an afternoon nap Flashcards
(17 cards)
intentions (5)
- illustrate how intense parental pressure can alienate and harm children
- criticise performance oriented education systems
- promote a more understanding and caring educational environment.
- To subtly critique the society that encourages and causes the mother’s narrow, competitive vision of success.
- To signify intergenerational conflict.
contextual info
- yap is from singapore,
- he writes about everyday, ordinary experiences.
what is the poem trying to portray
how singapores education system in innefective and too results oriented
where is it set
in a music lesson
what effect does the free verse give
- narrator isn’t too worried about the use of grammar, reflection to lack of concern of education system
what does the title link to
there are no afternoon naps in the poem, showing the lack of childhood ( kids usually nap while hes always being tutored)
what is it about
This poem is about a mom with high expectations pressuring her son into doing well academically. This poem criticises the Singaporean educational system and shows how it is insufficient in promoting learning but instead is results oriented.It shows how much stress parents put on kids and how mothers have a competitive vision of success
5 techniques used
- juxtaposition
- asyndeton
- auditory imagery
- assonance and consonance
irony of proclaiming her goodness
the image is contradictory to what we see goodness as (beats ≠ goodness)
circling the cowering boy makes it seem
it is zoomorphism of the mother, as it looks like an animal hunting prey
strenuous p.e ploy
mother is so out of control that she is humourosuly compared to the physical work that is done in pe lessons
what is the juxtaposition in stanza three
the mothers violent and maniatic movements compared to the soft description of what’s not there
effect of tears are dear
the rhyming makes it stand out and the caesura in the middle makes the reader stop and reflect. the word dear means expensive, and is ironic because every week his savings are removed
why could she be called miss low
The use of the name ‘Miss Low’ is a pun that alludes to how his grades are low.
why is the music slow
reflects his slow progress
what pun is there in the last stanza
the tears, with the expensive is a pun which alludes to the stanza before, and how the cost of the sons wellbeing and happiness is what’s actually being taken
volta shows what
a third-person portrayal of a controlling, ambitious mother to the boy’s emotional and psychological response, exposing his confusion, suffering, and emerging resistance. It deepens the poem’s emotional complexity and critiques the harsh, transactional nature of the mother’s approach to parenting and education.
