The Poem the List of Famous Hats - Essay Example

The purpose of failing to meet the reader’s expectations is to direct the reader to the theme of the poem, which is that humans separate their lives into two, spheres, public and private, and these spheres are often contradictory.

Tate constructs his theme by drawing a line between the two hats of Napoleon. He references the public hat that Napoleon wore, which is the famous tricorn hat present in most representations of Napoleon. This hat represents the personality that Napoleon projected publicly. This personality was “for the show” (Tate). Napoleon was famous for his ego and his thirst for power and influence, which he frequently showed to the public. The “private bathing cap” of Napoleon is more important in the context of the poem as it represents his true personality, his private personality that is not for show. Throughout the poem, Tate references the bathing cap with negative words. He exposes his private personality of Napoleon to be that of a “jerk” and “pinhead” (Tate). The evidence that this personality is the true essence of Napoleon is revealed in the comment that “he was a pinhead at birth . . . until his death really” (Tate). Overall, the choice of Napoleon’s public and private hats represents the contrast between his confident public persona and his dim-witted and egomaniacal private persona.

The overall effect of the poem is that Tate criticizes Napoleon’s two personalities, but because the poem is so absurd, Tate forces the reader to look at her own personality. Tate states that their private bathing cap of Napoleon “wasn’t much different than the one any jerk might buy at a corner drugstore” (Tate). The use of the phrase “any jerk” implies that many people have a private personality that is not pleasant. In Tate’s terms, this personality would be their private bathing cap. However, the poem is not entirely pessimistic about people’s private personalities. In “The List of Famous Hats,” Tate notes that Napoleon was “a pinhead at birth.” The tragedy of the poem is that Napoleon never grew out of this state. He remained a pinhead. So, the fate of Napoleon, to be an egomaniacal and dumb person in private is not the fate of everyone. An individual can have both a pleasant public persona and an honest private persona.

“The List of Famous Hats,” asks the reader to examine the personality that she portrays in public with the personality she exhibits in private through comparison with the character of Napoleon. The poem is so absurd and humorous that the reader naturally laughs at how stupid Napoleon is and at the image of him greasing a bathing cap to put on his head. However, the laughter is uneasy because the reader might really be laughing at herself. Does she wear two different hats? Does she still wear the hat she wore as a child? Which personality is real, the public or the private?