Homework Help: English lit

Posted by Josh on Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 11:11am.

Have writers block. Need help with Julia Alvarez poem!?
I have to write a 1000 word analysis of the Julia Alvarez poem "Ironing Their Clothes". I need help with a thesis. I have no idea what to write about!
1 year ago
Additional Details
With a hot glide up, then down, his shirts,
I ironed out my father's back, cramped
and worried with work. I stroked the yoke,
and breast pocket, collar and cuffs,
until the rumpled heap relaxed into the shape
of my father's broad chest, the shoulders shrugged off
the world, the collapsed arms spread for a hug.
And if there'd been a face above the buttondown neck,
I would have pressed the forehead out, I would
have made a boy again out of that tired man!
If I clung to her skirt as she sorted the wash
or put out a line, my mother frowned,
a crease down each side of her mouth.
This is no time for love! But here
I could linger over her wrinkled bedjacket,
kiss at the damp puckers of her wrists
with the hot tip. Here I caressed complications
of darts, scallops, ties, pleats which made
her outfits test of the patience of my passion.
Here I could lay my dreaming iron on her lap

The smell of baked cotton rose from the board
and blew with a breeze o

English lit - GuruBlue, Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 1:01pm
Look first at this section. What does it say about "father". Write down the clues as to what is remembered most about him. How does the author feel about his father. Make some notes.

With a hot glide up, then down, his shirts,
I ironed out my father's back, cramped
and worried with work. I stroked the yoke,
and breast pocket, collar and cuffs,
until the rumpled heap relaxed into the shape
of my father's broad chest, the shoulders shrugged off
the world, the collapsed arms spread for a hug.
And if there'd been a face above the buttondown neck,
I would have pressed the forehead out, I would
have made a boy again out of that tired man!

Then take the rest of the poem and do the same thing about the mother. Repost when you need further help with this.
English lit - Kristen, Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 2:08pm
the father is strtessed out and very tired

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