Poetry Blog Number Five - Linda Pastan

Tone: The speaker has a nonchalant and frank tone. She states things in a simple manner, without the use of extra details or emotions.
Word Choice: The speaker uses simple words in an informal manner, at times using a condensed version of a word ('til instead of until). Also she notes each family member as "husband," "son," and "daughter" instead of using names shows their love-lacking relationship.
Imagery: She brings to mind a household that works like a school. She is the student and the other family members are her teachers. I think of a very stiff family.
Style: The speaker uses a subject-verb-noun sentence structure over and over again, bringing to mind the idea of school-like setting. However her language is somewhat young for her age. The way she writes "[her] daughter believes in Pass/Fail" and "wait 'til they learn I'm dropping out" is like a teenager in high school, contrasting with the stiff formality of her family.
Theme: A family built without love as the base of its foundation will not stand for long.

Beginning with the title of the poem, "Marks," provides us with a question: why not call it "Report Card" or "Grades?" I think it may be because the word "Marks" sounds disconnected. When you think of "Report Card" or "Grades" you think immediately of an A or C or 98%. But when you think of "Marks" it doesn't provide a clear image in the mind. Also its stiff and harsh sounding with the hard "k."
The speaker begins with the husband who judges her cooking, cleaning, and sexual abilities. The things he judges her on are stereotypical domestic activities that one would assign to a woman.
The son sounds like a teenager, saying his mother is average. He doesn't provide much information, just that she's like any other mother.
The daughter is perhaps the nicest in my mind, who tells her mother that she passes. But it also brings to mind the fact that one situation could lead to her failing as a mother.

The theme of a family without love falling is seen a lot these days in shows, books, and reality. Family members simply go through the motions and tolerate each other. They don't attempt to reach out to each other. Linda Pastan points this out in this poem where the family members just give each other reviews but nothing else.

My family is perhaps not as harsh as this one, but it's somewhat close. My dad judges my mom on her cooking and cleaning a lot. Dinner usually consists of saying "Today the dinner is good" or "The food doesn't taste like anything" or "I would cook it like this." However he never lifts a finger to cook. My brothers would be the ones to say "you're an average sister/mother/father." They try to stay out of family matters. My sister is the nice one. She compliments every family member, but she's also temperamental. One catastrophe could ruin her groove.