I Write an Analysis of the Last Lines of a Great Poem
Deep Dive, Unite/See
Mohja Kahf’s poem “My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears” has an incredibly straightforward title. It’s about a rather singular experience of the poet’s, in which her grandmother washed her feet in a sink. Despite how interesting that is, what stood out most to me is the poem’s ending lines, and the message they portray.
In this poem, Kahf describes a conflict between her grandmother and some disapproving patrons of the store, who do not understand why she would do such a thing as to wash her feet in a sink that others use for their hands. To this end, these patrons wish to stop Kahf’s grandmother and ask Kahf to relay their message to the non-English speaker. But this clash of cultures is quickly defused by Kahf, who opens the door and leads the two conflicting groups out of the restroom and back into Sears.
It’s here where the final lines come into play, and they are as follows: “(…) we all emerge on the sales floor / and lose ourselves in the great common ground / of housewares on markdown.” What was once a brewing battle of cultures dissolved in an instant, leaving the two involved parties to their own business. I find these last few lines to be rather profound, and exemplary of how people can set apart their differences in favor of a common ideal or goal. Kahf’s grandmother and the upset shoppers agree to part ways and continue shopping, because they can agree on how important shopping is.
Based on Kahf’s description of these two unsuspecting shoppers who witnessed her grandmother’s bath, I can infer that they are probably pretty closed-minded. Since they were more willing to condemn the grandmother’s actions than ask about them, I believe this is a fair inference. But despite their ignorance of other cultures, these two shoppers can still agree with her and Kahf on the value of shopping. This points to the heart of Kahf’s poem, and the true message behind it.
As outraged as these patrons got at Kahf’s grandmother’s actions, they were willing to forget relatively quickly and return to shopping. The same goes for Kahf’s grandmother, who felt offended by the fact that they would disturb a sacred rite of prayer simply because it was unorthodox. Despite the evident differences in their beliefs, everyone was able to continue on without further conflict. This speaks to a message of unity, and of respecting others. Both of the involved parties could agree on the value of shopping and bargain-hunting, showing that they were not so foreign to one another after all. This idea can and should be applied further; just because other people might seem different from you doesn’t mean that they are, or that you should look down on them. Treat others with respect, and get to know people before you make wrongful assumptions about them.