The Seduction by Eileen Mcauley

In ‘The Seduction’ by Eileen McAuley the writer uses the social problem of stereotyping to help the reader understand the concept of why it is wrong to stereotype by using the character of a pregnant girl (which in society is looked down upon) to help the   emphasise with anyone who is in this situation but is frowned upon.   The start of the poem doesn’t empathise with the girl but instead uses small sentences to engulf the reader into wondering what she’s doing with this boy and what happened.   Eileen McAuley uses pathetic fallacy discretely because what they’re doing isn’t romantic but dirty and holds no sentimental purpose - especially not for the boy. All the boy   wants to do is get off with a girl and at the time did not   care who is was or where it is; even the girl herself who was under the influence wasn’t completely happy with the thought of going down to canal area because it seems dirty and unsafe ‘Towards the frightening scum on the water.’ As the poem goes on there is a small sense of dramatic irony because of the fact readers are already pretty sure that this evening will end badly or at least leave regrets which are mainly for the girl as the boy in the poem clearly isn’t very interested in the girl and doesn’t think very highly of her calling her things such as ‘little slag’ and the fact he doesn’t care where he is taking her just as long as he gets what he wants. The boy was so determined to use this girl for his wants he decided to get her drunk and make sure she was venerable ‘As he brought her more drinks, so she fell in love’ once she was venerable the boy knew he could get her to do anything he wanted, this makes the reader sympathise with the girl but also feel angry about the fact she’d allow him to do this to her. It helps the reader to understand how she fell into pregnancy and that at the time she wasn’t completely aware of what she was doing and ‘And sat in the dark, her head rolling forward.’


In the poem the seduction the poet uses...