Observation Analysis

If I don't drive around the park,
I'm pretty sure to make my mark.
If I'm in bed each night by ten,
I may get back my looks again,
If I abstain from fun and such,
I'll probably amount to much,
But I shall stay the way I am,
Because I do not give a damn.

.: :.

The standards to which women were held were largely ignored by Parker. Evident in her earl childhood she expressed a distaste for rules, authority, or political correctness. This mindset was in ink in the pen as she wrote "Observation." From the beginning Parker establishes her cause and effect query by beginning each sentence with "if" followed in the next line with "[then] I (or I'm)." The describes the line society has drawn, then politely, promptly, nonchalantly, she steps over it. She adheres to a strict tetrameter and rhyme scheme, AABBCCDD. She even begins each of the first six lines with the letter “I.” This in itself is in the tone of mockery: The strict structure of the poem embodies longstanding conformity of society, which in her opinion, lacks people thinking for themselves (“I”) at all. Dorothy, however, will not be held to such standards and breaks out of her monotony and compulsory niche by beginning the last line with a revolutionary “B.” The mounting tension concludes with her penultimate line “because I do not give a damn.” Her message is as crystal clear as the sparkle in her eye. The simplicity of her ironic poems make them easy to understand and impossible not to appreciate. Her voice is as blaring as if she used a megaphone to convey the message. “Observation” represents her method in living life: defiant indifference.

| Posted on 2008-07-16 | by a guest