B1
In the Poem “The Red Hat” by Rachel Hadas, the speakers’ attitude towards her
son is concerned. The author is concerned about her son being solo when he walks to
school. The author is so worried about him being safe that even when he walks to school
they follow him in the car to make sure he gets there safe. She also says when they get to
Stratus Park, where the streets part, her heart stretches, elastic in its love and fear. I can
relate to the story, because when I first started walking to school my mom would follow
me to make sure I got there o.k.
H1
The writer’s attitude toward the young boy in the poem “The Red Hat”, by
Rachael Hadas, is a sad and depressed. He is growing up now and doing things on his
own. He is now grown up doing things on his own and this makes the writer sad.
The writer uses great imagery to get the feel of sadness from someone who you
love leaving. First, when the writer states, “ two weeks ago, holding a hand, he’d dawdle,
dreamy, slow, he now is hustled forward by the pull of something far more powerful than
school, “it shows how he now has grown out of the comfort of his mother and is driven
by his needs and wants. One day he is your baby and the next he is leaving to live on his
own. Even in the first lines it shows how much he has grown. “Now the son officially
walks to school alone.” It shows how much he matures and how sad it is to see how fast
they grow up.
The writer consistently states the word “alone” over and over again. Seeing this
word over and over again gives the feeling of being alone. Like when the writer states
“Stratus Park is where these parallel paths; he goes above from there”. Saying like he has
grown up and alone he can take care of himself. With the repetition of this word alone we
get the feeling and the point that he can do these things like walk to school alone.
The use of figurative language gives us the feeling of happiness and sadness at the
same time. For example, “The watcher’s heart stretches elastic in its love and fear,
toward him as we see him disappear.” They love the fact that his is mature and can do
things on his own now. But then they fear for the worst and this creates sadness. Though
the use of figurative language we get his feeling.
The author gives a great annotation of sadness as the child leaves to do things
alone with the use of diction, figurative language, and imagery. She paints this picture of
sadness as should any parent watching there child leave into this big cruel world.
S1
All parents have a hard time letting their children go. It’s hard for them, after
watching them grow from helpless infants whom they cared and protected at all times,
into children getting older and learning how to protect themselves. This feeling is clearly
felt by Rachael Hadas in her poem” The Red Hat.” In this poem, Rachael Hadas
expresses her attitude of the difficulty of letting one’s child go by using literary devices
such as diction, alliteration, and imagery.
Hada’s diction helps capture her feelings towards watching her son grow up. In
the middle of her poem, she explains how her son is now “striding briskly”. These words
she used inspire the image of covering the ground at a fast pace in a way these unoriginal
words could not. They are especially descriptive when compared to her word choice of
how her son used to walk: “dawdle” and “dreamy”. These words inspire a more hesitant,
contemplative description made more so by comparison. Her diction with these words
helps explain how her son is maturing and becoming self reliant, two things she is having
trouble accepting. Also, in the last paragraph, she uses particularly expressive diction to
explaining how, this change causes her to feel. Her words like “flimsy, unanchored, and
perilously light” go to show how strange and new this experience for her. It also shows
her uncertainty even to the point of “parilousness.” Hadas’ diction help emphasize the
difference in how her son has changed and express her confusion and unsure feelings
about this change.
Rachael Hadas uses alliteration to emphasize and describe certain things. One
example of alliteration is in the first paragraph. “He walks up the east side of West End,
we on the west side.” This repetition of w’s makes these words stand out to the reader of
how their paths are growing apart. This use of alliteration emphasizes the new changes in
their life and her son’s growing independence. Another example of her alliteration is
when she wrote about where these parallel paths part. The repeating P sound is abrupt
and harsh like this new change in her life that she is having trouble accepting. Rachael’s
alliteration helps portray her feeling and attitude about her son’s growing independence
and emphasize this change.
Hadas also integrates the use of imagery into her poem to help demonstrate her
attitude. “The watcher’s heart stretches elastic in its love and fear.” After reading this
quote, one can almost see her growing heart full of love for her growing son her imagery
helps express how strong her love is and how hard it is to let him go.
In her poem “The Red Hat”, Rachael Hadas implores the use of diction,
alliteration, and imagery to emphasize the change in her growing Childs independence.
W1
The lives of parents are milestoned by a series of departures. As children grow
older and evolve, they inevitably shed the vestiges of dependence the ties which parents
cling to such a theme is presented in Rachael Hadas’ poem, “The Red Hat”, where a
simple walk to school is representative of the greater departure into the world abroad.
The speaker of the poem nostalgically comments on the very place and time when
this change occurred in order to dramatisize the significance of the event. The element of
time in this poem is crucial to the understanding of it because a mere “two weeks ago,
holding a hand, he’d dawdle, dreamy, slow.” Yet, before the speaker can even appreciate
the child’s reliance on him, he now “officially walks to school alone.” The walk itself is
brief, where the route is no more than “forty minutes longer than before,” yet the small
time frame encompasses a vast range of emotions. For the parents, this walk represents
years and years of parenting and guidance all encapsulates in to the small body of the
child who now wishes to gain independence and walk alone.
Despite the son choosing to walk alone, however, the parents cannot resist
ensuring that he is safe and secure. He walks “semi-alone, it’s accurate to say” as “I or
his father track him on the way.” This illustrates how no matter how far away the child
wishes to distance himself, he can always count on his parents to provide a solid
foundation to fall back on. The parents shadow the son’s walk with “glances” that
“extend (and do) across the street.” Each glance is filled with feelings and emotion as
“the watcher’s heart stretches, elastic in its love and fear.” Thought the parents realize
they cannot be immediately next to the child, holding his hand and guiding his step, they
still nurture the ties that are invisible to the eyes- the ties that are abstract and “not fact.”
In the end, it is the responsibility of the parent to heed the changes that are
occurring while maintaining the love and support that has brought the child to this point
thus far. Though all changes engender new feelings of discomfort or sadness- the speaker
remarks that this time period feels “flimsy, strange, empty, unanchored” – there is an
overwhelming potential for the child to achieve what he alone desires. Where the child
once “[dawdled]” with his innocence and naivete, he now is “hustled forward by the pull
of something far more powerful than school.” The child is honing his independence,
attuning himself to the free will that pulls his body forward, and ultimately discovering
what inspires him to leave the comfort and warmth which his parents provide.
Though parents yearn to hold on to all the ties that keep their child a child,
often times it is the strength of the forces surrounding the child which have the ability to
overwhelm the parents’ efforts. The external “eddies of change” act not only to define the
departure but also how the parent chooses to respond.
L
In the Poem “The Red Hat”, a father is noticing how much his son has grown up
so quickly. Racheal Hadas puts a good tone on this poem to make you feel what the
parents really feel when A child grows to their independence.
Early in a child’s life they are 100% dependant on there parents. You change
there whimpers Send them to bed; tell them to take medicine for candy. But as a child
gets older and has his or her own visions on things they tend to mind there own business
and be to them more. At this point the child wants to pick out their own clothes and do
their own hair and ride the bus to school. That’s what life is about, being independent.
When the father in this poem sends his son off to school he feels the
independence of his son. He no longer needs to walk him to school or drive him, and
usually the boy turns around and wave’s goodbye, but this time, the boy just continues to
walk away with out his parents. This is a reaction for the fathers letting him know that his
little boy is grown up now and can do things on his own. These types of things happen
many times in a Childs life. This is just the beginning.