Fire on the Home Front - The Possessive :: Possessive Essays

Fire on the Home motility - The Possessive General Douglas Macarthur said that the best time to meet the affright of war is in the ascendant. It is easier to put out a give the sack in the beginning when it is small than after it has become a roaring blaze (qtd. in Urofsky, part 9). The m separate in Sharon Olds The Possessive undoubtedly feels the same way. contend is a terrible time between two or more(prenominal) nations that get by to part from each other or for some other reason nations fight over property rights and independence. In The Possessive, Olds uses powerful go steadys of war, much(prenominal) as helmets, blades, and fires to show how her missy is similar to a warring verdant that has pulled away from her. Sharon Olds states In her bright helmet / she looks at me as if across a great distance (Olds, 506). The helmet exemplifies the imagery that Olds uses to show the warlike tone in her poem. In modern day wars people see pictures of Cruise missiles and t hievery Bombers on CNN. However, when asked what they envision when they think about war, some will reprimand about guns, knives, helmets, and fires. As Olds talks about her daughter, she realizes that there is an impending dispute yet to come. This battle, too, will be about possession. When her daughter sits in the barbers chair, Olds realizes that her daughter will soon reach her teens. The teenage years are a time when parents battle over cars, boys, and other rights with there children. The children and parents will fight over haircutting rights. As Olds reports, her daughter has been to the barber, that knife grinder, / and had the edge of her hair modify (506). Knife grinding and sharp objects are another image of war. Soldiers mustiness be sure that their instruments are perfectly sharp if they want to shape up the war. The first time Olds things about the upcoming battle occurs during the warlike image of the haircut. These first warlike images set the tone of the rest of the piece. The most vivid and important warlike image that Olds uses in The Possessive is the image of fire. The fire imagery appears more than once in the piece. Olds writes that Distant fires can be / glimpsed in the resin light of her eyes (506).