Scribd
Upload
398 views2 pages

Atwood's Poetry: Identity & Society

Atwood's poem "A Sad Child" explores the concept of identity and belonging within society. While the poem refers to a sad child, Atwood is actually referring to people within society as a whole. The poem suggests that sadness will affect everyone at different points in their lives. Atwood also conveys that no individual is the "favorite child" of God, as everyone will experience death, represented by the fading light. The poem examines the global issue of community and beliefs, implying we should support each other through difficult times, as we are all part of the same human family. Atwood gives all people equal status by referring to society as children, the lowest status, to emphasize our shared human experiences of sadness and mortality

Uploaded by

api-295759959
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
398 views2 pages

Atwood's Poetry: Identity & Society

Atwood's poem "A Sad Child" explores the concept of identity and belonging within society. While the poem refers to a sad child, Atwood is actually referring to people within society as a whole. The poem suggests that sadness will affect everyone at different points in their lives. Atwood also conveys that no individual is the "favorite child" of God, as everyone will experience death, represented by the fading light. The poem examines the global issue of community and beliefs, implying we should support each other through difficult times, as we are all part of the same human family. Atwood gives all people equal status by referring to society as children, the lowest status, to emphasize our shared human experiences of sadness and mortality

Uploaded by

api-295759959
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Core Concepts and Global Issue in Atwood’s Poetry

Atwood’s poem, A Sad Child, speaks to the core concept of identity. The poem, as its title

suggests, is about a child who is going through sadness and depression. However, although

Atwood refers to this person as a “child,” she is really referring to society as a whole. As

suggested by the first few lines, sadness will come at all stages of life, but in different forms. As

the reader progresses through the poem, they will notice that the third and final stanza conclude

with “I am not the favorite child,” and “none of us is; or else we all are.” From a religious

perspective, all people of society are children of god. Therefore, Atwood is really saying that

people of society are all children and have the identity of the “child” she is referring to. Atwood

then goes onto speaking about the struggle each person faces due to sadness, but also the

outcome of a child who fails to get over it. We know that no one is the “favorite child,” because

each person will eventually die one day. This is what Atwood refers to when mentioning “the

light fails and the fog rolls in.” But in the end, it is up to each child to determine when this

inevitable end will come.

This poem speaks to the global issue of beliefs and community. Depending on the reader,

one with religious beliefs may say that Atwood is speaking about society as a whole. By saying

that none of us is the favorite child, or else we all are, can be interpreted as no one is God’s

favorite child. If there was a favorite child, they would live on forever, but this is not true.

Therefore, since everyone will become the “sad child” she refers to, it is important that we help

each other up because we are all part of the same community. In society today, depression is a

serious illness for many people. A lot of the time, these people don’t get the help they need from

their community. Although the reasons for this vary, it is safe to say that some people believe that
they are of higher statues than other. By referring to people of society as children, Atwood gives

everyone an equal status. You can also infer that because she calls everyone children, she is

really giving everyone the lowest societal status possible. Status usually increases with age,

therefore children have the lowest status. All in all, a reader may interpret this poem as Atwood’s

take on sadness and how it affects society today.

You might also like