Relationships in Genetics:
LOAS:
1- Parental relationships persist through the speaker’s identity despite
physical or emotional separation.
2- The reenactment of past relationships serves as a tool for comfort
for the speaker
3- Romantic and generational relationships are framed as cyclical and
enduring
In ‘Genetics’, Morrissey presents parental relationships to persist through
the identity of the speaker, despite the physical and emotional separation
of mother and father. The recurring line “My father’s in my fingers, but my
mother’s in my palms” utilises synecdoche, where the speaker’s hands
stand in for her entire being, suggesting that her physical form is a living
embodiment of her parents’ influence, furthered by the notion of creation
in “made me”. The contrast between “father’s fingers” and “mother’s
palms” subtly distinguishes her parents’ separate roles. The alliteration of
the harsh ‘f’ fricatives evokes a sense of force or laborious effort, aligning
the father with action and strength. Conversely, the soft consonants of
“mother’s...palms” consonants connote tenderness and care, presenting a
gendered duality of parental roles. However, Morrissey resists this binary
opposition by locating both influences within the hand, a symbol of unified
functionality, to present an ever-existing harmonious relationship, even
amid division. This equilibrium is reinforced structurally through the use of
caesura, which evenly divides the line and mirrors the balanced
contributions from each parent. The physical distance of the parents in
“they may have been repelled to separate lands” is negated by the
speaker, as “in me they touch”. The dichotomous doubling of “repelled”,
suggestive of emotional conflict and estrangement, with the intimacy of
“touch” presents an internal union of the parents’ relationship through the
speaker, regardless of their external separation. This union is presented as
inevitable through the rigid ABA rhyme scheme, suggesting that the
legacy of the parents’ relationship is bound to live on through the speaker.
Thus, Morrissey presents the speaker’s body as a metaphorical site of
reunion, where their parents’ relationship endures internally in the
speaker’s identity, preserving it spiritually despite the physical separation.
In ‘Genetics’, the speaker attempts to reconcile with the fractured nature
of her parents’ relationship by reenacting their union. Morrissey
manipulates the 'Here is the church' nursery rhyme and actions in the line
“I shape a chapel where a steeple stands”, elevating it to a deeply
LOAS:
1- Parental relationships persist through the speaker’s identity despite
physical or emotional separation.
2- The reenactment of past relationships serves as a tool for comfort
for the speaker
3- Romantic and generational relationships are framed as cyclical and
enduring
In ‘Genetics’, Morrissey presents parental relationships to persist through
the identity of the speaker, despite the physical and emotional separation
of mother and father. The recurring line “My father’s in my fingers, but my
mother’s in my palms” utilises synecdoche, where the speaker’s hands
stand in for her entire being, suggesting that her physical form is a living
embodiment of her parents’ influence, furthered by the notion of creation
in “made me”. The contrast between “father’s fingers” and “mother’s
palms” subtly distinguishes her parents’ separate roles. The alliteration of
the harsh ‘f’ fricatives evokes a sense of force or laborious effort, aligning
the father with action and strength. Conversely, the soft consonants of
“mother’s...palms” consonants connote tenderness and care, presenting a
gendered duality of parental roles. However, Morrissey resists this binary
opposition by locating both influences within the hand, a symbol of unified
functionality, to present an ever-existing harmonious relationship, even
amid division. This equilibrium is reinforced structurally through the use of
caesura, which evenly divides the line and mirrors the balanced
contributions from each parent. The physical distance of the parents in
“they may have been repelled to separate lands” is negated by the
speaker, as “in me they touch”. The dichotomous doubling of “repelled”,
suggestive of emotional conflict and estrangement, with the intimacy of
“touch” presents an internal union of the parents’ relationship through the
speaker, regardless of their external separation. This union is presented as
inevitable through the rigid ABA rhyme scheme, suggesting that the
legacy of the parents’ relationship is bound to live on through the speaker.
Thus, Morrissey presents the speaker’s body as a metaphorical site of
reunion, where their parents’ relationship endures internally in the
speaker’s identity, preserving it spiritually despite the physical separation.
In ‘Genetics’, the speaker attempts to reconcile with the fractured nature
of her parents’ relationship by reenacting their union. Morrissey
manipulates the 'Here is the church' nursery rhyme and actions in the line
“I shape a chapel where a steeple stands”, elevating it to a deeply
