Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape Dissatisfaction Quotes

The characters sense that the apartment feels cramped and confining. Wimpy worries, "Is this it?" He wants to be inspired and to travel through the galaxy, at least metaphorically. We don't know how else to describe his dissatisfaction other than to say that he wants something "more" than what the apartment has to offer.

Swee'pea's expression is "morose," or depressed. We're inclined to think that his expression has something to do with the note pinned to his chest, announcing that Popeye's apartment now belongs to the past. But it's hard to make firm logical connections between different parts of the poem. The poem is filled with loose associations or non sequitors, events that don't seem to follow from what came before.

"Pleasant" is one of the six words that is repeated throughout the sestina. "Pleasant" is a very weak word for a happiness that is only momentary. The characters in the poem lived pleasant lives before, but now they suddenly find themselves in the dark and surrounded by thunder. What's more, they have lost the beauty of nature.

Once Olive and Swee'pea leave the apartment, the Sea Hag begins to relax and finds the apartment more "pleasant" than she had before. She isn't as worried about what kind of trouble Popeye will stir up under the influence of his beloved spinach. She's not thrilled about the thunder, but she'll deal...worse things have happened. Nonetheless, she can always find something to complain about, like Wimpy's burping.

All the other characters are restrained by their proper middle-class attitudes, and only Popeye feels comfortable in his own skin. We weren't expecting Popeye to look so happy after Olive's story about being exiled by his father. He has ample grounds for dissatisfaction, but instead he expresses a child-like contentment with the world. Because he is "unthought of" (2), he doesn't have to worry about being watched or judged by the likes of the Sea Hag.