marriage in Judith s Conjoined
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To me, the first and most evident point that needs to be brought up is that " the onion" in Judith Minty's poem " Conjoined" symbolizes the idea of marriage. The narrator is representing her unhappy marriage as an onion that can't be cut or divide because if it is split, it will lose its sense of being an onion. Generally, it is understood that when two people get married it is for life, and not for being separated one day. But for some people, when they make a wrong decision in a marriage, they think they are condemned to spend the rest of their life to bear the burdens of marriage. And I think the narrator shares this view.
The narrator compares the marriage to an onion because an onion is made up of many layers, but all those layers are seen as a whole, they are not seen separately. This is similar to the meaning of marriage. Although the marriage is constituted of two individuals, they should behave as if they were one flesh and one person: " two-headed calf rooted / in one body" (line 5 6). She perceives the marriage as a strong bond between two people that is inseparable and destructive when it is split because the separation of two spouses may benefit to one, and create a void or even a loss in the other spouse: " to sever the muscle could free one, / but might kill the other" (line 12-13). I totally agree with it...