Analysis Of The Anthology Diving Into The Wreck

Upon first glance, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed” may appear to simply trace the course of a woman as she impulsively engages in the passion of a one-night stand. Yet, from a psychoanalytic lens, elements in the sonnet function to inform a different interpretation, one that transcends the manifest content of the poem to suggest that the speaker’s distress stems from her repressed homosexuality.

When A Streetcar Named Desire was written, the words “rape”, “forced” and “sex” were rarely even used. In euphemism to these words, the word “attack” was often used as a way to indirectly say that an individual had been sexually assaulted without sounding too harsh or unpleasant. Unlike rape, the word attack has several definitions ranging from “to begin hostilities against” to “to try and destroy; especially with verbal abuse.” While women were being both physically and mentally abused, men treated rape as no big deal, and often considered it an unfortunate event for the victim to experience within their lives. Women were usually encouraged by their relatives to forget about the rape and move on. If they try to stick up for themselves, they would often be shut down, and were disbelieved. In the past, if women felt strong enough to talk about their

The speaker’s father proclaims after seeing his daughter’s new haircut, “What were you thinking? You used to be such a pretty girl!” (31). By her father saying that she “used to be” pretty infers that he believes she is no longer beautiful due to the small action of her cutting her hair. In shock by his daughter’s new look, the speaker’s father does not eat Christmas dinner with the family: “his appetite raped away by the intrusion of my haircut” (30). The metaphor of comparing the speaker’s hairstyle to a rapist shows the reader how terribly her father thinks of his daughter’s

In Sharron Olds’ poem “The Victims,” the bitter reality of a presumably abusive father conjures a disgusted attitude towards his presence. Upon growing up, the speaker recognizes the mother’s tendency to manipulate her independent thoughts into that of her own; thus, portraying the father as a deviant, despicable human being. However, the speaker evidently demonstrates a shift in perception from vividly displaying the pleasure taken by the failures of the father, to evolving a sense of compassion towards those who resemble the man she was taught to despise.

The archetypal rape victim flaunts her femininity, clad in skimpy clothing whilst walking through darkened parks. The archetypal rape victim is asking for it. At least, that’s the argument used by Teena Maguire’s neighbors to justify her assailants raping her. In Joyce Carol Oates “Rape: A Love Story”, by aligning Teena with the archetypal rape victim, the author employs the switching between second and third point of view, irony, the progressively dismissive diction, as well as the short syntactic structure to emphasize the raw objectiveness of rape in an attempt to delineate the minimizing of rape, and highlight the injustices committed when rapists evade jail time on the basis of technicalities. Written mostly in third person, with the

The language Dawe uses in ‘The Raped Girl’s Father’, such as metaphors, alliteration and repetition create a dark and powerful atmosphere to the poem. The words used are chosen to reflect the father’s heartless rage and his daughter’s shock during her darkest hours. An example of repetition and alliteration is ‘eaten by the dark…and in that darker dark in which she lay’, which emphasises the ‘hell’ that the girl is experiencing in her dark bedroom and her vulnerability. Metaphors in the poem

However, despite gender equality movements in the late 1960s (Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2015), mass media producers were still largely male-dominated when Shange was writing her poetry, and hence often sought to maintain the ‘old ways’ of stigma and marginalisation, perpetuating the belief that domestic violence was the woman’s fault, and victims who chose to speak up should be feared (White Ribbon Australia, 2014). Shange detested this notion, using the power of poetry to highlight the absurdity of this opinion and underline the media’s gross misuse of their power to influence public opinion. In her poem, With No Immediate Cause, Shange selectively uses so-called ‘pleasant’ words to describe issues that are far it, serving to confront and disturb readers. The phrase “hot water… / decorate[s] her body” is one such case, the incongruent use of the word “decorate” evoking a sense of uneasiness and disgust. In this way, Shange highlights the illogicality of the media’s sanitisation of the issue, reminding us that domestic violence will never be ‘pretty’, no matter how much one tries to sugar-coat it. A lack of punctuation is also used to emphasise this reality, as Shange describes her response to a recent news article, concerned that domestic violence victims may start to reciprocate: “i spit up i vomit i am screaming”. The lack of commas – or any kind of pacing at all – demonstrates the immediacy of the issue, prompting us to reconsider the realities facing women in the 1970s compared to the media’s representation. Her challenge to mass media producers is also evident in her choreopoem, “sorry”, in which Shange highlights the reality of ‘victim-blaming’. Through repetition of the words “on purpose” – “i loved you on purpose / i was open on purpose” – Shange’s sarcastic conformity to the dominant societal attitude at the time that the victim ‘should have

In order to demonstrate the reality of sexism within society, repetition was utilised to display the constant judgment on female sexuality. “Hi, I am a slut” is repeated throughout all stanzas to emphasize how flippantly it is used within society in such a degrading manner in an attempt to lessen female sexuality. When Brown performs her poem the tone and passion in her voice reiterates the idea that the word is used so loosely that it has now lost a sense of meaning. Brown also repeats the use of blunt vocabulary throughout the stanzas in order to share her views on the issue. For example “and since you can’t see it, it probably doesn’t exist anyway, I was probably faking it anyway, women don’t like sex anyway.” Throughout this example the bluntness of the

While he waits “at a traffic light,” he “catches his eye [on] a tall girl in a black leather skirt” (Coetzee 194). She is mere stranger on the road, yet he is confident in being able to immediately hook up with her. The way he looks at women, reflects how they are displayed as animals and sexual bodies waiting for someone to catch them and because this occurs frequently, the idea of female bodies being dominated and constructed through male ideology becomes naturalized and accepted as a norm in society. It is evident that though all women do not become prostitutes because they enjoy the idea of it, there is this acceptance of the gender binary, where women choose to transform themselves into this sexualized character that seeks attention and is submissive to the man. Monique Wittig highlights the idea of categories in her text, “One is Not Born a Woman.” She agrees with Coetzee’s representation of the male and female roles and says that “for “woman” does not exist for [them]: it is only an imaginary formation” created by men (Wittig 15). Wittig explains that the category of “women” goes beyond the biological genes and outer appearance. It is something that is created not to make women feel good about themselves or to give them certain types of privileges, but it is a socially constructed idea that subject’s women into a certain type of character that benefits men. She goes on to say that “Once the class “men” disappears, “woman” as a class will disappear as well, for there are no slaves without masters” (Wittig 15). Consequently, the class of “women” is created in response to “men,” where if the category of “men” did not exist, then women would not be so restricted in the things that they are allowed to do and they would not have to live a life trying to satisfy men in order to

Adrienne Rich has written "Diving into the Wreck” in 1973. When read literally, the poem is about a scuba diver who swims down to a shipwreck in order to explore it. Symbolically, however, it has many different interpretations. It can be argued that the entire poem is a metaphor for human suffering and dealing with an unpleasant past. This argument can give way to the reason why it was written: to establish that the past can be just as tragic as a shipwreck and it can prove to be a very difficult situation when one is forced to face it, especially when it refuses to disappear.

The exposition of the story, “Really, Doesn’t Crime Pay?” tells the story of an aspiring female writer, Myrna who goes mad after being betrayed by the male lover who steals her work and publishes it under his own name. The stolen story, which is about a woman who loses her leg in an accident caused by her neglectful husband and who then hangs herself, seems to be a metaphor for the mutilation and destruction of black female creativity. The dominating influence of her husband within a racist, patriarchal world emphasizes her feeling about a woman whose husband doesn’t understand her ad wants to keep her in a gilded cage. Her excuse for having the affair is that she is trapped and her husband will not allow her to express herself with her writing

The rapist is always the bad guy, right? Initially when analyzing this poem, reading through the several lines describing Lockwood’s assaulter and ex-boyfriend it was my assumption that it was directed towards him. After over a decade of allowing everything to fester the author was ready to get everything out and let the pieces fall where they may. However, under further scrutiny I realized that Lockwood was not villainizing her ex-boyfriend in these depictions but humanizing him. In these passages she describes his job, his hobbies, and his relationship with herself and her family. She portrays her assaulter as flawed but mundane- anybody could have committed the crime he did. In fact, while Lockwood’s story is specific to her own experiences it is one that rings true with many rape survivors. Close to 50% of all rapes taken place in the

Readers are educated on the double edged sword of being both black and a female. Walker does this by by expressing how gender oppression complicates racial oppression. Black female characters not only had to face slavery and racism but also sexism and abuse, mentally, physically and sexually. This was encountered by both white and black male characters. The black males in the novel are portrayed as cruel, as they live in a world where white men rule and feel like less of a man and because of this they take out their anger and frustration on the black females. Walker starts her novel with Celie’s letter describing the brutal rape by her father. Walker writes “ He just say you gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t. First he put his thing up against my hip … when that hurt I cry. He start to choke me, saying you better shut up and git used to it.” (1) In comparison to the white male characters, Celie’s father feel as if he has very little worth, therefore taking out his frustration on his daughters. Readers learn that Fonso impregnated Celie twice, disposing of both children, and once he got bored he turned his attention towards Nettie. Celie is also raped daily by Mr.__. He would try to convince her that since they are married she is obligated to have sex with him whenever he wants, but when she wouldn’t oblige he would beat her then forcefully rape her. Walker writes “ Just finish my business, get off and go to sleep.” Mr__ also asserts his male dominance by beating her in front of people. Walker writes, “ He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got something in my eye but I didn't wink. I don't even look at mens, I’m too scared of them.” This quote shows how fearful Celie is of the male character both black and white. She doesn’t say “ i'm scared of white men”, she openly writes of her fear of all men. She’s afraid to look or speak with them as she knows it will result

The Titanic shipwreck was a tragic accident. This ship may have been caused by many different things. In my opinion I think that the wreck was caused by the captain, and the weather.

The views of women have altered over time, but have always had objectifying tendencies. During the 18th century, cosmetic alteration to natural beauty peaked and materialism heightened throughout societal views. Authors such as Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift vividly spew these views throughout their writings. Pope’s Rape of the Lock exposes the materialism used in objectifying women, mainly in the upper-class societal levels. The whole plot of the story centers around a cosmetic appearance creating an objectified view, as since the lock of hair was cut from a woman's head, the missing lock became, so called, evidence of a man’s sexual conquest. Other sexual conquests, forced or not, are spoken with anything but love and only those of