Essay Questions

What is the negative impact of poor parenting according to Mark Doty?

Mark and his sister Sally are brought by parents who are not committed to showing parental love. Their father is a professional engineer who values is work more than his family. The mother is addicted to alcohol and she spends most of her time taking liquor as opposed to monitoring the activities of her children. As a result, Sally turns out to be a rebellious daughter who does not care about doing anything that gives her happiness. Sally's rebellious actions land her in prison but she is later released. She meets a man and gets married to him. Unfortunately, her husband again remarries a younger woman forcing Sally to vacate the marriage and resolves to prostitution. All the predicaments that Sally has gone through in life are because she did not receive proper care and guidance from her parents.

What are the predicaments of Mark and how does he navigate through them to ensure that he lives happily?

Throughout his life, Mark has been struggling with self-identity crisis. Despite having a manly body, his feelings are different because he is sexually attracted to fellow men. The fact that he failed to receive proper parenting and guidance adds salt to his current wound of self-identity crisis. The first step to solve his predicaments is self-acceptance. After the indolence stage, Mark accepts his status of being gay and makes it public to everyone. Since Mark is in acceptance with his gay status, life becomes easier and he lives happily doing what he loves.

What is the figurative meaning of the religious man who marries Sally?

In Mark Doty's memoir, the religious man who marries Sally is symbolically used to represent two-facedness reality in society. The reader expects the religious man to be an upright man who is focused on marrying one wife as indicated in the holy books of religion. Ironically, he goes ahead to marry a younger wife than Sally without consulting her. The religious man's actions depict the high level of hypocrisy among Christians.