In Before You Were Mine and Pluto, Duffy uses characters to present different points of view about the past and present. In Before You Were Mine, the past appears tangible and physical as the character of the narrator's mother is extensively described, while in Pluto, the character mourns her past and that of her family. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In Before You Were Mine, Duffy brings the character of the narrator's young mother to life in the present day, making time a physical distance. The narrator is "ten years from the corner where you laugh", and this metaphor places the narrator in the same period as his mother. This creates a closeness between them as the narrator appreciates their mother's youth as they "scream on the sidewalk", and it is like a snapshot from the past that romanticizes the mother as a "Marilyn" Monroe figure in their life, “glamor”. " and "bold". The possessive tone that Duffy uses in the title ("MIne") shows how the narrator wants to be a part of their mother's life before they were even born, but ultimately demonstrates their close bond. Likewise, Duffy presents time as fluid and fluctuating through the character of Pluto She indents the second stanza, which demonstrates that the character's thought process is confused and mismatched, as it loses the rigid and direct structure that it has. uses in the rest of the Mean Time poems The physical change shows that the narrator does not know where he is physically in time, and the capitalized "House" suggests that he is a dementia patient in a "House". Furthermore, the fluctuating use of tense adds to this effect, since the poem begins in the present tense ("when I woke up"), past tense ("and I was a boy") up one stanza. ambiguous finale (“thinking of another world out there”). Unlike Before You Were Mine, the narrator does not seem to have a sense of time. Additionally, Duffy uses specific items and objects, which further romanticize and “complete” the mother’s character. The “polka dot dress” and “red high-heeled shoes” act as “relics” of the past and a gateway to the past. the narrator can use these “relics” to accurately imagine his mother’s youth. Additionally, the imagery associated with these objects suggests glamor and beauty, suggesting that the narrator is hyperbolizing her youth in order to portray the best version of this "ghost" of the past, again as a snapshot in time. and sensory objects reproduce in PLuto. Just like the bright “red” shoes and the eye-catching “polka dots,” we learn about the character through sensory stimuli. The boy smells like the “mandarin soap” of his youth when he “washes his hands.” Duffy uses it to transport the character into his past through scent, as it often triggers the strongest memories. The repetition of "Pluto Pluto Pluto" suggests that he has forgotten himself and believes himself to be young again because he suddenly encountered "the same soap", and "Pluto" may be a symbol of a new beginning and a new life, as he was discovered when he "awakened", a metaphor for birth. The sibilance beginning with "he has the same soap all of a sudden" is cut off with a semicolon, perhaps symbolizing a change in his mental state, and continues with "so" on the next line. This forces the reader to connect these two lines, which hides the metaphorical movement towards the past experienced by the narrator, demonstrated by the semicolon; the reader becomes confused with the character. To add to the characterization of the mother in Before You ».