The first section of The Victims gives the reader a glimpse of the speaker's opinions from an earlier age. It is as if we are hearing the thoughts the speaker's childhood, watching her parents get divorced. The speaker is greatly influenced by his/her mother's distaste for the father. The speaker recalls, "she had taught us to take it" meaning that the children's opinions were influenced by the mother. She had probably taught the children how to deal with the problems the father caused by laughing in his face. We can also see the speaker's dislike for his/her father in her referencing him as "you" for the first half of the poem. It is as if he/she does not consider the man who who left to be a father, simply a "you."However, in line 17, the speaker's tone changes. The speaker addresses the man who left as "Father" and shows more sympathy with him. This half of the poem seems to be the speaker's more mature, adult side. He/She realizes the possible effect that the family could have had on the father and where he may be now. The speaker is able to sympathize with the bums on the street and wonder how they got here. Perhaps he/she realizes that Father could be one of these bums, sitting on the street, with no one to love them. This final feeling of regret is all we are left with at the end of the poem. The speaker seems to feel regret for the way her Father was treated and can only simply wonder what to do about it.
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