Poetry

“A Work of Artifice” by Marge Piercy (p.321 #263)

“A Work of Artifice” by Marge Piercy is a feminist view of the prejudice directed towards women in society. Piercy used the literary devices of metaphor and allusion to strengthen her message within the poem. The poem literally is speaking about a bonsai tree and the life it must live. However, the metaphor is deciphered and reveals a poem speaking about a woman. The gardener, otherwise known as men, condemns the tree. He stunts the tree’s growth, “The bonsai tree in the attractive pot could have grown eighty feet tall”. Up until recently women were not allowed to grow intellectually because men had to be dominant. In the following line, “It is in your nature to be small and cozy, domestic and weak;” the speaker directly references society in the 40’s and 50’s when the woman’s place was in the home. The line “Crippled brains” alludes to when people were told that if a woman learned too much her head would simply explode. The line "bound feet" is alluding to the Chiniese tradition of binding the woman's feet to keep women delicate. However, this also disfigured the feet and led to numerous health complications.

The metaphor and allusions were successfully utilized by Piercy to reinforce  the severity of woman's' past confinement.

When I first skimmed through the poem I was immediately drawn to the text because I find bonsai trees to be peculiar. As I started to actually read the poem I was intrigued by the idea of using a tiny tree to describe the repression of women. I thought it was a brilliant way to go about it and although short, the poem made a huge impact.

“Money” by Victor Contoski (p.279 #212)

Victor Contoski’s poem “Money” uses the personification of dollar bills to reveal how greed contaminates and corrupts people. In the lines “reciting softly to itself the names of the presidents” the money has already started to learn and develop. Going further on the speaker says “It will delight your friends, shake hands with men”, now the money has started to separate itself from the person and attract attention of others. This represents how greed starts to consume people and control their actions until it takes over their existence. This is shown in the last stanza, “There will be no pain but in thirty seconds the poison will reach your heart.” Along with personification Contoski uses metaphors to compare the money with an animal. “When you think you are its master it will turn its head as if for a kiss and bite you gently on the hand”, this creates the image of a dog testing its boundaries with its owner and succeeding therefore becoming the dominant creature in the relationship. The Contoski uses another metaphor in the last stanza to represent the money as a venomous serpent. This is money and greed’s final act to fully take control of the person and a common scenario in todays society.

I thought Contoski’s poem was clever. I enjoyed reading it and I thought the message was clear and accurate. It was interesting to read a poem and picture a inaminate object as a pet. It reminded me of when people try and tame exotic animals, like monkeys or big cats, and are betrayed by their “trustworthy” companion. 

Just because you limit what people can say  out loud does not mean you take the thoughts out of their minds. When restrictions are made in this society it is to limit what people can think about because their thoughts may be racy and unethical. However, throughout the novel Margaret Atwood shows that people will still think of what they want to. When freedom is restricted it does not weaken the resistance it only gives them a reason to fight. As their hate grows they will become stronger and will eventually break down the society slow or quick like a fatal disease. The Handmaid's Tale reveals that it is impossible to stamp people out and keep them quiet because in the end they will surpass and break free from the shackles society has made for them.

This quote is very telling of human nature. “I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable. I repeat my former name; remind myself of what I once could do, how others saw me. I want to steal something."  Humans long to feel like they are more than just themselves. People want others to cherish them and most importantly they want to be be loved. They have this undeniable urge to belong to something or someone. It makes makes them feel more and important and larger in the world. Offred has had all of these desires "taken" away from her in Gilead. However, since it is technically impossible to force people what to think without ruining their humanity, Offred still feels this way even if its a secret. The most interesting sentence is "I want to steal something." Because all of Offred's power has been stripped away from her she wants to do something to show that she not just another lifeless person. She also wants to able to call something her own and because of humans' need to be part of something larger.

I was very fond of The Handmaids Tale. I enjoy reading dystopian novels on my own, so I was excited to read one in class. It always scares me when people start declares strong notions about restrictions on youth or women because it only takes one mentally unstable but very convincing person to order a nation to behave in a certain way. This book acts as a clear warning towards constraining people and taking away their freedom. Without freedom we become the same and my personality types will be highly upset by that. Individualism along with love is what expresses our humanity. Without this we might as well be robots because the point to life would cease to exist.