The whipping (poem analysis)

The poem wisely depicts the perspectives of three characters: The boy being whipped, the old woman commuting the brutal act, and the man witnessing “the whipping” take place. While the speaker of the poem the witness watches on the reader realizes that the man is perhaps, having a mental relapse, revealing that he was once abused, and whipped in his youth, and the feelings of trauma which he experiences through witnessing the abuse is getting the better of him. His willingness to not interfere with the struggle can symbolize the norm of this situation, and people’s views of abuse during this time since it happens a lot. The final line, saying: “avenged in part for lifelong hidings
she has had to bear,”  proves enough of this. Hidings means severe beating, or the skin of an animal. Suggesting that she to must’ve been whipped by a parent. The story ends in an open-ended note suggesting that abuse is a cycle, and that the kid who has been whipped can grow up to be an abusive parent. 

“His tears are rainy weather to woundlike memories” this quote relates to the onseekers past as he relates to the memories of abuse.

“to wrench free, the blows, the fear worse than blows that hateful” the quote relates to the fear and the trauma, and talks about how more impactful it is than the pain.