Pretty by Katie Makkai
Analysis: The poem " Pretty" by Katie Makkai puts a whole new definition on the word pretty. Throughout her poem she uses literary devices, imagery and diction to explain what the word pretty means to society and people and how a two syllable word can have such an impact on people. Makkai starts the poem off with the quote, "When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother what will I be? Will I be pretty?" after reading this line from the poem, it can be inferred that the experiences Makkai refers to are about her childhood experiences she encounters."Will I be wanted? Worthy? Pretty? But puberty left me this funhouse mirror dry add...",by the time she started experiencing puberty Makkai's mother looked at her as if she was imperfect and instead of consoling her worried child that everything was fine and that she was beautiful just the way she was she responded, "Don’t worry; we will get it all fixed...". Eventually she had gotten surgery to become simply "pretty". In the poem she explains how she hasn't seen her face in ten years yet she doesn't blame her mother because she believes that her mother was only doing things how she was raised. "Not her fault she, too, was raised to believe the greatest asset she could bestow upon her awkward little girl was a marketable appearance." In the poem Makkai expresses how her poem is for her future daughter when she may ask if she's pretty and she will simply say no and respond "The word pretty is unworthy of everything you will be, and no child of mine will be contained in five letters. You will be pretty intelligent, pretty creative, pretty amazing, but you will never be merely “pretty.” Throughout the poem it explains that women simply want to be pretty and will do whatever it takes instead of believing that they are more then pretty and pretty is just an understatement.
Literary Devices: Metaphor: "Grasping my face, twisting it this way and that as if it were a cabbage she might buy." Makkai compares her face as being cabbage in the following quote.
Repetition:"Will I be pretty?" This question is asked throughout the poem which emphasizes and makes readers wonder what does the word pretty actually mean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6wJl37N9C0
Literary Devices: Metaphor: "Grasping my face, twisting it this way and that as if it were a cabbage she might buy." Makkai compares her face as being cabbage in the following quote.
Repetition:"Will I be pretty?" This question is asked throughout the poem which emphasizes and makes readers wonder what does the word pretty actually mean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6wJl37N9C0