Blog Post #4 Topic #2

            Conceit is a complex metaphor that helps the author make an argument in a more obscure manner so that the author's true argument is never clearly stated; authors who wrote obscene or offensive material often had their careers destroyed by the harsh judgment of the public or the government. Adrienne Rich was dissatisfied with the confinement of motherhood and the expectations of a woman in the 1950s so she rebelled against the norm. Rich moved out, became a lesbian, and became involved in politics, which was soon reflected in her work. In Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich, the narrator’s exploration of the wreckage of the ship can be interpreted as her husband’s suicide, the state of the country, or her becoming a lesbian. While conceit allows for many different interpretations of the story, I believe that Rich’s story is a metaphor for her husband’s suicide.

            The name Adrienne Rich was well-known due to the success of both of her parents as well as her own in her writing career. After Rich moved out and revealed she was a lesbian, her husband committed suicide by shooting himself. Her deviation from the social norm could have led to the public spinning multiple stories about her husband’s motivation to commit suicide.

Diving into the Wreck is about Rich’s own journey to analyze the true reasons behind her husband’s suicide. Her intentions are stated when she says “I came for:/ the wreck and not the story of the wreck/the thing itself and not the myth.”  It is clear that the public has made up stories that are myths and Rich is looking for the truth. She goes back to the place where it happened, or the “wreck,” which reveals gory details of the event. The majority of the story takes place underwater and Rich is insinuating that her husband drowned himself when she writes “whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes.” Also, the body had “breasts still bear the stress,” which often occurs when someone goes through a heartbreak and feels the pain in their chest. These lines are the details from her husband’s suicide; the detail about stress in the body’s breast could be related to her husband’s heartbreak or shock when she leaves him and then reveals she is a lesbian. Lastly, Rich reveals her feelings of guilt about the situation when she cannot decide who to address; “we are, I am, you are” explains her confusion over which party is to blame. Society has various opinions on suicide and Rich is unsure whether her husband’s actions are “by cowardice or courage.” Rich feels guilty so she revisits the scene and blames herself because she might have been the reason he did it. However, she is also angry at him when she calls suicide cowardice. These excerpts from the text show that Diving into the Wreck could be about the suicide of the author’s husband.

            In my opinion, Rich wrote Diving into the Wreck to analyze the motives of the suicide; the story reveals her conflicting emotions of internal guilt and anger directed at her husband for his actions. While I understand the text in this way, other readers may choose to believe the story is about the state of the country because it was written around the time of the Vietnam War. The use of conceit conceals the authors true argument to allow the reader to formulate an opinion about the argument themselves.

WC:576