DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE, EXPLAIN WHY?
Step #1. Begin by first jotting down your responses to the poem. At this point, concentrate on the poem’s emotional effect on you.
Step #1 Response:
As with most poetry, I needed to re-read this poem multiple times in order to feel like I even remotely understood what the speaker was trying to convey. I believed the poem to be written almost as though it were a letter- a letter to women who are stuck in societys rigid gender roles, or maybe it was written to the woman her husband had an affair with.
Though, one thought was blatantly obvious on my first (and last) read- this speaker was resentful. I could feel her detestation for her life, her disdain for her domestic responsibilities, and her intense disappointment in her relationship with her husband. The very first word of the poem, Viciousness, perfectly captured the emotion that I felt pervaded the poem. Lines like, You say I should drown the kittens, the baby smiles, fat snail, and The impotent husband provokes feelings of hostility toward these perceived problems in her life.
Feelings of bitterness were also triggered by her description of her house-wife duties- The stink of fat and baby crap, The smog of cooking, the smog of hell, and I am packing the sick cats. It is obvious she tires from the overwhelming (and possibly monotonous) day-to-day obligations that have consumed her life. I can relate to feeling trapped by adult responsibilities and sympathize with how emotionally and physically exhausting they can be. This shared experience elicited feelings of pity for the speakers situation as well.
I empathized greatly with her moments of weakness where she recounted the times in her life where she was beautiful and rare, looking back on a past where she was happy and perhaps, fulfilled. When times are tough, most people tend to reminisce back to moments when things were different when things were better. Her desperate longing for a new life is emphasized at the end of the first stanza when she daydreams of all the things she could do- wear tiger pants, and have an affair if she were not confined to the circumstances of her current life.
Sadly, both the speaker and the reader are abruptly brought back to the depressing reality of this story. The reality is that she is filled with un-ending hatred, Up to my neckthick, thick, and she feels as though she can never truly communicate what she endures. This realization ultimately instigated emotions like vulnerability, alienation, and hopelessness throughout the poem.