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.