhaps serve as a warning for others or to simply speak her mind for once. You referenced some very good lines in your essay, however, I think that there could have been more language analysis such as how the speaker in the poem tells her story creates meaning or alludes to the warning.
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