The Victims

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1984

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“The Victims” is written in a single stanza in free verse with no set meter or rhyme scheme. Olds includes small moments throughout the poem of internal rhyme that carry the rhythm. For example, in Lines 5-7, the words “inside” (Line 5) and “last time” (Line 7) have an internal sonic rhyme. Olds frequently uses repetition throughout the poem as a sonic device to move the lines rhythmically forward. This occurs in Lines 1-2 when the speaker repeats “She took it and / took it” (Lines 1-2) (and again in Line 15 when the speaker says, “She had taught us to take it, to hate you and take it), and in Line 5 when the speaker repeats the word “grinned” twice. Many other examples of repetition occur throughout the poem, acting as a rhythmic force. Most notably, from Lines 8-11, the words “taken away” are repeated several times and accompanied by a list of objects, people, and things the father loses following the divorce. Lastly, the phrase “in silence” (Line 2, Line 24) is initially stated at the start of the poem and echoed again in the third to last line.

These instances of repetition throughout “The Victims” can be interpreted as a loose music on which the poem relies—much like other poems use a set rhyme scheme or meter. Olds is fond of repetition in her poems and uses it often. For comparison, “I Could Not Tell” also lacks a set meter and rhyme scheme yet makes use of repeated words and phrases that result in an almost incantatory rhythm.

Memory

Memory, as a literary device, is extremely useful in poetry. By delving into the past via memory, the speaker can reflect on a previous moment and bring it into the present with new, often enlightened, understanding. In “The Victims,” Olds uses this device. The poem begins with the adult speaker remembering the specific, dramatic moment of their childhood when their mother divorced their father. The speaker plays back the memory of the divorce’s aftermath and what happened to the father.

The tone of the memory portion of the poem and the present-day portion (beginning with Line 17) are dramatically different. The memory is tinged with unforgiving and accusatory diction (“we were glad,” Line 1; “kicked you out,” Line 3; “Then you were fired, and we / grinned inside,” Lines 4-5). The child speaker’s happiness at the father’s pain and weakness is clear throughout the memory.

Memory is most useful when accompanied by informed understanding or change. In Line 17, the word “Father” (Line 17) stands out. As the first and only time this term is used, this marks a tonal shift in the poem, as well as temporal shift from the memory to the present tense. As complicated as the past is, as ab adult, the speaker feels compassion for the “bums” (Line 18) and likens them to the father who committed abuse, but also experienced loss at the hands of the mother and the children.

Without the framework of the memory, the final lines of “The Victims” would not be as impactful. Olds specifically uses the memory for the purpose of considering a past event and of commenting on how time, age, and growing into adulthood changed the speaker’s perception and understanding of what occurred.

Imagery

Olds uses strong, specific imagery in “The Victims” to convey emotion. Particularly evident in the final lines of the poem when Olds describes the “bums in doorways” (Line 18), the poignant and striking imagery carries with it a wave of emotion, hinting at true feelings. In Line 21, in describing the people who are homeless in the streets, the speaker speaks of “the underwater / fire of their eyes” (Lines 21-22) as though the light that used to shine is blurred, weakened, and possibly hard to see. The image continues as the speaker further illustrates these homeless men and their eyes as “ships gone down with the / lanterns lit” (Lines 22-23). This imagery of a lit ship descending into the water’s depths is indicative of the conditions of the shipwrecked “bums” (Line 18) in the streets. They are living, but are wrecked. They have been taken down by a storm (or an outside force) greater than themselves with their lights still lit, though rapidly dimming.

In using this striking image of the underwater eyes and the ship, the tone of the poem shifts in the final lines. The speaker as an adult, unsure of how to judge the father and the divorce, has spent much of the poem reflecting on what occurred (in childhood). However, in witnessing the father’s “annihilation” (Line 17), there is a muted tenderness in the speaker’s illustration of the father as a “ship [going] down with the lanterns lit” (Lines 22-23). This tonal shift (from accusatory, cold, and disdainful to sympathetic) is essential for understanding the final lines of the poem, which hold the poem’s message and meaning: who the victims in the poem truly are.