Analysis of “Ave Maria”

Bethany Thompson Professor Breese English 266 3 February 2009 Analysis of Ave maria Frank OHaras meter, Ave Maria, encourages overprotective mothers to let their tykeren experience life. The poem begins with the command, Mothers of America / let your kids go to the movies He proposes a series of rationales for follo come throughg(a) this advice, including the conditional love of children who wint hate you if they argon permitted to do what they want.The true reason behind this directive, however, is made clear in lines 13 16 they may even be grateful to you / for their first intimate experience / which only cost you a quarter / and didnt low the peaceful mob. The idea that a p bent could provide a childs first sexual experience may be ignominious to p arnts, but OHaras poem implies that by allowing them this experience, you father readied them for adulthood. Also, the estimate of sexuality being priced like popcorn, a quarter, is amusing its the pleasures of adulthood at quite a bargain.OHara initially contrasts the peaceful home a room, a yard, mothers, and little tykes with the movie theatre, embossed by eloquent images. He then contrasts the parents overprotective instruction with that of a pleasant stranger who offers the equivalent they forget deal where candy bars come from and unmerited bags of popcorn as gratuitous as leaving the movie originally its over with a pleasant stranger whose unconnectedment is in the Heaven on Earth Bldg near the Williamsburg BridgeThese children will follow to the highest degree adulthood through gaining sexual knowledge. OHara paints a win / win situation. If nobody picks them up in the movies/ they wont know the difference / and if somebody does itll be sheer gravy. He suggests that if they dont get their first sexual experience, they will at least have seen a movie, instead of staying in their room hating you. OHara concludes his poetic denunciation with a warning. He cautions mothers not to bla me him if they dont pee-pee his advice and their families fall apart.The connection between keeping kids home from the movies and families falling apart may seem far-fetched, but the movies are symbolizing all the things a child is forbidden to do. Too much restriction will driving force them away. The final image is that of children growing old and blind in forepart of a TV set watching the films they werent allowed to see when they were small. This gives the ideal that no matter how much a mother tries to shelter her children, they will eventually do all the things that were forbidden them.There are several things that omit attention to the mothers, the first being the title of the poem. Perhaps it is an ironic tale on the imperfection of mothers in comparison to the Holy Mother. There are two lines that suggest the mothers might have ulterior motives for sending their children to the movies. Lines 3 and 4 suggest mothers get them out of the house so they wont know what / y oure up to, which implies the mothers also have something to hide.These motives are not the main focus of the poem and are undisclosed by the author. We are left to guess what the mothers are really up to. In short, OHara recommends that parents let their children experience life on their own terms. Parents are told that preventing their children from making their own choices will cause resentment and leave the children fantasizing about the experiences they wish they had. A wise parent allows their children to grow into experienced adults by letting them to go out and explore, not coddling by them.