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We Remember Your Childhood Well Figurative Language

Decent Essays

In her poem We Remember Your Childhood Well, Carol Ann Duffy narrates as an abusive parent who emotionally manipulates and brainwashes their child. The poem implies the child of the narrator has been emotionally abused as a child and are questioning the abuse of their childhood as an adult. Employing the use of tone, structural techniques and imagery, Carol Ann Duffy demonstrates the behavioural patterns common in abusive relationships and through that, communicates her disparage for such behaviour. Duffy effectively uses the tone of the narrator to describe the patterns of abuse and, by the utilisation of structural techniques, Duffy is able to communicate to readers about certain patterns of abuse she has disdain for. The author uses a …show more content…

Duffy demonstrates the emotional manipulation and abuse of the child by the use of juxtaposition of imagery. Visual imagery is used as the primary form of imagery by Duffy. The author juxtaposes the imagery such as “...nobody left the skidmarks of sin on your soul and laid you wide open for Hell.” (lines 16-17) and “Look at us, smiling and waving, younger.” (line 9) in the poem. Juxtaposition of imagery such as this demonstrates the emotional manipulation by the parents. The demonstration of the emotional manipulation persuades readers to take Duffy’s disparage for such behaviour. With the use of tone and mood, Duffy constructs a tragic atmosphere used to describe the pattern of abuse. Usage of tone varies between alternate stanzas to convey different ideas. The first and the following alternate paragraphs are passive and mild. On the other hand, the other paragraphs are aggressive and hostile. Duffy intends to describe the patterns of manipulation and emotional abuse many children face. The mood in the poem is dark, intended to highlight the abusive parts of the parent-child relationship. Duffy uses harsh language in the poem such as when she says, “What you recall are impressions; we have the facts.” (line 10) and “No. That didn’t occur.” (line 4) are a pattern of abuse used to make the reader realise that they may previously have been

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