Deven Benitez Blog 4 Topic 2

Deven Benitez

Prompt #2

                “Diving into the Wreck” was written during the middle of the feminist movement. Adrienne Rich was a huge woman’s activist. The more she wrote the more her poems committed to the feminists movement. Diving into the wreck is no exception to the commitment which is why I believe this story is a metaphor for feminism and the lack of recognition woman received.

                Rich was not scared to voice her opinion on the unequal treatment woman received. For this story she won the National Book Award, but refused to accept the award alone because she hated the idea of competition among female writers. Instead she took the award in the name of all the female writers. This was a way to show her desire to get woman to be seen as equals. She had many poems that showed her to be a woman activist such as “Rape”, the book “Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution”, and “The Dream of a Common Language: Poems 1974–1977”. Her poetry brought the oppression of woman and lesbians to be a major topic in poetry for quite some time.  She was also a lesbian herself which was almost taboo at the time, but she came out in 1976 which showed how brave she was and how much she supported her cause. Being a famous figure and coming out is a huge task that she accomplished. Rich was no stranger to the feminist movement and used her poetry to express her disapproval of the situation of woman at the time.  

                During this time it was the second wave of feminism from the 1960s the early 1980s which focused on sexuality, family, and the legal inequalities. Woman were seen as the other in society. They were supposed to stay home and do their duty there, but this only limited the opportunities that they could seek. Even if they did have a job, the pay was more than likely unequal between men and women. Also it was accepted that women were domestically abused constantly which is a horrible thing. Lastly, women by law just didn’t have the rights men had. Over the time of this feminism these issues were being resolved and womens rights were advancing.

                The story “Diving into the Wreck” Brings women’s inequalities to light. This can be seen in the very first line, “First having read the book of myths” can be expressed as a story of women’s accomplishments and insights on society that are just “myths” and outright ignored throughout a patriarchal society. This shows that women were in a struggle to actually get recognition for what they have done. The “Wreck” is the successes of woman being destroyed and forgotten. It translates into the treasure of the ship being these lost accomplishments of woman being found and brought to light after so many years of oppression. Rich writes, “Black I am blacking out and yet my mask is powerful it pumps my blood with power”. At this time we assume the narrator is a women. This could represent that women are not a helpless being but powerful bold and able to do things on their own. Later on Rich writes, “This is the place…the mermaid whose dark hair streams black, the merman in his armored body…We circle silently…I am she: I am he”. She says she is both male and female which implies she is genderless. It takes away the notion of gender roles. She also uses the word “we”, implying they are one in the same since she has transformed herself into this character. A new genderless character for people to realize that everyone is equal in all respects. She continues with this idea to the end when she writes, “We are, I am, you are, by cowardice or courage the one who finds our way”. Again everyone is equal in all respects. It also has a grammatical error that draws attention because in our minds we want to keep going back and actually fix it.

    Adrienne Rich’s story “Diving into a Wreck” is an expression on feminism and the oppression women experienced. We know this because Rich was a feminist herself and it was written in the midst of the Feminist movement. She used it to express her thoughts and attitudes and bring attention to the problems women face. She was known for her activism and helped the feminist movement move forward.