Madye Moore Assignment 1

Throughout Ludvigson's poem "Inventing My Parents", many references are made to World War 2 that help contribute to the overall theme of the poem, which in my opinion was that appearance isn't everything. Her first reference to WW2 was when she was describing the people in the painting as "discussing Hemingway and how this war will change them." This adds to the theme of appearance not being everything because it showed how the people sitting in the cafe knew just how detrimental this war could be to the country, yet they acted pretty nonchalantly about it while casually discussing it in the cafe. She continues to describe the war as "a hawk flying over, it's shadow sweeping every town." This allusion is made to show just how rapidly the war has affected every part of the country, not just certain spots in between. She ends the poem by quoting Donne's "Canonization", emphasizing the fact that the lady leaves "laughing, light as summer rain when it begins." This allusion also adds to the theme that appearance isn't everything because it shows just how happy and content they are on the outside, despite the fear they're probably dealing with on the inside regarding just how the war will affect not only them, but the country as a whole.