Eksieperfeksie

Eksieperfeksie

1. 'Picture perfect'

   • Extreme perfection

2. Stanza 1:

   • It's a picture-perfect family. The speaker looks like her mom and her brother looks like her dad
     • "Ons" & "ek" show first person speaker
     • "Ons" shows that the speaker sees herself as part of the family
       • Emphasizes unity of family
       • Reinforces irony at end of poem
     • Ideal family size (2 parents, 2 kids)
     • Children are perfect replicas of parents

3. Stanza 2:

   • It's a picture-perfect family. They eat healthily: low-GI product, fruit and vegetables.
     • Contrasts with last stanza about speaker's bulimia

4. Stanza 3:

   • It's a picture-perfect family. They go to the gym to keep fit.
     • Expands on family's healthy lifestyle
     • Colon at end of line 10 followed by list of activities they do

5. Stanza 4:

   • It's a picture-perfect family. Dad and mom have good jobs, the children do well in school and they all go to church on Sundays.
     • The parents have good jobs, so they family does well financially
     • The children do well in school (in academics, sports & culture)
     • Like every good family, after a week of work and school they go to church on Sunday
       • Sunday is the only day of the week mentioned in the poem
         • Emphasizes the family's religious

6. Stanza 5:

   • It's a picture-perfect family. They like art, make music and have good friends.
     • The family's also perfect regarding their interests, talents & social life
     • People interested in art are often seen as cultured & people respect them
     • The family's talented & can play musical instruments
     • Family members have cliques of friends
       • Meant to be a good thing (having a group of friends) but a clique had negative connotations
         • Are theses friends too close?
         • Are the friendships genuine/false?

7. Stanza 6 & 7:

   • It's a picture-perfect family. The speaker, however, gains a little weight. She often goes to the toilet to vomit (she has bulimia). She flushes the toilet and washes her hands over and over again. They are not so perfect after all.
     • See a turning point in poem
       • The speaker says "net ek" (I just) which shows she's distancing herself from the family
         • Speaker uses words: "ek" & "my" instead of "ons" (meaning the family unit) which had been used before
       • Speaker saying she gets a little fat contrasts with the family's healthy lifestyle mentioned before
     • The speaker suffers from bulimia
       • Throws up right after eating
         • She flushes the toilet & washes her hands again &again to hide it from her family
           • Repetition of "en was en was" (and wash and wash [her hands])
             • Compulsively trying to cleanse herself of her action
     • Using the word "Eksieperfeksie" again after showing the truth behind the speaker is ironic
       • Denounces all the previous "Eksieperfeksie"s

8. Key words:

   • Throw up: op te gooi / Vomit: braak
   • Weight: gewig
   • Flush: spoel