Stamps

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Social-Status and Ones Worth

Bethlyn Madison Webster attempts to provoke readers to take a closer look at todays society in a poem simply titled "Stamps." Imagine being judged every day on social status, and being taught that self-worth is determined by the dollar amount in your savings account. For approximately 15 0 million Americans who required the aid of Foodstamps each year, this could quite possibly be the case. For those people, possibly even the whole general public to some extent, strangers judge and are judged solely on social status. The worst part of these hasty generalizations are that they leave a persons worth to be determined by "status," and further, some actually feel guilty and ashamed for not fitting in to the mold of some unstated standard.

Although the speaker is the first to judge, judgment is obviously a defense mechanism for her. The first two lines establish the speakers apprehensiveness of the outside world "Im watching the woman / who is watching my groceries." The speaker has seen these judgments before, expecting a certain treatment from the outside world. She allows herself to feel as though she is being judged on her outward appearance "Somehow were on display / Along with the tabloids and gum." (4-5) The speaker has been conditioned to believe that others, mainly those that have met the societal standards, view her as less than human, and even allows for these judgments to take place, blaming herself.

Another important debate raised by this poem is why the speaker should be feeling ashamed. Feelings of shame go further in this case, where the speaker seems to feel guilty. She even goes as far as to try to justify her so-called crimes "I want to tell her that we work / for ten cents above minimum" (1-0). The only crime that this woman is guilty of is not keeping up with societal standards. A persons worth should never be determined by how much money they make, but far too often that is the way that things are in the general public. It is sad to think that people are judged first on societal status (which is determined mainly by money).Custom writing service can write essays on Stamps

It seems that by living in a Capitalist environment many have let greed take over, forgetting the true importance of life. People have forgotten that those they judge are also people, and just potential dollars and/or debts. Most people are guilty of making these judgments, the poor being no exception. The whole poem is based on self-judgment and judgment of others, but never does the speaker unearth anything about either herself or the other woman that is not based on money. Judgments and hasty generalizations hold, which is why people continue to judge based on material wealth, not taking into account other riches of life, such as family or intelligence or strength of character.

The poem seems to coordinate with a court case, one in which the speaker is the defendant. The tone of the poem starts off slow, with the defendant apprehensive of the prosecuting technique (the other womans apparent judgments of her). The defendant is ashamed, but eventually grows defensive, justifying her actions, and then trying to explain them, to plead. Following that, the speaker awaits judgment, which is given near the end of the poem "The checker lays the coupons upside-down, / like a blackjack hand, / and pounds them with a rubber stamp" (-5). In this case, the defendants sentence is to be ashamed, and to continue judging herself based on her lower-class status, and on her individual characteristics.

Even after the poems scene ends, it can be assumed that the speaker, although having grown defensive, and justifying her actions, will go back to the same existence "Our total is rung / and my husband pays." (1-) The speaker is obviously not the leader of a revolution on equality, her main focus is to raise the readers awareness of unconscious judgments that are often made, no matter what social class one resides in.

The comparison of the unconscious judgment of ones worth to that of a court case transforms typical complaints of inequality from the lower class, to a universal issue that applies to all.

Work Cited

Webster, Bethlyn Madison. "Stamps." Discovering Literature Stories, Poems, Plays.

rd ed. Ed. Hans P. Guth and Gabrielle Rico. Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice,

00. 4.

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