The message that Linda Pastan portrays in the poem Ethics is the idea that one can fully understand ethics and morals only when one is mature and has developed experiences in one's life. Ethics and morals can only be present when one has acquired an experienced and developed maturity. The author uses imagery, diction, and figures of speech to demonstrate this point. In this poem, a teacher asks her students, if there was a fire and they only had the choice to save a Rembrandt painting or an old woman, what would they save? The author uses detailed images to support the theme. For example, when the author states that “sometimes the woman borrowed my grandmother's face” (Pastan, 9-11), the student as a child is relating to someone he knows and not to himself. This shows their lack of understanding and maturity. The character shows that age contributes to understanding the issue. Another example says: "...old, or nearly so, myself...now I know that woman, painting, and season are almost one, and all beyond the saving of children" (18-24 ). ). Evidently the quote states that onc...