Blog Post #4 Topic 2

Adrienne Rich’s “Diving into the Wreck” serves as a long metaphor for the many changes that occured in both the year(s) leading up to the release of this poem and the life of the poet during this time period, all of which is driven by “the wreck” that hints at topics such as the gender equality, the past and future, the truth, and many more that is expressed through the multitude of metaphors and symbols thorughout the wreck.

The years leading up to 1972 was a tumultuous time, with the Vietnam war still at large and the sturggle for equality for both people of colors and women, there was much tension as to what will become of the upcoming 70’s. Rich during this time was already gaining critical acclaim for her work and with moving to New York in the 60’s her life was already experiences big changes along with th world around her; One of these changes being her divorce coming up in the early 70’s. With all this occuring, “the wreck,” the biggest symbol in “Diving into the Wreck,” can be analized as a complete metaphor for all the changes occuring in her life, the chaos and mysticality of it all which is tied to the books of myths. Myths are stories or beliefs made up that are usually false or have some historical context. In the line “”The wreck and not the story of the wreck, the thing itself,” Rich creates this seperation between truth and lies, between what is real and not, and being able to face the turth herself. Rich has a way of having her metaphors and symbols intermingle; The camera that she brings into the wreck only assentuates the myth itself. The camera serves as a way to capture the truth, or better yet capture the present.

The wreck that Rich is swimming towards in this poem can be seen as a passage to the past. Rich writes “I came to see the damage that was done and the treasures that prevail,” this line presents this sense of going into the past and seeing the damage done. Seeing past mistakes of her own life, but  also the life of the United States, and the mistakes with segreatiron in the past that will lead to a more promising future or “the treasures” in other words. In the late 60’s and early 70’s, Rich became a very prominient activist, joining leftists groups and becoming a femnist. It comes to no surprise that during this time, she was reflecting on her past and the past of those around her, during a time of which she was growing and finding treasures in her own life.

The femnists within her comes out when she distiniguishes the two epople in the dive; “I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair streams black, the merman in his armored body, we circle silentely about the wreck… I am she; I am he. ” We see Rich’s ability to acknoledge the stereotypical distinctions and double standards that come with beign a man and a woman. The ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) was passed in 1972, not long after this poem was realeased, therefore there was high tension when it came to equal rights for woman and other sex’s that were being discriminated against or treated differently because they were a different gender.

Blog Post #4- Prompt 2

In Adrienne Rich’s poem Diving into the Wreck, the speaker describes their dive into the ocean looking for a shipwreck. This is only a superficial description of Rich’s poem, however. Diving into the Wreck is a conceit, which is defined as an extended metaphor that dominates an entire poem. In this case, Rich’s poem is a metaphor for the female struggle.

Rich released her poem, Diving into the Wreck, in 1973. The early 1970s were an important time in American history with the Vietnam War, the remainder of the Civil Rights movement, and the fight for women’s rights all happening around this time. Rich, as a civil rights activist, was heavily involved in these movements and was vocal about her anger towards the Vietnam War and the injustices faced by African Americans and women. A year after the release of her poem, which was part of a book under the same name, Rich won the National Book Award for Diving into the Wreck. In an act of defiance, instead of accepting the award herself, Rich accepted the award on behalf of all unknown female writers. It is clear that Rich felt that she had a powerful platform as a writer and she wanted to speak out against issues that were present at the time.

Upon first reading this poem, a reader may think that this poem is just a descriptive piece on somebody exploring a shipwreck, but further analysis shows that Rich was trying to say a lot more than was is literally stated in the poem. Even the title of the poem has an underlying meaning in which the “wreck” not only refers to the literal shipwreck, but also the struggle that women get themselves into when fighting for equality. The wreck symbolizes suffering. The speaker states that they “came to see the wreck” and “the damage that was done.” It is not a pretty journey but it is one with purpose. Much like fighting for women’s rights, it isn’t easy but it is important to come face to face with the inequality that women face. The ocean also plays a major role in the poem as it symbolizes what is controlling the speaker. The speaker says that “the sea is not a question of power” as the speaker learns to adapt to its controlling nature. The ocean represents society and those that oppress women. In this case, the diver struggles to fight back against the powerful ocean. In the final stanza of Diving into the Wreck, the speaker mentions a “a book of myths/ in which/ our names do not appear.” There is frustration and anger in this line. This frustration is a reaction to the silencing of women and their experiences. Even after the diver has gone through their journey, their name has been erased. This parallels the struggles of women throughout history that have fought for equal rights and even after these fights, their voices have been silenced. These lines mean even more as a reader knowing that Rich accepted her award for this poem on behalf of unknown women writers. Rich gives a voice to the women who have had theirs taken away and those who have been silenced throughout history.

Word Count: 541

Blog Post 4- Topic 2

As illustrated in class, a conceit is “an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs an entire poem”. The poem “Driving into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich is full of extensive metaphorical elements, making it so that the reader is forced to analyze and determine the authors point of view throughout the text. The authors mention of ladders and water could be a form of metaphorically reliving the events within her life such as the political issues of the mid 1900 era like the Vietnam war, civil rights movement, and feminism. This could also reflect her relationship with her husband which ended with his tragic suicide. These experiences shaped the outcome of her future and I believe that through this poem she is explaining how she felt regarding surviving the wreckage that had occurred around her.

There is a moment in the text where Rich speaks about climbing down a ladder before reaching the water. She says that, she along with others know what the latter is used for. For Rich, there is a possibility that the latter could be used as a connection to her past and present life. Above the water, could be a metaphor for the past existence of her life that was once full of social norms from her childhood up until her marriage with her husband. While below the water, could be related to her fully submerging herself into her present life of becoming politically immersed in feminism and her sexuality as a lesbian. As Rich steps, closer to the water down the latter, she explains that her flippers cripple her (line 29). I believe that, this is a metaphor for a possible element within her journey from her past to present life, like social norms, which was holding her back. She says that “…there is no one/ to tell me when the ocean/ will begin. (line 31)” This suggests that she had to find the courage in make the journey for her desired life on her own. She could be facing a sense of fear from the unknowns that the ocean provides. Once she reaches the water, she says that she blacks out. She could be feeling overwhelmed with her new life making her feel a sense of darkness from the pressures that surround her. Yet, she is instantly filled with power from her mask and that it “…pumps my blood with power/ (line 38)” which could mean that she finds herself feeling empowered by her accomplishment of taking the dive into becoming who she was destined to be. She reiterates that she has no guidance in the water, yet this time she seems to be content with learning how to figure out the way the water (or world) works for her. She later finds this to become easy.

In conclusion, the poem has a sense of Rich trying to explain the way that she found herself through her life’s experiences. From living a high-pressured life of trying to appease social norms by being a normalized mother and wife, she realized that her life had a different purpose than the one she was living in the past. She embodies a sense of feminism through her writing and this could be a political statement for her beliefs in the feminist movement.

Word Count: 547

Blog Post 4-Topic 4

Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street is a book that in a series of multiple short chapters, tells the story of a young Mexican American girl, Esperanza. It is a coming of age story, and talks about different events that happened while she lived in her neighborhood and about the local people. The book has become renowned in the US since it dives into the immigrant experience, and Chicano culture. As the daughter of two Mexican immigrants, I can see the ways in which this book hold true to the culture, and although it does portray a few negative stereotypes, the book is still describes an experience that many first generation families know all too well, along with stories that everyone can resonate. For example, names for first generation children can become issue.Growing up, my experience at home was not exactly the same as Esperanza’s, but I do feel like the book captures a lot of common themes that many Mexican American experience.

Names are an important part of a person’s identity, and for many immigrant families, they reveal a part of their culture. One of the first chapters of the book is My Name, and it is Esperanza talking about her name. In this chapter, there are instances of stereotyping, and even a bit of racism. Esperanza makes the assumption that the Chinese, like the Mexicans liked their women weak. Obviously, this sounds along with the story of Esperanza’s great grandmother sound racist ad stereotypical. However past this, lies a common sentiment among children that grow up having an ethnic name. Esperanza describes the story of her great-grandmother, and how she was named after her. She goes on to say that she was made fun of at school, and would like to have a different name. This reminded me of something that happened when I was a child. I remember a boy in my 3rd grade class whose name was Joan. In Spanish, his name was a boy name, but he grew up hearing people at school talk about how his name was a girl’s name since in English it is. Due to this, he managed to convince his parents to change his name to John. Understandably, his parents, Mexican immigrants, did not know that Joan was used as a girl’s name I'm the US. However, as the book and real life reveals, these small issues can be the cause of insecurities. Stories like these are common, and even I can say I partook a bit in this since I deliberately decided to pronounce my name, “Caro-lee-na” because I did not want people to struggle pronouncing my name in Spanish, but also did not want my name to sound too “American.”I think this chapter in the book was good at diving into the thought process of a child from an immigrant family and how they feel.

Although many immigrant families can experience similar issues like the names, each family is different and have different perspectives they can share. I know for myself, if I were to write about my experience I would write funny or mundane instances with family, my love-hate relationship with my parent's culture growing up, and how in college, I was able to learn to embrace it. I would write about this because I want to make it a point that each family is different and that culture is not uniform across whole ethnic groups. I also wanted to focus in the internal struggle that children can have.

Blog Post #4, Topic #3

Maxine Hong Kingston and Sandra Cisneros are both infamous authors who applied their cultural backgrounds to their literary works to create a realistic experience of their lives. Using Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, I will identify how they compare and contrast in their lives and writings.

Maxine Hong Kingston is a Stockton-born Chinese-American woman, whose parents are immigrants from China. In her short story, she tells of the difficulty she endures adapting to the American education system, her confusion of her mother’s traditions, and her parents views of the American system as a whole. Kingston’s views were portrayed as pessimistic, contrary to that of Cisneros’. She had a bitter outlook, sharing with us words of anger. “I painted layers of black over houses and flowers and suns, and when I drew on the blackboard, I put a layer of chalk on top,” she stated, describing herself as a young girl in kindergarten. She expresses the hardship she had adapting to the English language, she could not properly pronounce “I” and “here”. Kingston also addresses her opinion with her mother’s traditions regarding the Chinese culture. Due to one of her mother’s superstitions, Kingston was forced to go to the grocery store where a delivery boy wrongfully delivered pills to their family and ask the clerk for candy to “reverse the curse”. Kingston goes in disgust and anger. She continues to write and introduces us to a quiet, shy Chinese girl, who Kingston grows extremely frustrated with. She says, “I hated the younger sister, the quiet one. I hated her for her China doll hair cut. I hated her for at music time for the wheezes that came out of her plastic flute.” The short story as a whole is full of anger, confusion, and disappointment.

Sandra Cisneros takes on a more lenient point of view compared to that of Kingston. Cisneros characterizes herself as “Esperanza” in her short story, “A House of Mango Street”. She is a daughter of two Mexican immigrants, sister of three. They live in a small house on Mango Street, and her life seems habitual. In the story, Esperanza narrates as if she’s simply stating what she is experiencing, no detail or no real connection of anything. Unlike Kingston’s character, Esperanza tries to fit in. In the excerpt, “Our Good Day”, Cisneros writes that Esperanza literally pays for friendship. “If you give me five dollars I will be your friend forever,” says Esperanza’s new-found “friend”. The deal seems reasonable and cheap, and she does not question it. Esperanza’s ignorance continues when she talks about the perspective people have when they visit where she lives. “Those who don’t know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we are dangerous.” She continues, “Yeah, That is how it goes and goes.” She doesn’t question anything, and it seems like no one really cares to give her an answer anyway. She is a small product of something big, and she goes on with her days habitually, with no reason to why.

Both authors feel like they do not have a place, or meaning. Kingston expresses her displacement with anger and a lot of it. Whether that be anger towards her family, teachers, classmates, or herself, she was just full of bitterness. She cannot seem to adapt to her surroundings, and she becomes enraged. As for Cisneros, it seems like she is confused She takes on everyday, just like the last, with no question. She buys friendships, assuming that is normal. She tells of her life as if in a “bird-eye view”, stating the physical but not explaining any internal emotions really.

Word Count:606

Mary Lopez

Blog post #4 Topic #2

Blog post #4 Topic #2

Kungyao Wang

Born in 1929, Adrienne Rich was an American poet, essayist, and radical feminist. She was considered one of the most influential poets of the 20th century and played a significant role in the revolution of fighting for the rights of women in society. Given the feminist conditions around the 1970s, her works such as Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law, Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution also seen to be progressive during her time. In the poem “Diving Into the Wreck”, Rich wrote about a diver’s journey into the sea looking for the wreck of a ship beneath the ocean. After considering Rich’s biographical information, I believe the poem is a feminist work, and the process of diving into the wreck is a metaphor the process of fighting for women’s rights.

The first paragraph gives readers an impression that the diver is going to do something dangerous. It is not a simple diving, because the divers not only equip herself with the necessary equipment for diving, she also brings a book, a camera, a knife, and put on the body-armor of black rubber. The book suggests the diver needs to rely on a history or previous statements about the “wreck," the camera implies that there is something that the diver wants to record, and knife indicates that the process is dangerous and she needs a knife to keep her safe. These elements combine together to symbolize that the process of fighting for women’s rights is difficult, but the diver, who represents the brave feminists, would not be afraid of the struggling process and would equip themselves with armor and be ready for the fight.

There are also elements in the poem that symbolizes the male’s dominant role in the patriarchy society. I felt weird when I read “the drowned face always staring toward the sun.” The diver has already dived so deeply into the sea that the water has turned black, but why the sun can still be seen? I believe the “sun” symbolizes male’s strong power, and no matter where women go, the masculine power would consistently influence women. It also suggests that men are the “sun” of the society, without which other lives in the world cannot exist.

Rich also suggests the distinction between men and women are unimportant. When she describes herself as a mermaid, she writes that “We circle silently about the wreck, we dive into the hold. I am she: I am he.” 1970s is a time when the distinction between gender identity is clear. A person’s gender is determined once he or she is born, and at that time, people would never use “he” and “she” to refer to the same person. However, the diver is declaring herself as both a male or a female, which suggests her indifference to the gender identity.

Therefore, I believe that as one of Rich’s most notable works, “Diving into the Wreck” is a feminist poem as most of her other works. Clearly, Rich does not explicitly show the feminist attitude in the language of the poem. Instead, she puts plenty of narrations and descriptions in the poem, which are actually symbols and metaphors underneath.

word count: 527