More of a Corpse than a Woman
Give them my regards when you go to the school reunion;
and at the marriage-supper, say that I'm thinking about them.
They'll remember my name; I went to the movies with that one,
feeling the weight of their death where she sat at my elbow;
she never said a word
but all of them were heard
all of them alike, expensive girls, the leaden friends:
one used to play the piano, one of them once wrote a sonnet,
one even seemed awakened enough to photograph wheatfields-
the dull girls with the educated minds and technical passions-
pure love was their employment,
they tried it for enjoyment
Meet them at the boat: they've brought the souvenirs of boredom,
a seashell from the faltering monarchy;
the nose of a marble saint; and from the battlefield,
an empty shell divulged from a flower bed.
The lady's wealthy breath
perfumes the air with death
The leaden lady faces the fine, voluptuous woman,
faces a rising world bearing its gifts in its hands.
Kisses her casual dreams upon the lips she kisses,
risen, she moves away; takes others; moves away
Inadequate to love,
supposes she's enough
Give my regards to the well-protected woman,
I knew the ice-cream girl, we went to school together.
There's something to bury, people, when you begin to bury,
When your women are ready and rich in their wish for the world,
destroy the leaden heart,
we've a new race to start.
The other day, a friend of my older brother messaged me on Facebook and asked if I considered Nicki Minaj a feminist. After the release of her new video, Anaconda, he wondered how anyone could consider her a feminist when her video is completely about her sex appeal and women are constantly degraded down to only their sex appeal in the media. One might wonder at this point what a Muriel Rukeyser poem and a Nicki Minaj question have in common. However, I see an underlying thread. Though I agree that Nicki Minaj's new video is over-sexualized and I also agree that the woman described in Muriel Rukeyser's poem sounds vapid and problematic, I cannot help but feel uncomfortable by dissecting these women. Both of these situations are examples of focusing the blame on the oppressed instead of the oppressor.
Women today, especially performers, are narrowed down to their looks and sex appeal, as seen in Misrepresentation. Which is why the question about Nicki Minaj is relevant, yet when asked, I felt offended. I find I am constantly straddling the fence between anger and respect- anger for perpetuating stereotypes I have to fight on a daily basis. But respect, because I feel women should be able to express themselves in any manner they please. Rukeyser says at the end of her poem "When your women are ready and rich in their wish for the world, destroy the leaden heart, we've a new race to start". I find the line of this poem powerful, however I can't help but question, what does she mean by "when your women are ready"? Is it the responsibility, and therefore the blame, of these women for their vapidness? Personal blame, yes but societal blame? There is an implication of annoyance in this poem; annoyance with the "type" of woman she describes as "leaden". I can relate with this annoyance because I am tired of fighting stereotypes. And I also see importance in recognizing these trends, such as over-sexualized women or for Rukeyser, women who are bored and uninterested. I also wonder if we can ever truly end the gender gap if we do not quit analyzing the bodies and actions of women so strictly.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
My Brilliant Career and Emily Dickinson
In the 19th century, the roles of men and women in the middle and upper-class were kept separate. This separation had great implications on the lives of women in the 19th century and continues to bleed into today's society and values, in duller ways. In the past, men were allowed to choose between many options for their life, from receiving their family's inheritance to choosing a profession of their liking. Women, on the other hand, were only offered marriage as a route of "freedom" from their childhood home or from being a "governess" to another household. A woman desiring a career, however, would of been socially isolated. The consequences of the separate lives women and men lived are depicted in the similarities between the movie My Brilliant Career and the life of Emily Dickinson.
In My Brilliant Career, Sybylla is a young girl growing up in a poor family. She is sent to her grandmother's to live, who is much wealthier than her immediate family. Sybylla is seen as ugly, rambunctious and unruley due to her love for creative hobbies, such as piano, singing, and writing (along with her tendency to speak her mind freely). Upon her arrival, her grandmother and aunt immediately begin discussing to whom and when she will get married. Though Sybylla spends most of the movie honing different crafts, no one sees these talents as important to her future. Sybylla is mainly mentioned as being unfortunate looking and out of line. Additionally, after verbally denying a desire for marriage and her family doubting her ability to become married due to her looks, she is still forced into the idea that marriage is her only option. She insists she wants to be a writer, however no one in the movie can see that as plausible career path due to her sex, even though it appears her grandmother is very well off. Most of the characters in the movie seem to freely discuss her "unfortunate" looks while ignoring the talents and charisma she possesses. When a suitor does see Sybylla for who she is, she still will not marry him because she is fearful she will lose herself in the process. The fear Sybylla has about marriage, exemplfies that marriage in the 19th century was not actually a "freedom" from anything, but instead a different prison.
At the end of the movie, there is no real sign or suggestion that Sybylla will get her "brilliant career". In fact, it appears she will be forced, with no choice in the matter, into any path her life takes. In this way, women in the 19th century did not have control over their lives whether they married or not. Almost every "option" given to them led to a life trapped in other people's desires for them. This is quite similar to the way historians portray Emily Dickinson's life. She chose not to marry, but also became a recluse-- trapped in her own home. In "The Norton Anthology of Literature", it states "... after only a year she left school, never to return, and from then on her life became increasingly withdrawn, as she slowly developed the fear of public places (known as agoraphobia) that marked her later years" (1038).
Many scholars theorize that Emily Dickinson became withdrawn due to a "tragic romance", however after watching My Brilliant Career, it becomes easy to theorize a world where Dickinson felt trapped by circumstances out of her control. Dickinson, like Sybylla could have simply desired a life where her career and her own personal growth were put first. It is possible to imagine the confinements of her room were less isolating then the choices she was given outside of it.
In My Brilliant Career, Sybylla is a young girl growing up in a poor family. She is sent to her grandmother's to live, who is much wealthier than her immediate family. Sybylla is seen as ugly, rambunctious and unruley due to her love for creative hobbies, such as piano, singing, and writing (along with her tendency to speak her mind freely). Upon her arrival, her grandmother and aunt immediately begin discussing to whom and when she will get married. Though Sybylla spends most of the movie honing different crafts, no one sees these talents as important to her future. Sybylla is mainly mentioned as being unfortunate looking and out of line. Additionally, after verbally denying a desire for marriage and her family doubting her ability to become married due to her looks, she is still forced into the idea that marriage is her only option. She insists she wants to be a writer, however no one in the movie can see that as plausible career path due to her sex, even though it appears her grandmother is very well off. Most of the characters in the movie seem to freely discuss her "unfortunate" looks while ignoring the talents and charisma she possesses. When a suitor does see Sybylla for who she is, she still will not marry him because she is fearful she will lose herself in the process. The fear Sybylla has about marriage, exemplfies that marriage in the 19th century was not actually a "freedom" from anything, but instead a different prison.
At the end of the movie, there is no real sign or suggestion that Sybylla will get her "brilliant career". In fact, it appears she will be forced, with no choice in the matter, into any path her life takes. In this way, women in the 19th century did not have control over their lives whether they married or not. Almost every "option" given to them led to a life trapped in other people's desires for them. This is quite similar to the way historians portray Emily Dickinson's life. She chose not to marry, but also became a recluse-- trapped in her own home. In "The Norton Anthology of Literature", it states "... after only a year she left school, never to return, and from then on her life became increasingly withdrawn, as she slowly developed the fear of public places (known as agoraphobia) that marked her later years" (1038).
Many scholars theorize that Emily Dickinson became withdrawn due to a "tragic romance", however after watching My Brilliant Career, it becomes easy to theorize a world where Dickinson felt trapped by circumstances out of her control. Dickinson, like Sybylla could have simply desired a life where her career and her own personal growth were put first. It is possible to imagine the confinements of her room were less isolating then the choices she was given outside of it.
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