Eat me Flashcards
(12 cards)
Analyse the title and tone of “Eat me”
Allusion to Alice in Wonderland creates a whimsical, childish —> suggests speaker is childish and submissive as the imperative suggests ideas of control
Dramatic monologue - gleeful macabre which examines an extreme kind of unhealthy
relationship. Agbabi uses the relationship between ‘feeder’ and ‘feedee’ to explore issues of
gender and power
Describe the structure of the poem
Free verse
Written in tercets (stanzas with three lines) - 3 lines could represent there being 3 people in the relationship - the speaker, her partner and food. –> suggests a battle
Half rhymes with assonance
“When I hit thirty, he brought me a cake, three layers of icing, home - made a candle for each stone in weight.”
Opening = conversational
Relying on cultural norms of a birthday celebration- the writer establishes a quasi happy, healthy relationship however the tone shifts
“he” - no tangible identity, like a god so initially has power
Note the short ‘i’s in the last words of each line - has a sense of completeness, ending with an end-stop which reinforces the theme of control.
“The icing was white but the letters were pink,…. EAT ME…. I did what I was told. Didn’t even taste it”
“White” and “pink” - connotations of purity + femininity + childishness. Man infantilizes the women
“White” could also represent a blank canvas and “pink” the speakers flesh- by giving her the cake, the man in the relationship has only 1 goal - to make her fatter and fleshier.
“Pink” is made by mixing white and red (blood) - man is corrupting her purity for the sake of his pleasure
“eat me” - idea of force feeding, link to the historic treatment of women through the suffragette movement
“Didn’t even taste it” - clearly doesnt experience any pleasure, passive actions
“he could watch my broad belly jugger like a juggernaut”
Internalizes the infantilization through childish “belly” - man is the primary caregiver, she relies on him
In hindu mythology a “juggernaut” is a big unstoppable force - hints at later reversal of power
Plosive alliteration - comic dark humour
“I like big girls, soft girls, girls I can burrow inside with multiple chins, masses of cellulite”
Amorphous group of ‘girls’ - speaker is one of many without agency who is there to gratify him
“burrow” - suggests man is vulnerable like a prey
Idea of excess, gluttony
Use of listing and internal rhyme reflects the overwhelming desire of the male to control his partner’s weight.
This is an example of heteroglossia – male speech
injected into the poem
“I was his Jacuzzi. But he was my cook…. his pleasure to watch me swell like a forbidden fruit.”
Metaphors of Jacuzzi – water tamed for his pleasure, comfortable until she realises her power and drowns him
Woman normally swell from pregnancy not food - subversion
Reference to Garden of eden through “forbidden fruit” - poem examines consequences of temptation
“His desert island after shipwreck. Or a beached whale on a king-size bed craving a wave. I was a tidal wave of flesh
Post colonial perspective - man is taking ownership of land, representing her flesh
Definitive metaphor of “I was a tidal wave of flesh” contrasts against mere comparison in earlier “juggernaut” simile –> use pf literary devices to show progression of strength as she realises she is the wave and can save herself
nautical conceit –> suggests drowning
“too fat leave, too fat to buy a pint of full fat milk, too fat…too fat”
Anaphora of “too fat” coupled with enjambment from previous stanza creates a forward impetus + builds narrative rhythm to a dramatic climax
Fricative alliteration - dry, ironic, almost humorous tone to the triplet of adjectives in the last line of the stanza. Notably, it ends on a caesura, creating a pause before the gradual change of tone in stanza eight.
“The day I hit 39, I allowed him to stroke my globe of a cheek. His flesh, my flesh flowed.. poured olive oil down my throat”
Allowed - active action creates a kind of volta
The hyperbole of ‘globe’ alludes to how the woman is the pinnacle of her partner’s existence - she becomes aware of this and uses it to her advantage
- she is his weakness which she can exploit
Sexial allusions
Assonance of the last line reminiscent of the dense, oozing oil - choking
“how could I not roll over on top. I rolled and he drowned in my flesh. I drowned his dying sentence out”
Phrased like a question but there is no question mark - its a conscious decision not up to reader to judge her
Perhaps poet offering a commentary on the way men often cut women off - she doesn’t care what the he has to say
Colonial reading - suggests colonised countries want to take back their land
“His mouth slightly open, his eyes bulging with greed. There was nothing left in the house to eat.”
Almost gothic - incredibly shocking + sinister
Reversal of roles - now he is trapped in the house
Man has brought about his own destruction
Ambiguous ending but highlights the necessity of making the choice to free yourself from abusive relationships
