Help on Analysis for "The Elder Sister"

[ckbguy]

The Elder Sister
by Sharon Olds

When I look at my elder sister now
I think how she had to go first, down through the
birth canal1, to force her way
head-first through the tiny channel,
the pressure of Mother’s muscles on her brain,
the tight walls scraping her skin.
Her face is still narrow from it, the long
hollow cheeks of a crusader on a tomb2,
and her inky eyes have the look of someone who has
been in prison a long time and
knows they can send her back. I look at her
body and think how her breasts were the first to
rise, slowly, like swans on a pond3.
By the time mine came along, they were just
two more birds in the flock, and when the hair
rose on the white mound of her flesh, like
threads of water out of the ground, it was the
first time, but when mine came
they knew about it. I used to think
only in terms of her harshness, sitting and
pissing on me in bed, but now I
see I had her before me always
like a shield. I look at her wrinkles, her clenched
jaws, her frown-lines—I see they are
the dents in my shield, the blows that did not reach me.
She protected me, not as a mother
protects a child, with love, but as a
hostage protects the one who makes her
escape as I made my escape, with my sister’s
body held in front of me.

The simile in the lines "and when the hair
rose on the white mound of her flesh, like
threads of water out of the ground, it was the
first time," compares her pubic hair to that of threads of water coming out of the ground. What characteristics of do these 2 have in common? I'm looking for at least 3 common characteristics, the only one I can think of is that both the threads of water and the hair are long.

[barbara0207]

When you look at similes or metaphors, you need to use your imagination in order to find the meaning. In your mind, visualize these threads of water out of the ground. What do you see? Springs of fresh, clear water perhaps, meandering across the field - like curls of hair? What do you associate with that? The spring is fresh, clean, new ...

I hope I could help you a bit. And welcome to the forum.

[kk_bb]

okay if its talking about pubic hair growing, what do they mean when they are talking about "when mine came they knew about it" who's they???

any can anyone interpret the crusader tomb part???

[JBI]

Welcome to the forum, but I believe this poem is illegally posted, being that Ms. Olds is still with us, and maintains the copyright.

[oheam]

Hi, folks.

I'm a college English instructor who is concerned that my students will plagiarize by not referencing the help that they receive from the postings. Too bad that posters cannot know whether they are abetting such unethical behavior or helping out a lover of literature who just wants to understand it better.

[oheam]

Dear Students,

To avoid plagiarizing and the consequences of being caught doing it, I urge you to reference any ideas you take from the people posting comments on "The Elder Sister."

It isn't rocket science--use your own noggin to think of the grounds for the similes and metaphors that Olds is using!

[SmartyPants]

okay if its talking about pubic hair growing, what do they mean when they are talking about "when mine came they knew about it" who's they???

any can anyone interpret the crusader tomb part???

This line is referring to the parents, whom the sister feels does not have as much interest in her growth as they did her elder sister. This is a common occurrence between the older and younger sister. The older sister is the experiment, the parents don't know how to deal with the sexuality development, but the baby sister can tell the parents are prepared for her development so it is not treated with the same fear.