Analysis of “Ave Maria”

Bethany Thompson Professor Breese English 266 3 February 2009 Analysis of Ave Maria Frank OHaras poem, Ave Maria, encourages overprotective mothers to let their children 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 following this advice, including the conditional love of children who wont hate you if they are permitted to do what they want.The true reason behind this directive, however, is made clear in lines 13 16 they may even be satisfying to you / for their first internal experience / which only cost you a quarter / and didnt upset the peaceful home. The idea that a parent could provide a childs first sexual experience may be shocking to parents, but OHaras poem implies that by allowing them this experience, you open readied them for adulthood. Also, the word picture of sexuality macrocosm priced like popcorn, a quarter, is amusing its the pleasures of adulthood at quite a bar gain.OHara initially contrasts the peaceful home a room, a yard, mothers, and little tykes with the movie theatre, embossed by silvery images. He then contrasts the parents overprotective instruction with that of a pleasant stranger who offers the equivalent they volition know where candy bars come from and gratuitous bags of popcorn as gratuitous as leaving the movie before its over with a pleasant stranger whose byment is in the Heaven on Earth Bldg near the Williamsburg BridgeThese children will learn almost 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 admonition with a warning. He cautions mothers not to blame him if they dont take his advice and their f amilies 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 push them away. The final image is that of children growing old and blind in front of a TV set watching the films they werent allowed to see when they were small. This gives the impression that no takings 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 draw attention to the mothers, the first being the title of the poem. Perhaps it is an ironic statement 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 / youre up to, which implies the mothers in addition 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.