Blog 3- ‘Have you experienced, or do you know someone who has experienced any of the situation described in “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock”? Tell their or YOUR story about what it feels like to be him.’
T.S.Eliot’s J.Alfred Prufrock is a man filled with fears of judgment and his own inadequacies. The stream of conscious style poem clearly illiterates the internal anxiety Prufrock suffers at the potential loss or failures that may occur in his life and in turn the crippling anxiety that leads to lost opportunities. This very real and confronting exploration touches at the essence of human existence. It would not be inaccurate to state that there are elements of this narrative in all adult human experience.
The regular referrals to aging and the overall sense of decay, limited time and looming mortality are very real occurrences as you age, especially through the process of watching the growth of your own children. The act of parenthood can bring forth so many feelings of regret and loss at things that were not achieved and now seem impossible under the weight of new responsibility. I feel this is particularly true for women, who through motherhood can lose so much of their identity and may experience this loss of opportunities in a very real way. A common theme for early mothers is the isolation and anxiety at feeling left out of society and the overwhelming judgment from family, friends and onlookers that seems to highlight your insecurity of failure as a mother. Then as your children age the effects of parenthood seem to speed up the aging process on a cellular level and Eliot’s ironic referrals to time and its promise of things to come sounds remarkably like the internal rational of so many mothers; I’ll get time for that when the kids are older.
The fragmented nature of this modernist poem lends very much to the fragmented situation a woman finds herself in after the life changing event that is childbirth. Distanced from previously normal practices like work and social gatherings, ghost like behind the duty of motherhood, this comparable experience while not seemingly obvious with Prufrock is definitely one that rings true to me, based on my experience both as a mother and also in observation of mothers I have watched over these transforming periods in their lives.
Image credit: http://www.tarshi.net/inplainspeak/postpartum-depression/
Em's Literature Blog 
Em! Reading this was super insightful. I really adored how you made Prufrock’s struggles relatable to a contemporary setting. Your final paragraph describing the fragmentation Mother’s livelihood; heightening the shift of priorities experienced by not only yourself but by many others. I cannot seem to find anything negative to say about your writing within itself, however I would include more about the chaos of motherhood in your introduction, rather than generalising it to be adulthood. I definitely agree that the feeling of imminent dread is felt at least once in adulthood, however including that statement in your introduction opposed to exploring more ideas of motherhood can come across as generalising all adults to be parents. Hope this helps, Keep up the good work!
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Great application of the themes of this poem to a woman’s situation. Well done Emily- again! Overall an outstanding blogging effort!
*Please attend to editing your work carefully. Here is what I have picked up:
* The stream of conscious style= The stream of consciousness style
*clearly illiterates the internal anxiety= clearly iterates the internal anxiety = [I don’t think you mean illiterate……. check meaning!]
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