What are the long-term effects on surroundings after a small incident occurs? Cate Marvin’s poem, “After Aftermath,” in the collection, Oracle, dramatizes a conflict among people with different genders and ages. The speaker mentions the consequences after the mom abandons her son. Being frustrated by the attitude the speaker receives from an orphaned boy, she discusses the issues and the reasons behind his indifferent personalities. She believes that the boy’s cold attitude towards her originates from his ignorant mom. Consequently, the speaker, who is treated distantly, becomes unsympathetic towards the mom she resents. The speaker explains a cycle, “They learned how / to not care for themselves because of you. / Orphan boys make mean men. Because of / them, I feel mean,” (Marvin, 12-15). The mothers’ cold character creates a domino effect on the personalities of their sons, men, and also the speaker. The poem is a narrative free-verse, which consists of five stanzas each with nine lines, and each stanza represents a part of the plot diagram; an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Initially, the speaker introduces the characters and actions that cause her to vent out her resentment towards the mom. The first line of the…show more content… The speaker includes this simile to describe and emphasize the love she has for the boy. For example, the speaker says, “I love him as stars lick our faces with the nose / wet cold of cat kisses.” (33-34). The simile compares how much the speaker loves the boy to a cat kissing her loved one. Her love for the boy is similar to the way a mother cat shows love and care by licking and cleaning her kitten. This demonstrates how much the speaker loves and treasures her other half the way a mother should. Using simile is effective because it expresses a type of love that the readers are familiar
