January
2009
Elizabeth Childers , Abel Melveny0
This poem was very upsetting and shows the reader how miserable life really was for the residents of Spoon River. When a mother and child die during birth it is a sad bitter thing that can leave many people scared. However Elizabeth views it differently, she is in fact relieved that her child did not live as she cannot imagine all the terrible things life has to offer. If you are dead and you cannot look back on the life you led and cannot say at the very least that it was worth it, then there indeed is something wrong with the town you grew up in and called home.
Abel Melveny has a similar story as he compares his life to one of his work tools that was never used.
“I saw myself as a good machine
That Life had never used.” pg. 78
The American Dream talks about reaching out for something, having some form of goal to obtain that you are always striving for. In the other books from this year, many of the characters failed just as the people in Spoon River had. The difference is that many people in Spoon River did not even try to reach that goal or did not notice there was a goal to be reached. Even if Tom Buchanan realizes his life was pathetic and that he was not a very good person, he still can look back and realize that he accomplished something. It is unfair to yourself to say that your life was never used.
