Analytical Essay (Conjoined-Judith Minty - 707 Words

Conjoined by Judith Minty is a poem that represents a broken relationship or a broken marriage. Minty uses similes, metaphors, and analogies to describe the miserable union of two people and the inseparability of the marriage that these two people are in. Marriage; the poem’s subtitle sets the theme of the poem and it is only when one begins to read the poem that it becomes understood as an unhappy poem rather than that of joy and happiness. Minty uses words that with connotations that steer more to the negative side to describe the life of a married couple. Although she does not come right out and say what she means to say, the poem speaks for itself. Orson Scott Card once said, â€Å"Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least†¦show more content†¦In the second stanza of the poem Minty goes on to say that is it like â€Å"An accident, like the two headed calf rooted in one body, fighting to suck at its mother’s teats† (Minty lines 5-7) . This particular line immediately paints a picture in the readers mind Minty makes reference to marriage as â€Å"An accident,† right away it becomes evident to readers that she does not view her marriage in a positive light. It was a mistake, something that had she known it would be like this, she probably would have avoided it. She also references it to a calf that has one body but two heads that fight to get milk to survive. This metaphor is representative of the single household that has two people who are fighting to be the head of the home. Inevitably, there is only one person who will be the main leader of the house but as a couple they should be pushing each other to do well. Minty’s comparison of the marriage to Chand and Eng is another indicator of her negative views on marriage. She uses metaphorical devices to express how marriage is nothing good but rather a dooming action that binds one to the other for eternity. Finally, in the third stanza of the poem she states, â€Å"Do you feel the skin that binds us together as we move, heavy in this house† (Minty lines 10-11). This is in reference to the environment of the house. The skin enhances the metaphor as it stresses to readers how hard it is to live in the house. Using the term skin suggests that the