Unveiling

Linda Pastan talks about death all throughout her poem "Unveiling." I thought that the title of the poem was confusing to what the topic was. Normally when an author talks about death it's more of a covering up than an unveiling. This is because Pastan speaks about the topic differently. She doesn't fear death. In a way she is almost looking forward to it. She talks about how her aunts, mom, dad, and uncles are all "together" dead. The all "lie in two long rows almost the way they used to sit around the long planked table at family dinners." Pastan goes on to say how she almost feels left out of her family for not being there with them. She knows that it is not her time yet and her time will come. She relates this back to when she was a kid she didn't understand all the secrets that went on between the adults. My thought is that this feeling of being left out comes from being Jewish. Jewish families are known for being very close to each other and living their lives tightly with one another. Now that Pastan is missing that, she is the one left out and longs to be with them again.