Page 1 - Lesson Notes 4

Amanda -Summary of the poem

The poem describes a girl named Amanda and her mother who is
nagging her for her mistakes. She is first pointed out most probably by

her mother for biting her nails and for not sitting in the right posture.
The mother also feels that Amanda sits in a very lazy manner. To this,
Amanda imagines herself as a mermaid who lives a calm and relaxing

life in the beautiful green sea. Further, she is nagged for not cleaning her
room and shoes and also for not doing her homework. She then imagines
herself to be an orphan because she is now fed up of being watched by

her parents continuously. She says that she would have enjoyed her
freedom then, by making the patterns of her bare feet on the sand and
would live a peaceful life. Next, Amanda is scolded for eating too many
chocolates as this causes pimples. She is also scolded for not listening to

her mother. So, now Amanda thinks of being Rapunzel, a character from
a fairy tale and wants to live in a huge tower like her. In the tower she
will be alone and will live a peaceful life and will never allow anyone to

come in. Finally, the mother asks her to stop being moody because she
doesn’t want anyone to blame her for harassing her daughter. At this
time the poet has not written any reaction from Amanda’s side. This
constant nagging has made her so sad that she has even stopped to

imagine herself as someone else. She used to do so in order to escape
from the continuous harassment and dominance of her parents.