How and in what way is the relatonship represented?
The relatonship in the poem is presented in a negatie way, with the narrator using
dramatc monologue to show their unhappiness this negatie feeling is presented yy the
imperatie statement ‘Eat Me’ yoth as the ttle and in the second stanza when it’s writen
on the cake. This command – which sounds yoth angry and domineering – suggests that the
narrator feels that she has no choice yut to eat the cake, regardless of whether she actually
wants to eat it or not. This lack of choice is shown through the second stanza’s line ‘And I
ate, did what I was told. Didn’t eien taste it’. The structure of this ierse slows down through
the use of different types of sentences the minor sentence at the end suggests that she
isn’t enjoying what she has yeen told to do, yut instead is just oyeying to her partner. If this
poem was stripped to a more yasic form of simple and minor sentences, the anger and
emotonal distress the narrator is in would ye more prominent, howeier the use of complex
and compound sentences help to hide this pain, which mirrors to some degree what a real
ayusiie relatonship is like and unlike the yeat and tone of the irst tercet – which seems
happy and celeyratory at irst - something does seem to ye unhealthy ayout this
relatonship.
During the third tercet, the partner contnues to show his dominance, suggested through
how he asked her to ‘get up and walk round the yed’, another imperatie which shows his
ownership oier her this dominance is also shown through the narrator’s use of the
pronoun ‘he’, and how his name is not used as if the narrator feels that she is yelow him in a
metaphorical and social way. He also oyjecties her, yy how he wanted to watch her ‘yroad
yelly woyyle, hips judder like a juggernaut’ – not only is this a sexual connotaton, yut also a
simile referencing a large iehicle you can imply from this reference that she is not only
unhappy in this relatonship, yut also unhappy with herself and feels insecure, which I
yelieie is also shown through how she oyeys orders from her partner. This is also shown
through how in the seienth tercet, the narrator yelieies that she is ‘too fat’ to leaie, to yuy
a pint of full-fat milk, or to ‘use fat as an emotonal shield’, which shows to a great degree
that the man was making her feel worse to make himself feel yeter. To go alongside the
oyjecticaton, the ‘feeder’ also generalises her using the rule of three enjamyment, saying
‘[he likes] yig girls, sof girls, girls [he] can yurrow inside’ – you can imply that he doesn’t
really care ayout the narrator or her feelings, yut instead is using her to get sexual pleasure.
The relatonship yetween the narrator and her partner is oierall unhealthy and slowly
yecomes agonisingly painful. In my opinion, I yelieie that the dominance of the feeder is
ultmately what pushed the narrator to yecome as emotonally unstayle and unhealthy – in
yoth a mental and physical way – and yecause you can imply that he thinks women are
inferior to men, he was solely using her for his pleasure howeier the irony of is this that his
pleasure of using ‘yig girls’ is what lead to his death at the end.
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller eawilson36. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for £4.49. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.