?Fear? By Gabriela Mistral Essay, Research Paper

The poem ?Fear? by Gabriela Mistral, dramatizes the conflict between a mother and her fear of her child growing up. The mother is the speaker in this poem. The mother is frightened of her child growing up and not needing her as much as she does as a child. In stanza 1 line 1 it says, ?I do not want them to turn my child into a swallow?. The swallow symbolizes a bird leaving the nest. The mother is fearful of her daughter growing up and moving out. This line is repeated in line 7. The mother refers to ?them? when she talks of who is going to change her she is referring to society. The mother is fearful that society will make her daughter become independent. In line 4 it says, ?and never come down again to my doormat?. She is fearful that her daughter will not come and visit once she moves out. In stanza 2 line 9 it says, ?I do not want them to make my child into a princess.? The princess represents the child?s teen years. Again she refers to society as them. It is also repeated in line 16. The mother does not want society to turn her daughter into something she is not. She wants her child to have fun and play. The mother is fearful that her child will not sleep by her at night. In stanza 3 line 17 it says, ?And I would like even less that one day they crown her queen.? The queen represents the daughter as an adult figure. The mother is frightened of the day her child is an adult, maybe married, and has a life of her own. She will not need her mother anymore. She will not be dependent on her mother anymore.

Gabriella Mistral uses repetition in this poem. In stanza 1 ?I do not want them to turn my child into a swallow? is repeated in the beginning and end. Also in stanza 2 ?I do not want them to make my child into a princess? is repeated at the beginning and end. This is to show that she is most fearful of her child becoming an adult and not needing her anymore. She uses a swallow, a princess, and a queen to symbolize the stages in her child?s life.