Even though Life on Mars does not have the focused theme of family presented throughout like Rose, Smith's collection of poetry nonetheless does include a long interlude that is her eulogy to her dead father. The poem itself goes through multiple stages of the speaker's grief. Page thirty-one of this poem focuses on the speaker reflecting on life and her father. It is as if after all the grieving, she takes a moment to pause and think. The speaker addresses her own viewpoints of her father, viewpoints she had when she was younger. “When I was younger, my father was lord / of a small kingdom: a wife, a garden, / Kids for whom his word was Word,” she wrote. When she was a child, she had placed her father upon a pedestal, worshiping him like a
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They are only our parents as we're growing, the ones who we have to listen to in order to grow. Once we separate from our parents by moving away, however, they are not entirely just our parents anymore because we do not need them anymore, nor do we want them to rule over us. Our parents are just as human as the rest of the world. At a certain age, we grow out of that idea that our parents are gods or rulers, and become different people because of it. “I was free, nobody's daughter,” says the speaker, now at an age where she opens her eyes and grows out of the age where she needs any parents. With our memories, we allow ourselves to think back on our relationships with our family members. When we come to a certain age of coming to terms with responsibility and independence, we question why things happen, but we can also come to grips with these things. Things can be anything from the concept of death to our own thoughts, which can include thinking of one's father as a ruler to their family's kingdom. Despite this, the woman ends this section of the poem on a somewhat more lighthearted note. “Perfecting an easy, weightless laughter.” The weight refers to stress or tension, something pressing against her shoulders and holding her
They are only our parents as we're growing, the ones who we have to listen to in order to grow. Once we separate from our parents by moving away, however, they are not entirely just our parents anymore because we do not need them anymore, nor do we want them to rule over us. Our parents are just as human as the rest of the world. At a certain age, we grow out of that idea that our parents are gods or rulers, and become different people because of it. “I was free, nobody's daughter,” says the speaker, now at an age where she opens her eyes and grows out of the age where she needs any parents. With our memories, we allow ourselves to think back on our relationships with our family members. When we come to a certain age of coming to terms with responsibility and independence, we question why things happen, but we can also come to grips with these things. Things can be anything from the concept of death to our own thoughts, which can include thinking of one's father as a ruler to their family's kingdom. Despite this, the woman ends this section of the poem on a somewhat more lighthearted note. “Perfecting an easy, weightless laughter.” The weight refers to stress or tension, something pressing against her shoulders and holding her