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Poem Analysis Of 'Dusting' By Julia Alvarez

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Julia Alvarez’s poem, “Dusting,” is told from the perspective of a women looking back at herself as a child. In the poem, the speaker is addressing how her mother and her childhood self, differed. The speaker is itching to spread her thoughts through words while her mother does the exact opposite by erasing herself or keeping anonymous. In the literal sense, the main conflict between the speaker and the mother is that the speaker writes anywhere and everywhere she can, while the mother follows behind cleaning off all the marks. The speaker tries to leave her mark literally and figuratively everywhere she goes. From the tone and mood of the poem, the reader is able to pick up that the speaker is more of an extrovert while the mother is an
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In Julia Alvarez’s poem “Dusting,” the author uses the metaphor of a mother dusting away her daughter’s fingerprints and drawings to represent an oppressing mother and a child who wants to be a unique individual. Throughout the poem, the daughter runs about her house, playing with the dust everywhere instead of just wiping it up like most other girls would. At the top of each morning, the girl in the story says that she “wrote my name / on the dusty cabinet, then crossed / the dining table in script” (lines 1-3). The girl just wants to make a name for herself and write, but as soon as she finishes her precious art, her mother “followed, squirting / linseed from a burping can / into a crumpled up flannel” (lines 6-8). In an essence, this is

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The poem Dusting by Julia Alverez relays several ideas to the reader. It begins by describing a young child going about a house and writing their name on the furniture. The child 's mother follows behind her and, in the process of dusting, incidentally erases the writing. While this poem may seem superficial from a quick reading, it not only reflects some aspects of Alverez’s childhood, but it also reveals some thought provoking questions. In Dusting, through making an analogy to a relationship between a mother and her child, Julia Alvarez demonstrates her desire to break away from traditional or cultural expectations, express her individuality, be well-known, and, ultimately, she makes an important point about life.

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