The poem is about Pastan's teacher asking her class an ethical question,
"if there were a fire in a museum/which would you save, a Rembrandt
painting/or an old woman who hadn't many/ years left anyhow?. Pastan showed that at a young age children don't fully
understand what ethics means, they would just do what felt morally
right. Pastan showed how she felt as a child by saying, "Sometimes/the
woman borrowed my grandmother's face/leaving her usual kitchen to
wander/some drafty, half-imagined museum.. Pastan used a
metaphor to relate what she had to choose between with the ethical
question.
One year Pastan decided to answer her teachers question with, "why not let the woman decide for herself?. Her teacher responded to her question that she, "eschews/the burdens of responsibility.. Her teacher is pointing out the fact that she is running away from her responsibility of choosing between the painting and the old woman. Ethics is not about which choice you make, but about why you would make that choice.
Pastan learns and understands the meaning of ethics when she is older and more mature. She is standing in front of a real Rembrandt painting and noticing its beauty, "The colors/within this frame are darker than autumn/darker even than winter-the browns of earth, /though earth's most radiant elements burn/ through the canvas. Pastan used imagery to show the audience what she saw in the Rembrandt, what a child would not be able to see. Pastan realized that a beautiful painting, and an old women were, "all beyond saving by children. Pastan understands that a child would choose to save an old woman rather than a painting because the child feels that it is, morally, the right thing to do.
Throughout Pasten's entire poem we learn how a person must grow and mature to understand what ethics is. In the beginning of the poem Pastan is a young girl who doesn't fully understand what ethics is. At the end, we learn that Pasten understands completely what ethics is. She used poetic techniques to aid the theme in relaying it to the audience. The audience can relate to Pastan comparing the painting with her grandmother because everyone knows of, or has had a grandmother. When Pastan describes in detail the painting the audience can relate to it because everyone has seen something in their life that they would describe in the same in-depth way that she did. By using poetic techniques to support her theme, Pastan showed the theme is understanding why you would make a choice.
One year Pastan decided to answer her teachers question with, "why not let the woman decide for herself?. Her teacher responded to her question that she, "eschews/the burdens of responsibility.. Her teacher is pointing out the fact that she is running away from her responsibility of choosing between the painting and the old woman. Ethics is not about which choice you make, but about why you would make that choice.
Pastan learns and understands the meaning of ethics when she is older and more mature. She is standing in front of a real Rembrandt painting and noticing its beauty, "The colors/within this frame are darker than autumn/darker even than winter-the browns of earth, /though earth's most radiant elements burn/ through the canvas. Pastan used imagery to show the audience what she saw in the Rembrandt, what a child would not be able to see. Pastan realized that a beautiful painting, and an old women were, "all beyond saving by children. Pastan understands that a child would choose to save an old woman rather than a painting because the child feels that it is, morally, the right thing to do.
Throughout Pasten's entire poem we learn how a person must grow and mature to understand what ethics is. In the beginning of the poem Pastan is a young girl who doesn't fully understand what ethics is. At the end, we learn that Pasten understands completely what ethics is. She used poetic techniques to aid the theme in relaying it to the audience. The audience can relate to Pastan comparing the painting with her grandmother because everyone knows of, or has had a grandmother. When Pastan describes in detail the painting the audience can relate to it because everyone has seen something in their life that they would describe in the same in-depth way that she did. By using poetic techniques to support her theme, Pastan showed the theme is understanding why you would make a choice.
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