LIVING IN SIN
...em shows the woman's attempts to improve the appearance of her home and her emotional life(her relationship with her lover) as well as her acceptance to both of these situations. The way the woman and her lover respond to living in a deteriorating home is different. The home in poor condition has beetles coming out of the moldings(lines 13-14) and has "panes relieved of grime" (line 4). In the male dominant society, she must do the role of a housekeeper by herself. She is responsible for maintaining the household by making the bed(line 20), dusting the tabletop(line 21), and setting the coffee on the stove(line 22). While she struggles with the repetitive and endless house chores, her lover just hangs around, relaxing, with no care or worry (lines 15-22). During her morning routine, her lover shows inappropriate feeling by "going for cigarettes" (line 18). He like the woman notice the problems in the home, but he only complains about it rather than do something about it. Instead of tuning the piano, he "declared it out of tune" (line 17) and "shrugged" (line 17) showing a lack of concern. Because the man lacks commitment, the woman takes the responsibility for both the house cleaning chores as well as in improving the couple's relationship. She puts the load on herself. A relationship with problems requires a lot of "dusting" as well as an unclean home does. The woman alone puts what is necessary to maintain the relationship. Her constant energy spending with no improving results leads to her disappointment. As she "feels the daylight coming" (line 25) while she lys beside her sleeping lover, she fears the life she must face the following day. The coming of the daylight makes the reality of her sad and harsh life...