Milk The Mouse Analysis

Gender socialization, or the “patterns of behavior taught to children and adults in order to help them learn to behave as acceptable females or males,” begins strikingly early in life (Disch 1). While society as a whole is responsible for carrying out such socialization, many researchers believe that the strongest influence on gender role development seems to occur within the family setting, with parents passing on, both overtly and covertly, their own beliefs about gender (Witt 1). Because parents have the strongest initial influence and control over the early gender socialization their children undergo, they also have the potential to end the cycle of oppressive gender socialization most children experience from birth onward, and eventually
The subject of the text, a young child of only four or five, is already undergoing gender socialization at the hand (literally) of the father. While the poem does not explicitly state that the narrator is a boy, it is possible to infer from the events taking place that the narrator is, in fact, male; the father repeats to the child, “Be strong! Be tough!” while causing physical pain to the child, reinforcing characteristics prized and expected from the male gender (Ryan 1). Men are stereotypically dominant, aggressive, fearless, and tough, and the speaker of the poem is expected to embody such traits (Brewer 1). The father in the poem has the opportunity to instill in the young boy a value for diverse traits, including those non-typical of his sex, but chooses instead to continue the cycle of traditional gender socialization. It is also evidenced in the poem that the father’s actions are the product of Harro’s cycle, as the speaker reveals that his father is not speaking to him but instead to the “child inside him aching” (Ryan 1). Rather, the father is teaching his son what he was likely taught as a child: that men are strong, and that he must be strong to survive in the
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Brewer, Holly. “List of Gender Stereotypes.” healthguidance.org. n.d., n.p. Web. 23 Dec. 2013.
Crespi, Isabella. “Socialization and Gender Roles Within the Family: A Study On Adolescents and Their Parents in Great Britain.” mariecurie.org. n.d., n.p. Web. 22 Dec. 2013.
Disch, Estelle. Reconstructing Gender: A Multicultural Anthology. 5th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2009. Print.
Greger, Debora. “The Armorer’s Daughter.” Vital Signs: Contemporary American Poetry from the University Presses. Ed. Ronald Wallace. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1989. 310.
Harro, Bobbie. “The Cycle of Socialization.” library.wisc.edu. n.d., n.p. Web. 22 Dec. 2013.
Ryan, Michael. “Milk the Mouse.” God Hunger: Poems. New York: Penguin, 1989. (page 11).
Sandburg, Carl. “A Father to His Son.” The People, Yes. n.p.. 1936.
Witt, Susan D. “Parental Influence On Children’s Socialization To Gender Roles.” ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. n.d., n.p. Web. 23 Dec.