Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 7-9
Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.
- So, these mushrooms aren't seen by anybody, huh? Nobody bothers to stop them or even betray them.
- We're thinking that maybe the people these mushrooms represent are unnoticed or unappreciated in some way. Could they be meant to represent women? Well, a main theme of Plath's poetry is the way women were repressed in her day, so that would totally make sense.
- It seems like these guys could also represent the poor, or maybe minority and immigrant populations.
- Whoever these oppressed mushroom people are, they're making progress, though.
- "The small grains make room" for them, even though they mostly go unnoticed.