BOX ROOM Flashcards
1
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“she put me in my place”
A
- double entendre; the speaker was shown to the room she would be staying in but also shown who was in charge, or the most important woman in the house.
2
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“He brings a Friend”
A
- capitalisation of “Friend” highlights the fact that the mother does not want to recognise the romantic relationship between her son and the speaker, thus dismissing the speaker.
3
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“her pathetic shrine to your lost boyhood”
A
- metaphor; compared the box room to a holy place of worship, suggests the mother has kept the bedroom full of all the boy’s favourite things and that she worships him as perfect.
- “pathetic” suggests the speaker finds the mother’s worshipping attitude towards her son silly/disgusting
- “lost boyhood” - idea that the mother misses the time when her son still stayed with her, and she uses the room as a place to remember when she was a child.
4
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“can brush off time with dust from model aeroplanes”
A
- metaphor suggests that dust represents time, and by dusting the room and keeping it looking like the boyfriend is still living in it, she is trying to cling to the son’s childhood (when she was the most important person in his life.
5
Q
[BOX ROOM]
-your old horizons”
A
- connotations of the past (when the boyfriend lived in this house and his hopes and dreams were stifled by his mother) - now, in the present, the speaker likes to think she is the boy’s “new horizon” or future.
6
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“your egg collection shatters me”
A
- imagery of the egg collection has two meanings = relates literally to his childhood hobby of collecting eggs, which has been preserved in this room by his mother and also relates metaphorically to femininity and suggests that he has ‘collected’ women over the years.
- onomatopoeia of “shatters me” emphasises her devastation at this discovery
7
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“First the welcoming. Smiles all around. A space for handshakes.”
A
- these short sentences highlight the lack of warmth between the speaker and the mother, despite word choice such as ‘welcoming’ and ‘smiles’, and the enjambment further emphasises this distance.
8
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“He’ll make do tonight.”
A
- the word choice here suggests that, just as he will amke do with the pull out bed, so too is he making do and ‘settling’ for the speaker.
9
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“laugh it off in self-defence”
A
- the word choice has connotations of being ready to defend herself; the speaker is aware of the conflict between herself and the mother and is ready to win the affection of the man.
10
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“persistent fear elbows me”
A
- with this imagery, the fear is personified as something that can inflict pain, suggests she has been cuaght unaware by her feelings and now greatly fears that her relationship is not as solid as it should be.
11
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“single bed we sometimes share”
A
- word choice of ‘single’ suggests that, just as there is not enough room for her in his bed, there is not enough room for the speaker in the boyfriend’s life.
- word choice of ‘sometimes’ suggests that he does not consider this relationship permanent.
12
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“(But where do I fit into the picture?)”
A
- the parenthesis used here emphasises the rhetorical question, as the speaker questions and worries over her place in the boyfriend’s life.
13
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“my position is precarious”
A
- the enjambment used here, placing ‘position’ at the end of the line, immitates the way the speaker feels ‘on the edge’.
- the word choice of ‘precarious’ has connotations of uncertainty or instability, suggesting trouble within the relationship as she feels they are not secure.
14
Q
[BOX ROOM]
“closeted so- its dark”
A
- the word choice here coveys a sesne of claustrophobia and darkness; the room is literally small but it also suggests the speaker feels trapped in her relationship.
