The narrator of "Family" by Grace Paley uses several adjectives to describe various family members, and says some of the adjectives stuck to her, while others, "finding me American and smooth slipped away."
This final line suggests that Americans are 'smooth,' and that adjectives, or ideas about people, can 'slip' off them. This seems to mean that Americans are not able to see past the obvious; don't look deeper into an idea.
If you look...
The narrator of "Family" by Grace Paley uses several adjectives to describe various family members, and says some of the adjectives stuck to her, while others, "finding me American and smooth slipped away."
This final line suggests that Americans are 'smooth,' and that adjectives, or ideas about people, can 'slip' off them. This seems to mean that Americans are not able to see past the obvious; don't look deeper into an idea.
If you look at the form of the poem, you will notice that in each of the first four lines, there is a space separating the first adjective from the other three adjectives. The same space occurs between "some of them stuck to me" and "others finding me American and smooth slipped away." This seems to indicate that the first adjective in each list was the one that stuck, and the following three slipped away. Thus, the narrator saw her father as "brilliant" but was not aware that he was also "embarrassed funny handsome." Perhaps this indicates that Americans do not allow themselves to get 'too close' to others.
In the second stanza, the narrator also refers to the adjectives as "opportunity." This seems to indicate that the narrator feels that if Americans would get to know each other better, opportunities would open. Opportunities for what? Perhaps to know oneself? To experience love? To share one's life?
Ultimately, "Family" by Grace Paley implies that Americans are cold, hard individuals who don't let anyone into their hearts, not even family members, and lose opportunities because of it.
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