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

Fire on the Home Front - The Possessive General Douglas Macarthur said that the best time to meet the curse of war is in the beginning. It is easier to put out a fire in the beginning when it is small than after it has become a roaring blaze (qtd. in Urofsky, better 9). The mother in Sharon Olds The Possessive undoubtedly feels the same way. War is a terrible time between two or more nations that commove to offend from each other or for whatsoever other reason nations fight over property rights and independence. In The Possessive, Olds uses powerful images of war, such as helmets, blades, and fires to set up how her fille is similar to a warring country 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 competitive tone in her poem. In modern day wars people see pictures of Cruise missiles and Stealth Bombers on CNN. However, when asked what they envision when they think about war, some will talk about guns, knives, helmets, and fires. As Olds talks about her daughter, she realizes that there is an impending battle 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 sharpened (506). Knife grinding and sharp objects are another image of war. Soldiers must be sure that their instruments are perfectly sharp if they want to win 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 ima ge that Olds uses in The Possessive is the image of fire. The fire imagery appears more than formerly in the piece. Olds writes that Distant fires can be / glimpsed in the resin light of her eyes (506).