Eating Out

Eating Out

Narrator
1. The father teaches the narrator how to eat and introduces her to new food
  1. Father still remains in control, even if he is old and dying
2. The narrator in the poem recalls being taken out to dinner as a child
  1. The parents insisted on good behaivour and etiquette
3. As he mother grows old, she becomes very passive, which is a surprise to the narrator - in many ways, the narrator has become the parental figure/role
4. Skips forward to her parents' old age and recalls the last meal she ate with her father before he died, at which he still took control - despite being ill
Lexis
1. Language is quite formal
  1. French indicates formality and seems posh
2. 'Heavy' is colloquialism and emphasises how weak the father is
3. By using formal words, it shows the narrator didn't get on too well with the parents
Characters
1. Father
2. Narrator
3. Mother
Feelings
1. Shows how relationships change over time
2. Mother was compassionate, considerate and comforting
3. Found the father too autocratic
  1. Father was controlling
    1. When father is dead, the narrator says 'I'll have whatever you're having dear' as they were quoting what her father would say
Poetic Techniques
1. Juxtaposition
  1. Don't normally associate autocrat's with being humble
2. Enjambment
  1. 'Not / to eat at all
3. Alliteration
  1. Mmoules mariniere'
  2. 'Chin.. choice of cutlery'

Resource summary

	Created by GeorgieHind about 10 years ago