Blog 5: "Diving into the Wreck"

                It was a bit harder for me to decipher the deeper meaning of Adrienne Rich’s poem, “Diving into the Wreck”. On the surface, it appears to be about a woman’s exploration of a long lost ship wreck, however, talking in class and reading a little deeper, I feel that it is truly a thought provoking poem wherein Rich is really taking a feminist stance in regards to inequality of the sexes, and as a direct result the “wreck” that’s become society.

                Being that Rich’s poem was written in the early 1970s, I feel that it makes it more clear that Rich was writing about and touching on society before the second wave feminist movement. As Rich writes, “I came to see the wreck...I came to see the damage that was done and the treasures that prevail” (Rich, 1987). In our patriarchal society where men are viewed as the standard, and hold more power and inherent privileges, women are often negatively affected by the values and ideas patriarchy instills. This was certainly the case before both feminist wave movements, where women truly had less equality and a hard time achieving it. In this case I think Rich is “exploring” the effects of oppression and limitations faced by women at the hands of the patriarchal nature of society. For as the effects of assumptions, expectations, and ideas of/for women have effected them, they have been held to live up to these different aspects. However, as damaging as it may be there were signs of progress and change (i.e. women’s right to vote), things that showed promise of change and hope for women, aspects which I think Rich regarded as “treasures”.

Rich also uses descriptive language, metaphors and imagery which help convey this point as well. In one such case she writes, “...the ribs of the disaster curving their assertion among the tentative haunters,” (Rich 1387) illustrating the perception of change in society. Here the disaster is the threat to family life in feminist movements and ideas, and in feminists themselves, as they tried to make light of the inequalities in society between men and women, and empower women at the same time.  Rich also frequently mentions a “book of myths” which could be seen to represent/stand for the assumptions and ideas society constructed of/for women, and feminists. There is also a mention of ladders, as Rich writes, “The ladder is always there hanging innocently close to the side of the schooner. We know what it is for, we who have used it.”(Rich, 1386).  I took this to stand for women, particularly feminists, trying to move beyond their place of oppression and submissiveness in society.

I think this also leads to a point Rich was trying to make about women’s identity. As Rich wrote, “…we are the half destroyed instruments that once held to a course” (Rich, 1386).  I feel as though, this could have two interpretations. The first being that women were exhausted in trying to fight for their cause of equality, and/or that women were left tired in trying to hold to the course/life society expected them to have. For long ago, and even still today, women were/are expected to marry, become a mother, and are expected to be in more submissive roles. This thus leaves women conflicted-are they supposed to stick to what society wants and expects of them? Is it too harmful to deviate from the norms of what it means to be a “woman”?

I think this could still relate to society today; I would almost argue that society is still a bit of a wreck when it comes to these issues. While we’ve come a long way since the first and second wave feminist movements, many of these same expectations, assumptions, and ideas of women exist in society that can certainly be detrimental and contribute to women being oppressed.

Blog 4: “A Streetcar Named Desire”

In Tennessee Williams’ dramatic play, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, Blanche and her antics, and the tales of her antics as well, stand as some of the most dramatic and emotion inducing moments within the play. Because of this, I think it’s interesting to look at some of Blanche’s antics and musings in regards to her mental state. While Blanche does manipulate and taunt some of the characters within the play, it’s clear that she is not completely in the right state of mind. I think Blanche’s sense/state of delusion, along with some of her daily habits and rituals, help show the state of her character, and how she can be somewhat loosely comparable to the character in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

                In the play, Blanche is portrayed as a snobby, rich Southern Belle, who tells wondrous and elaborate tales about her life upon taking residence with Stella and Stanley. However, her stories are quickly criticized Stanley, who seems to know otherwise about her life. For instance, at the end of the play, Blanche had claimed that Shep Huntleigh had telegrammed for her and asked her to join him on a tropical cruise, right before Mitch had supposedly come by with flowers. As Stanley replied, “There isn’t no millionaire! And Mitch didn’t come back with roses ‘cause I know where he is-There isn’t a goddam thing but imagination!”(Williams, 1169). As the story goes on, I think Blanche slowly begins to further breakdown and fall victim to her own illusions, much like the character in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” For at this point in the play Blanche was already suffering from a state of delusion, and seemed to have little sense of reality. She was so consumed with her own thoughts on the life, youth, riches and people that she had lost that she seemed to have succumbed to a false reality, so as to not face what she had lost and yearned to have back.  This was comparable to the character in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, as this character too was confined to her own thoughts, and was irrational and living in the idea that she was finally breaking free from the wallpaper she was trapped behind. Both women were in fragile states of mind, slowly losing their grip on reality as they succumbed to their own alternate reality.

                Early on in the play, Blanche also displays actions that show/contribute to her further descent into irrationality, as well. Blanche is continually bathing, making it almost a habitual, obsessive habit with which to deal with her emotions. She nearly fears being seen in the light, screams when Stella pours her a soda, and is frightened by the shadows on the wall of her bedroom. As we see in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, that character is habitually tearing away at the wallpaper, and conjuring images and stories about it in her head, being similar in nature to Blanche’s actions and contorted lies. While in that story the insanity is brought on by her confinement and musings of her imagination, Blanche’s is brought on by the woes of her life, and the desire to appear as if she was still a wealthy, young Southern Belle. However, unlike the woman in the other story, I do think that Blanche at times had some grip on reality, especially when she would antagonize Stanley, and when she tried convincing Stella to leave Stanley. I think Blanche’s delusions and small grip on reality are shown when she proclaims, “I don’t want realism. I want magic!” (Williams, 1165). For her imagined reality was better than the true world that she was living in.

I think this helps show how Blanche further broke down, and was in such a state of delusion, and as such how she was somewhat comparable to the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” While I think it’s disheartening that Stella sent Blanche off after she didn’t believe the claims she made about Stanley, I think it does show how Blanche’s accumulations of delusions made it difficult for Stella to decipher what was true and what wasn’t.