Close all the Windows (Cyril Wong) – Summary & Analysis

After discovering the Internet,

my mother has trouble
finding a connection, and
calls me up for help
while I am at work.
We keep miscommunicating.

She has clicked open

so many windows
the computer threatens to hang.
And my logic runs out
of variations to explain
the same thing over
and over. Suddenly,

I imagine she is looking

for her future through
that glowing screen
and I am really helping her

to find back her life after

all her children have left
for new homes,
new families to love.
‘What now?’ she asks.

'Try again,’ I reply, the phone

pressed to my ear. 'Close all
the windows. Tell me —
what do you see?’

Close all the Window – Summary

This collage explores the relationship between the internal and external space, with the
physical window as a mediator between the two tension points – viewing the world through an
older parent’s eyes while reconciling with the rapidly evolving landscape and technology
around us.

Wong narrates an incident where he helps his mother with the problems she faces while she
uses the computer, over the phone. It serves as a critical commentary of the modern world,
elucidating how we are dehumanized, how things are more complex than they should be, and
that we have become worse communicators due to the internet. Wong brings such ideas across
by using a detached tone, fragmented text, and possibly irony. Overall, it appears that one still
has the power to choose to love amidst a loveless life.

Dehumanization is evident from how Wong describes himself like a computer, and computers
like humans, leading to a comical effect. It is mentioned that ‘the computer threatens to hang’
and ‘[his] logic runs out of variations to explain the same thing over and over’. The word
‘threatens’ personifies computers, so it appears to possess human qualities, and have a mind of
its own. The poet relates to himself as ‘logic’, which alludes to the algorithms, or a chain of
logical commands, that are used in a computer to define a system, showing how he is behaving
like a computer. This is further emphasized when it appears that all he is doing are ‘variations’
of the ‘same thing’ – this predictability shows that the human possesses little human-like
qualities, and become like computers. When computers become more human than human
themselves, it appears highly ironic, and the message that people are dehumanized in the
modern world of computers is highly apparent.

The theme of the unnecessary complexity of the modern world is reflected by the title of the
poem, and the context of which it is made. In the poem, Mother has opened too many
windows on the computer, so the computer was about to hang; the poet’s advice to her is to
close all the windows. When read in context, closing the windows would refer to reducing the
operations that the computer has to go through, thereby simplifying matters so that it can
function more effectively. Similarly, in the modern world, it reflects how humans are exposed
to too many things, that they are about to crash like the computer, and how reducing the
number of commitments would help to solve much of the problem. Worse still, just as much of
the windows that are opened are not necessarily used, much of what people do now are also
unnecessary, so the advice to close all the windows is there to urge people to rid their lives of
unnecessary clutter.

Humans have also become worse communicators in the modern world, as reflected by how
miscommunications happen with his mother, and the double meaning behind the title. The
poet mentions that they ‘keep miscommunicating’, making the generation gap apparent – this
also forms a short remark that people have become worse communicators now. The word
‘windows’ in the title could refer to the windows seen on computers; it could also refer to the
windows found in a room that connect us with the outside world, giving us opportunities for
exploration. While closing the windows on the computers is beneficial in removing the
unnecessary clutter, closing the windows in a room would mean the elimination of all
opportunities and shutting oneself from the world. The second interpretation is also possible,
because it seems that people live in a world of their own and have little concern for others, as
seen from how ‘all her children have left for new homes’, leaving the mother alone. The
ambiguity behind the meaning of the title emphasizes the fact that people are now worse
communicators, and their thoughts are not vocalized clearly.

A detached narrative voice is used to emphasize the uncaring nature of people in the modern
world, and how people have become more mechanical. Through the poem, there are no
emotional descriptions, but only an objective account of events. For instance, it is mentioned
that ‘my mother has trouble’. The word ‘mother’ has a formal connotation, leading to an
unemotional tone and a detached narrative voice.

The structure of the poem is also largely fragmented, imitating the fragmented nature of
modern communication, elucidating the theme of people being worse communicators. It is
mentioned that ‘Suddenly, I imagine she is looking’, where ‘suddenly’ is in a different stanza
from ‘I imagine she is looking’. The word ‘suddenly’ is used as a connector in prose, but it being
used at the end of a stanza, preceding a break, negates its use as a transitory word, highlighting
the fact that language is not meant to function as it used to.
In conclusion, the poet has been very critical about modern technology and the modern life in
general, where the computer is a symbol for it. People are trying to find a ‘connection’, not just
to the internet, but to other people in an uncaring world. While everyone else can be loveless, it
is still ultimately one’s choice to care for others. While the poet is still working, he ‘pressed’ the
phone to his ear, showing how intently he pays attention to his mother, proving the fact that
he cares, even though he is not expected to. Maybe, for love to be possible again, it begins with
the individual.

Close all the Windows - Analysis

“Close all the Windows” is, on the surface, a written snapshot of a tech-savvy young man
helping his mother with her computer. The narrator’s mother, in this poem, is “discovering the
Internet” and “has trouble finding a connection.” That line has a double meaning. She is having
trouble with her Internet service, yes, but she is also searching for another sort of connection: a
real relationship with her son.

When readily available technology changes as rapidly as it has over the last fifty years, the gap
between a middle-aged person’s comfort level with new technology and a young person’s is
often huge. The poem’s form, free verse, is modern, emphasizing Wong’s point of view as a
progressive young person, who does not want to be bound by old conventions.

Wong is not close with his family and has written several poems detailing his unhealthy
relationship with them. Knowing that, “Windows” becomes more than just one young person’s
frustration with a mom who does not know how to use an Internet browser. It is also an
opportunity for a mother and son to speak, even if they might not be on good terms.

When Wong says “she is looking/for her future through/that glowing screen,” he is
commenting both on her desire to understand new technology and be part of the
contemporary world and on her need to connect with her children, who represent her future
and her family’s.

At the close of the poem, the speaker tells the mother to “Try again,” and holds the phone
close. This passage implies that he still longs for a close relationship with his mother and wants
her to “try again. The poem ends on a note of hope, as the narrator asks his mom, “Tell me—/
what do you see?” He is asking her to express her point of view about her life and about their
future as a family—and offering to listen.

Although this poem deals with the distance technology can create between generations, it also
points out that technology can bring those generations closer together

1. How is the relationship between the persona and his mother depicted in this poem?