Compare and contrast the presentation of oppressionin I Am Not That
Woman and Still I Rise.
The poems I am studying are 'I Am Not That Woman' by Kishwar Naheed and 'Still I Rise' by Maya Angelou, both in the twentieth century.
Both poets have based the poems on their own experiences of suppression in their different cultures and they both continue to end with feelings of hope.The poems show the different reactions and attitudes of two very different women who in similar circumstances. In
'I Am Not That Woman', the poet has been oppressed in her culture of the Asian society. By this she has been oppressed by the traditional values of the Eastern culture but especially by her father and husband. She is also trying to overcome
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The poet seems bitter towards her father and husband. She seems strong because she has got through her problems so far and is angry and resentful about the whole situation. She seems adamant to not let it happen to her for much longer. The poet uses figurative language to help create imagery in the reader's mind. An example of this is the metaphor is 'I am the one you hid in your walls of stone', where she means how her husband has literally and mentally locked her away, creating the picture of her trapped. To show that she had been pressurized of the Asian society of being forced to have an arranged marriage metaphors are also used here, 'crushed with the weight of custom and tradition'. The poet even uses a biblical reference to help picture some of the imagery in the reader's mind. This is where she says she is 'walking on water' which is a reference to Jesus and miracles. When she mentions 'not knowing', she uses this to emphasize the ignorance given to her by her family and husband. She often repeats herself, such as 'not knowing'. By doing this she is trying to get a point across effectively. By the repetition of 'not knowing' she is trying to make them aware that although she has been locked away and that they are controlling her, she still knows things that they do not.
The poet is trying to get the point of view across, that she is not the Eastern woman living in captivity, being told what to
The woman in the poem is different from Maxine as she is someone that Maxine aspires to be, throughout the poem she makes comparisons between herself and the woman she seeks to be in her dreams, one that is confident and beautiful. The ending of the poem “I wake up and carry part of her with me everywhere” supports this idea as I believe Maxine wants to become more like this woman.
To begin with, the author’s implementation of short sentence fragments throughout the poem illustrates the exasperation and frustration bottled up in women in response to
· In the first line of the poem, the speaker expresses her feelings towards men by using the word “Anger”(1). From just the
She is undefinable, he cannot figure out why she is the way she is. Imagery has emphasised the defiance of Kröte and the girl in the poems to endorse Australia's appreciation for
In this poem, women are tired and outraged of the limits of their occupation. The poem shows this by the tone of the first line “women are burning”. This shows that women all over America are fed up and angry for being stuck at the house. I believe that burning gives a negative connotation. So when I hear burning this makes me think that the person is angered and outraged. These women are outraged because they are limited to only housework.The poem also states that “she says, once I was the roast duck on your platter with parsley but now I’m spam”. This quote makes me feel that this woman is being treated poorly. I also believe that this woman feels unappreciated and abandoned by their husband who once paid
I chose to perform this poem because I can personally relate to it, the character in the poem and to the author herself. I would consider myself as a feminist just like Andre Lorde; also I would consider myself Anti-racism and anti-homophobic. Growing up I was surrounding by people who believed that women should stay home, and cook and clean, their job was to just take care of the kids, not only that but my religion was Islamic, my cousins belief and parents that women shouldn’t have a career, they
As a matter of fact this particular poem requires thinking to understand that the writer is trying to say to the reader. This next quote is the last stanza in the poem “Phenomenal Women.” “ The need for my care. Cause I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me”(Angelou). Maya Angelou is trying to say in this quote that at some point in life a man will need the care of a woman. Although she might not be what many men would want, but yet again mot many men choose the most beautiful women out there, but they do choose what is inside of a woman such as their
The speaker is deduced as a woman from the first stanza’s feminine references to “Dolls” (5) and “threading” (7). Immediately, the narrator is placed in a role that stereotypes her to be a woman. Dickinson does this to
In our Society, we deal with many form of oppression in our daily lives. Unfortunately, different groups of people are more oppressed than others. Oppression is the unjust treatment of a group of people. I believe, our government is a major culprit as they are responsible for oppressing most of society. This involves many groups, such as single mothers, the working class, African Americans, gays and lesbians. In my paper, my personal views will be addressed incorporating ideas from several readings pertaining to different forms of oppression. A summarization of each article will be provided as well.
her far from herself. In one line in the poem she brings us starkly into the world of a
“Five Faces of Oppression” by Iris M. Young tries to create an idea that we can critique the reality and stages of oppression of different groups. She argues that oppression is structural in the sense that injustices arise from systematic everyday activities, and not from policies or how people act. Since oppression is systematically reproduced and thus ingrained into culture, politics and economics, therefore it cannot be simply removed from our society. She separates the condition of oppression into five different forms: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. Young states that exploitation is where oppression occurs in the transfer of one social group’s products of labor to benefit the wealthier class. She also argues that women are also exploited to through this from of
Oppression signifies an authority over another group, disengaging that particular group from the rest of society. “The term oppression encapsulates the fusion of institutional and systemic discrimination, personal bias, bigotry, and social prejudice in a complex web of relationships and structures that shade most aspects of life in our society” (Bell, 1997). In one way or another every individual experiences some form of oppression, whether it be through race, sex, gender, religion, age, wealth and/or sexual orientation. These cultural minorities experience inequality where a dominant culture casts its authority and power through exercises of unjust and cruel methods; these methods have been experienced through the Women’s Movement, the
refering directing it for women. The poem comes off as sexual. its hard to tell weather she is
I am stating the Five Faces of Oppression based on my understand after reading Shaw & Lee. The first face is Exploitation. Exploitation is, “A process that transfer the results of labor of one social group to benefit another.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) An example of exploitation is sweat shops. Children in many parts of the world are making clothing items such as Nike for pennies a day. While these children are underpaid people who aren’t sweat shop workers’ pay multiple dollars for the items made. Marginalization is the next face, Margination is described as, “The expulsion of an entire group from useful participation in social life.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) A group that fits this category are the homeless. Homeless people were unable to pay their bills therefore, they’re without a home. Powerlessness comes next and is described as, “lack of respectability.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) An example of this would be minority groups. In the media you see many videos of white people disrespecting minorities for being “different.” Cultural Imperialism is the fourth face. Cultural Imperialism is, “Recognizing the dominant group experience and culture as the norm.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) An example of this is white culture in America. In America it’s the norm for mothers to be stay at home moms while the husband is the sole bread winner for the family. The last face of oppression is violence. Violence is described as, “Members of a subordinate group who live with the threat of violence.” (Shaw&Lee, p.53.) Transgender individuals live with a lot of fear and violence. Many people don’t understand or support the trans community and tend to thing in order to solve the “problem” they must hurt and kill trans individuals. Iris Young said described the acts as “Using people’s labors to produce profit while not compensating them fairly.”
This is a complete contrast within the poem. At the beginning she was travelling South, was pregnant and was relatively happy, now she is returning North, isn't pregnant and is depressed.