Essay on Microtheme 2

In the poem, “My Son the Man,” author Sharon Olds expresses her bittersweet feelings that she experiences when she comes to terms with the fact that her “baby boy” is maturing and growing up. She incorporates the usage of simile, contrast and an extended allusion to express her nostalgia and sadness she experiences as she sees her child mature, while also realizing he is able to escape from her tight clasps. The allusion to Houdini contributes to the inevitable maturation of Olds’ son as she describes the transformation from being a son to now becoming a man. By making the allusion to this magician, the author explicates the importance of the son to grow up and be able to freely practice individualistic skills while visually enhancing the imagery she uses within the poem. Olds uses a great deal of allusion, symbolism, and diction to fully articulate the sentiments that any mother might feel when faced with a child’s realization of his independence. Olds takes advantage of allusions to communicate an intricate meaning through a simple comparison by stating “Suddenly his should get a lot wider, the way Houdini would expand his body while people were putting him on chains” (Olds 440). Houdini is known as an escape artist whose most famous stunt was freeing himself after being chained, sealed in a padlocked trunk, and dropped into deep water. This allusion signifies the development of the son in comparison to the speaker’s emotions regarding the son’s foreseeable transformation. However, Olds responds to this inevitable alteration as tentatively as possible; despite the foreseeable outcome, the poet seems to hold back the fact that the son will go through this predictable transformation into adulthood. Olds emphasizes the sense of apprehension by noting that “I cannot imagine him no longer a child, and I know I must get ready, get over my fear of men now my son is going to be one” (Olds 440). Clearly, the speaker feels uneasy about the son’s milestone into adulthood, yet

she must be accepting this fact to counter any amount of uneasiness she has. The allusion Olds interprets within the poem enhances how apprehensive the mother feels as “Houdini expand[ing] his body” (Olds 440) justifies the inevitable life event of reaching adulthood.
Olds goes on to explain that the son is ready to go out into the real world on his own, but she is reluctant to allow that to happen. "Now he looks at me, the way Houdini studies a box, to learn the way out" (Olds 441). The son sees his mother as the ultimate obstacle, or as a game that he will win. The mother is terrified that her reluctance to embrace her son's maturity has created a shift in their

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