“At the Galleria Shopping Mall” is the story of an uncle, the speaker, and his niece at a typical American shopping mall. They travel through the stores, gazing at the merchandise. During this trip, the speaker observes his niece’s behavior and comes to a distressing revelation. The metaphors, similes, and allusions present in the poem characterize the speaker’s niece as materialistic.
The metaphors and similes highlight the consumerist nature of the speaker’s niece at a young age. The niece is engrossed in the materialistic culture promoted in America. At the age of nine, the speaker’s niece is “a true daughter of Texas, / who has developed the flounce of a pedigreed blonde/ and declares that her favorite sport is shopping” (Hoagland 7-9). …show more content…
The allusion to the conflicts in the Middle East highlight the lack of concern the speaker and Lucinda have towards real world matters. As the speaker and the niece browse the mall, they see TVs “singing news about a far-off war” (3). This poem was created in the midst of the Afghanistan and Iraq war. The way both the speaker and Lucinda ignore the TV shows a lack of concern towards real world events and instead on the merchandise they observe. The speaker watches his niece become fixated on merchandise. The speaker notices this, “as the gods in olden stories/ turned mortals into laurel trees and crows” (17). The speaker is an outsider, watching his niece become a “crow” flocking around the merchandise posed as laurel trees. The allusion to Apollo and Daphne explain the obsession towards material objects. It seems as if something “turned mortals into laurel trees and crows to teach them some kind of lesson”, causing them to flock around the various items (19, 20). In the legend of Apollo and Daphne, Apollo becomes madly in love with Daphne while Daphne despises Apollo. After constant pestering from Apollo, Daphne’s father turns her into a tree. Regardless, Apollo is still obsessed with Daphne and loves something that cannot return his affection. Like Daphne, the material objects can’t return affection to those obsessed with it. Later in
The metaphors and similes highlight the consumerist nature of the speaker’s niece at a young age. The niece is engrossed in the materialistic culture promoted in America. At the age of nine, the speaker’s niece is “a true daughter of Texas, / who has developed the flounce of a pedigreed blonde/ and declares that her favorite sport is shopping” (Hoagland 7-9). …show more content…
The allusion to the conflicts in the Middle East highlight the lack of concern the speaker and Lucinda have towards real world matters. As the speaker and the niece browse the mall, they see TVs “singing news about a far-off war” (3). This poem was created in the midst of the Afghanistan and Iraq war. The way both the speaker and Lucinda ignore the TV shows a lack of concern towards real world events and instead on the merchandise they observe. The speaker watches his niece become fixated on merchandise. The speaker notices this, “as the gods in olden stories/ turned mortals into laurel trees and crows” (17). The speaker is an outsider, watching his niece become a “crow” flocking around the merchandise posed as laurel trees. The allusion to Apollo and Daphne explain the obsession towards material objects. It seems as if something “turned mortals into laurel trees and crows to teach them some kind of lesson”, causing them to flock around the various items (19, 20). In the legend of Apollo and Daphne, Apollo becomes madly in love with Daphne while Daphne despises Apollo. After constant pestering from Apollo, Daphne’s father turns her into a tree. Regardless, Apollo is still obsessed with Daphne and loves something that cannot return his affection. Like Daphne, the material objects can’t return affection to those obsessed with it. Later in