The Locket

This poem takes a look at immigrant life in America. The poet's mother seems to have had a fun life in Ireland which she trades for a life of poverty in Brooklyn. She regrets the way her husband treats her, and the fact that her child came out "both the wrong sex/and the wrong way around." All of these things make her grow cold and distant, she seems to forget her family and even her own sun. Molly attributes this to her new impoverished life in America claiming that "when poverty comes through the door/love flies up the chimney."

The poet seems to regret his lack of closeness with his mother, and makes an effort to "court" her. He is rebuffed in his advances, because, he claims, his mother has reisgned herself "to being alone." ALthough, at the very end of the poem it is revealed that Molly always wears a locket around her neck that contains a picture of a baby boy from the Brooklyn (presumably the poet).

As I said earlier, this poem depicts the America met by new immigrants. Newcomers to this country have a difficult time finding steady work and suitable living arrangments. Many end up living in slums not far from where they entered the country. This is likely the case with the poets family as most Irish immigrants stayed in New York. Once deep American povery has taken its toll on the family unit, the family falls apart. The poet's father turns to drinking (see "The Cage") while the mother becomes dispondant and isolates herself from her children. The poet seems to feel the pain of this isolation and makes an effort to seek out his mother's approval by listening to her stories of the old country and trying to emphatize with her.

Unfortunately he is pushed away. But I beleive that he is able to make some sort of peace with his mother by recegnizing the locket that hangs around her neck. This suggests that somewhere within her she cares about her child and may have the desire/capacity to act as a more suitable mother figure in a different enviornment. I beleive the locket allows the poet to see this and enables him to understand that his mother has treated him as she has not necessarely because of who she is but because of the poverty and harships she faced upon entering America.