The Speaker

The speaker in "Filling Station" exclaims over the dirty appearance of a gas station and its workers. Throughout the poem, the speaker interjects her thoughts in parenthesis. This shows her need to share her opinions. At first critical and seemingly disgusted, the speaker eventually finds common ground with the family working at the station. This happens when the speaker observes a doily decorating the porch behind the pumps, and recognizes the type of embroidery. The tone changes from critical and pompous to wondrous. In this way, the speaker allows her observations to "fill" her.

The Father

The speaker observes the patriarch of the family and gas station (or at least who she assumes to be the patriarch), and calls him "Father." The lack of a definite or indefinite article adds a sense of universality to the title of "Father." The speaker hones in on his appearance, noting...