Louise Gluck The School Children Essay

In Louise Gluck’s poem, “The School Children,” Gluck focuses on the difficulty that mothers face when their children leave and the success they desire from within their children. The poem essentially depicts the power struggle between mothers and teachers, as the mothers try and protect their children from the outside world, while the teachers expose them to reality. Gluck utilizes biblical allusions, negative connotations, and fragmented imagery to portray the war over control for children between the mothers and the teachers, resulting in the disconnection of the poem itself. These literary elements aid Gluck in conveying the disconnection mothers face when their children leave them behind while receiving no credit for their personal labored efforts that have led the child to success.
The poem begins with the mothers working hard to pick apples so that their children can present the fruit of fertility to the teacher. The apple refers to the story of Adam and Eve in which humanity’s innocence became extinct. The offering of the apple also represents the children as “sacrifices” given to the teachers in hopes of a better education. The crucifixion is referred to in lines eight through nine which depicts the children’s death of innocence in which “the children hang.” Jesus Christ is often called “The Lamb” of God, implying that the children in the poem are the Lamb of God because of their coats of wool. The biblical allusions exemplifies the children growing up and facing the outside world that the mothers fear. The loss of innocence leads one to become a more mature being which also comes with age and education; this simply is bittersweet for the mother as her children are becoming successful, but leaving her and her strenuous efforts