Hazel Tells Laverne Meaning

Have you ever been offered a bribe in return of a sexual encounter? Or have you ever felt tempted to accept a bribe for any other desired benefits? Our society has all kinds of people, those who are willing to accept a bribe in exchange for anything, and those who would not. Nonetheless, the poem, “Hazel Tells Laverne,” tells a story about a person who refuses a bribe. The poem, published in 1976, is about a maid named Hazel who finds a frog in the toilet. The frog tells her that he could turn her into a princess, if she kisses him. Nonetheless, Hazel doesn’t accept the offer and flushes him down the toilet. In this poem, Hazel represents a hardworking lower class woman who is independent, has integrity and shatter the gender roles in comparison with the princess in the fairy tale, “The Princess and the Frog.” To …show more content…
People with integrity stand up for what they believe and act accordingly. With integrity comes honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. In line seventeen of the poem, the frog asks Hazel for a kiss in exchange for turning her into a princess, and she flushes the frog down the toilet, saying “me a princess”, meaning that she is shocked and very offended by the frog’s offer. She doesn’t need a prince in her life to be happy or succeed. The word, “kiss”, has a negative connotation meaning of sex. In other words, Hazel needs to have sex with him to have money, power, and high social status. That is why she is thunderstruck with the offer. she doesn’t accept the offer because she doesn’t believe that a woman needs a man to take care of her. However, in comparison with the fairy tale “The Princess and the Frog,” the princess kisses the frog, and they happily forever, under the prince’s dominion. The princess gives up her identity to live with the prince, even though she is already a princess, which sends an underline message that women need a prince in their live to be