Getting Out

"Getting Out"
Cleopatra Mathis
p896

Focusing on the failed marriage and consequential divorce of a couple, "Getting Out" by Cleopatra Mathis utilizes flashbacks to the relationship and imagery to convey the speakers conflicting feelings between her heart and her mind.

The first two stanzas of the poem are flashbacks with each one offering small details about the condition of the marriage that led it to failure. It also sets up the length of the marriage: "That year, we hardly slept" implies that the couple was only together for a year before problems arose in the marriage (896). Through the flashbacks into her mental state, the speaker demonstrates her reasoning as to why divorce was the best option for their own sanity. "Walking like inmates," "escaped," and "locked" all convey a feeling of imprisonment within the marriage, implying that the married were trapped within their relationship rather than remaining by free will (896).

This feeling of imprisonment is the basis for the conflicting feelings of the speaker. In her mind, she is not happy, and both her husband and herself recognize that divorce would be the best solution to their marital problems. However, within her heart, the speaker knows that love for her husband does exist, but it is just not enough to keep the marriage continuing. These feelings are reflected in the third stanza of the poem which is set in the present. The speaker still holds on to fragments of their marriage, knowing that love was there and is still in the background of her heart. With the last line of the poem, though, she demonstrates her maturity by accepting that it was the best for themselves.