Chinatown
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The poem opens with, "My husband gives me an A for last night's supper, an incomplete for my ironing, a B plus in bed. My son says I am average...". There is no emotion used in these lines, as if the speaker wishes to convey to the reader that she is so tired of serving others that she does not have time to consider her own personal feelings. She may believe thazt she is constantly being evaluated, and the fact that she makes an effort to care for her family is not always good enough. In a school setting, students usually strive for perfection through their grades, and sometimes a student who has worked very hard still does not achieve the grade he or she wanted. This raises the question, what do grades really measure? Obviously, good intentions or the amount of work done are not all that is measured. Thus, these metaphors seem to suggest that the speaker feels she will be taken for granted by her family no matter how hard she tries to please them...