Read this statement about the poem "Sunday Morning" and offer suggestions about its construction, thought, etc.
"Women are forced to struggle for their position in society, and they are alone in this struggle."
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I disagree with this statement completely. I don't think that women are the only ones that have had to struggle, and I don't think that they are still struggling. I mean, we had a woman attempt to run for president, so I'm pretty sure every option is open for them in today's society. They had to work hard to optain their rights and to become equals, but they don't need to struggle anymore. The only struggle I can really think of that women would consider that they have is the struggle of abortion, but I don't want to get everyone started on that. I think that today, the people who are struggling to become equals are more of the socially unaccepted and the immigrants. The United States, throughout history, has always had people struggling to obtain their equality, and no matter what I think different groups will have to work for their equality, but once they obtain the status of equals, I don't think they'll have to still struggle to keep it.
ReplyDeleteI think this statement is true, but I don't think it is exactly what Rich was saying in the poem. It may be a part of it, but it seems like there should be so much more. When I think of the ocean, it reminds me of the "glass ceiling" and discrimination against women. When the character in the poem reaches the surface of the ocean, she has reached the glass ceiling and is breaking through. Once she is through, the new world she is in is overwhelming and she forgets her original intention. Like the quote above says, she broke through that barrier on her own, and now has to work and fight on her own. But I still don't think this is what Rich is trying to say. The poem seems too complex to just be a social commentary on the struggles women go through.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this poem is about women specifically... instead I think its more about the diver's journy into the past and what he finds/ how it affects him.
ReplyDeleteI think Mr. Bruno might have said something about this poem being applicable to one specific struggle, but that isn't what comes first to mind.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, this poem reminds me of Great Expectations. In the sense that the speaker here proceeds into a new world only to find everything so overwhelming that it has the capacity to change, I imagine Pip being altered by what he imagined this world to be.
I don't necessarily see it as a female struggle, but a human one in general. I see it as the universal fear of entering somewhere new, and feeling so different there that you don't know where to turn. Being alone, losing sight of the very reason why you came, can cause a person to be lost among the ruins of history..."in which our names do not appear".
This poem has also given me trouble. I thought of several different ideas, but none of them seemed right or relevant (the sea is her uterus). None of us in the group could figure it out. The only thing we were sure about was that it had deeper meaning. It could be the struggle for women during the feminine and civil rights struggle or the Vietnam War (poets.org. Maybe it is about her frustration with the world and thought is was more difficult because she was a woman, a child bearer, a weak and insignificant human who is only good enough to get almost there. She can never get what she wants. But toward the end during the whole "I am she. I am he" part- women and men have the same struggle. No matter who you are life sucks. It isn't any easier for a man. It is difficult on everyone. Just how love has no gender or color- life doesn't either. It is pretty icky for everyone experiencing it. In some cultures women are worshiped. Why doesn't that happen here?
ReplyDeleteI do not think this is a social commentary about the struggle of women at all. When I read the poem I felt the speaker was getting ready for an adventure to learn about the the history of the people that is preserved in the ship like a sort of time capsule. But then she sees the destruction done to mankind's instruments and how our work can be so easily destroyed by nature. It feels to me that she went down to the wreck expecting to find greater understanding and possible treasure, but comes out with nothing more than the knowledge that those people are lost forever and will never be known for who they really were.
ReplyDeleteI think this poems just proves that literature can have different meanings to every person and every time period.
ReplyDeleteI think that this poem is about humans in general. I think that it is so broad, but so understood that we all can imagine a different struggle in life. I think that the poem is about life, and the struggle we have with it. Whether the struggle be about living it, ending it, accepting it or beginning it. I think that the lines about the ladder meaning something to those who use it, and an ornament to those who don't use it could be about religion. That the ladder leads us into something deeper, something that is part of the world but some don't explore it to great depths. And I think that maybe the woman is possbile mary, or in a non religious view mother nature. I think that the fact that the diver has researched an prepared could be interpreted as reading the bible, or preparing herself for the religious struggle either she goes through internally or in society.
I see this poem as a tale of re-birth for women in society, like that of post-WWII. The questor (a female) goes in search of treasure (knowledge) and carries with her a book of old myths. A myth such as women cannot carry out the same tasks as men. Now the survivors have the chance to write their names in a new book (new age) as they are the ones who are going to reshape society and gender boundaries.
ReplyDeleteI believe while the poem states pretty obviously that the writer is trying to state that yes, women have struggled in their place for society for many years. While that may be true, I believe this poem is also about how the narrator goes on an adventure and finds something that changes his/her perception of life.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I am completely off with my analysis of this poem, but I feel that the wreck she studies is a personal trauma or event she faced in the past. The event brought growth and development of her character and endurance. I think the poem narrates a coming of age. She takes pictues and revisits the wreck in order to remember the event that marks who she is. I believe that the purpose or insight about human life she intends to produce is more personal than about discrimination against women.
ReplyDeleteAfter rereading the poem I do not see the reference to women and their struggle. I see a persons struggle with something. I haven't quite figured out what that something is. It could be something from the past that happened--which would be something the person needed to come to terms with. As said in the poem the speaker needs to see the wreck itself and not the story of the wreck. So the person could be evaluating something that happened and the effects that came from it. When you first look at a wreck you see the aftermath and that is all you came to look at. If you want to know how it happened you wouldn't be looking at the wreck anymore but the people involved. So my guess is that this story is about evaluating the effects of a traumatic event that happened to the speaker, thus creating an internal struggle to overcome some fear.
ReplyDeleteTo all having trouble seeing the feminist message:
ReplyDeleteLook at the pronouns.
Happy Thinking,
Mr. B
I completely disagree with this statement. I think that it is true that women do have a struggle in life, but so do men. And also no one is alone in their struggle, there is almost always someone who is dealing or has dealt with the same issue as someone else. Also most people have someone they can go to for support so the generalization that women ae alone in their struggle is not true.
ReplyDeleteI agree with TJ, but to me people in society arent necessarily struggaling to be equals but they are strugaling to become better than someone else, or merely to better themselves, not to mention that you certainly do have to work to keep something, just as to say that yes, while african americans have struggled to achieve equality and while on the books they have it, but socially no they don't. Every corner of this nation is unique and while yes in NOVA african americans are cool, take a vacation in Louisiana white people are prejudice againt blacks and blacks sure don't like white people, even today, so yes once you obtain so called "equality" you have to struggle to keep it and even improve upon it
ReplyDeletewhen i read this poem i did not automatically think that the struggle in the poem was about women. I was a little more borad and thought that it was more about everyone's struggles in general. It's not only women that have t face challenges and struggles, it is everyone in society. Each of us has a battle that we have to face and over come and that's what this ive is about. i think that the person diving is representative for everyone and the struggles that each of us face. and that by facing this challenge in water allows the audience to feel as though we will all overcome and get through our hard times we face (water=cleansing, new life).
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