Conjoined Essay

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“Conjoined” by Judith Minty The poem “Conjoined”, uses imagery and metaphors to describe what some marriages might feel like. The author relays how sometimes marriages are not always beautiful, but also how the marriage between a man and woman creates a bond of unity between two people under one roof. Throughout the poem, Minty describes in concrete terms the emotional senses one may feel in a marriage. The author is very descriptive in the way that she explains what the marriage between a man and a woman might turn out to be. To the average reader one may decipher that a marriage is similar to being sentenced to hell. While on the other hand, one may feel that marriage is an amazing unity between two people that as long as they stay together that their life will be on of love and joy for many years to come. The point of the story however is rather different than the traditional thoughts of marriage. Stating that a marriage is one of togetherness and individuality not just one or the other. One first begins to realize this in the first line of the poem, “[t]he onion in my cupboard a monster, actually two joined under one transparent skin” (Minty, lines 1-2). This statement describes what one may feel is a broken marriage, yet the two people remain together in marriage. In addition, the author goes on to say, “each half- round, then flat and deformed where it pressed and grew against the other” (Minty, lines 3-4). One begins to understand from the style of writing that this is where the thought of togetherness, yet individuality is creating a monster, or mutant form of life. This monster is then described as “[a]n accident, like the two headed calf rooted in one body, fighting to suck at its mothers teats” (Minty, lines 5-6). This reference to a two-headed calf is similar to what a marriage is supposed to create, but instead the two individuals begin
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