into two stanzas, each with a different tone and purpose. In the first stanza, Angelou describes the physical labor that the woman must endure, such as picking cotton and digging roots. The second stanza shifts to a more introspective tone, as the woman reflects on her own desires and dreams. Angelou's use of imagery and repetition emphasizes the woman's strength and resilience in the face of oppression. Despite the societal expectations placed upon her, the woman in the poem is able to find power and agency in her own work. like a great accomplishment.
Angelou effectively uses repetition in the first stanza to convey the overwhelming amount of chores that the housewife must complete. The lack of commas also adds to the sense of breathlessness and urgency in the list. It is clear that the housewife is solely responsible for all of the chores, including caring for the children, which suggests that she is a single mother. Traditionally male chores such as cutting cane and bringing home food are also included, highlighting the woman's ability to take on both male and female roles. Despite the daunting list of tasks, the housewife's ambition shines through and completing them will be a great accomplishment. done. “Sun, rain, curving sky, mountain, oceans, leaf, and stone, star shine, moon glow – you are all that I can call my own” (27-30). In this stanza, the housewife lists all the elements of nature that help her get through her day. She identifies herself with these elements and gives them human qualities in an attempt to feel less lonely. The sun, rain, star shine, and moon glow are her only friends, the only ones she can rely on in the absence of human company. This last stanza proves that the housewife is indeed a single mother, which doubles the amount of daily struggle she must face. Regardless of this fact, she can handle the work. The title of the poem tells the reader that just because a woman is at home, it does not mean that she is not working. Women do work, and the work they do is essential in maintaining a home. It is often overlooked as something normal and expected. The title of the poem makes the statement that “Woman Work” and that women do not need to rely on a man or a boss to get their work done.
The readers are apt to feel confused in the contrasting ways the woman in this poem has been depicted. The lady described in the poem leads to contrasting lives during the day and night. She is a normal girl in her Cadillac in the day while in her pink Mustang she is a prostitute driving on highways in the night. In the poem the imagery of body recurs frequently as “moving in the dust” and “every time she is touched”. The reference to woman’s body could possibly be the metaphor for the derogatory ways women’s labor, especially the physical labor is represented. The contrast between day and night possibly highlights the two contrasting ways the women are represented in society.
The introduction is followed by seven chapters that describe the manner in which women from Colonial to Antebellum lived and how their work in the home changed and was valued: "An Economical Society," "A New Source of Profit and Support," "How Strangely Metamorphosed," "All the In-Doors Work," "The True Economy of Housekeeping," "The Political Economy of Housework," and "The Pastoralization of Housework." The last chapter acts as the conclusion where she states how the Antebellum woman felt devalued in her role as housewife and that women today are still devalued in the home
"Woman Work" is a regular 5 stanza, rhyming poem, It is set in southern USA. We know this because of the way she talkes "The cane to be cut" Cane is grown in southern USA, "I gotta clean up this hut" Hut is what she calles her house "And the cotton to Pick" cotton also grows in USA. It's about this womanwho's either single or doesn't get any help from her partener/husband. She's always doing something, looking after the children - "I've got the children to tend", housework - "I gotta clean up this hut", shopping - "The food to shop" or farmwork, - "The cane to be cut", "And the cotton to pick".
The two works of literature nudging at the idea of women and their roles as domestic laborers were the works of Zora Neale Hurston in her short story “Sweat”, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Whatever the setting may be, whether it is the 1920’s with a woman putting her blood, sweat and tears into her job to provide for herself and her husband, or the 1890’s where a new mother is forced to stay at home and not express herself to her full potential, women have been forced into these boxes of what is and is not acceptable to do as a woman working or living at home. “Sweat” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” draw attention to suppressing a woman’s freedom to work along with suppressing a woman’s freedom to act upon her
He mentions how far women have come since his grandmother's day, but realizes the country as a whole has more room to grow. He mentions how tough it can be for women to juggle a demanding career while raising a family. Both text reference what honor motherhood is but they also admit the demanding workforce can determine how successful a mother they can be. Women today may not face slavery, but they face double standards that limit them to be successful professionals and parents.
Throughout the book, many of the wives note how they wish that they were able to pursue their goals and dreams, but were unable to due to the fact that they had responsibilities as a wife. I think that by putting themselves in a position where they could be viewed as undeserving upper class members who did not work, it not created a dependency to their husbands financially, it portrayed them as women incapable of supporting themselves or their desires in life. “Upper-class women, like other women, experience dissatisfaction with their role as wives–with its expected mode of accommodation, unequal voice in family decisions, and sole responsibility for home and family”
In Maya Angelou’s third book of poetry And Still I Rise, the personal struggles of the African American Woman are brought to life through poetic works. With inspirations drawn from personal journeys of Maya Angelou herself, powerful poems praise, celebrate, and empathize with the feminine colored experience. Angelou’s writing sheds glaring light on themes of feminine power, beauty, and perseverance, raising the African American Woman to a pedestal that demands respect and adoration. For Angelou’s audience, the everyday woman is presented equipped with all the necessities to thrive and shine in the face of adversity. In Maya Angelou’s works “Phenomenal Woman”, “Woman Work”, and “Still I Rise”, audiences are able to connect to the strength and virtue of the woman that is brought to life through the praising of femininity, and through its power to make an impact on society.
Although in today’s society women are sometimes still subjected to practices that label them as inferior to men, whether it’s in a marriage where the woman must stay at home to care for the child or in the workplace where the female is paid an average of 25 cents less than men, the fight for equality for women has come a long way since the 1920’s and 30’s. This is the time period that Kari Boyd McBride reflects upon for women in her essay “A Boarding House is not a Home: Women’s Work and Woman’s Worth on the Margins of Domesticity.” McBride’s essay is valuable because of the experience and knowledge she has about her field, which is that of Women’s Studies.
In the article, Cult of True Womanhood, the underlying theme is of what society thought was the ideal woman. Women of that time where thought of as homemakers “deeply shaped by the so called “cult of womanhood” a collection of attitudes that associated “true” womanhood with home and family.” Women were supposed to stay home and clean and take care of the children while men worked and provided for their families. The misconception that housework was not hard and that even these women didn’t work as hard as paid labors was a strong opinion of the time. “With economic value calculated more and more exclusively in terms of cash and men increasingly basing their claims to “manhood” on their role as “breadwinners,” women’s unpaid household labor went largely unacknowledged.” Many married women ran their households and took on extra work to support their families and many in underpaid positions. Many of these were even in the service of other’s houses working in “true womanhood”
...sed society with religious overtones throughout the poem, as though religion and God are placing pressure on her. The is a very deep poem that can be taken in may ways depending on the readers stature yet one thing is certain; this poem speaks on Woman’s Identity.
In the late 1800’s to the 1900’s women were not superior. Their spouses did not only govern them constantly, they were in complete care of their husbands. They could not make decisions; the men must tell the women how, when, why, and where to do something. If a husband says a woman must do something, she must listen. Like Louise from “The Story of an Hour” and the narrator from “The Yellow Wallpaper,” they, too, are cared for by their husbands and are inferior to their husbands or any other men. The only jobs they have are inside the home. The confinement in their homes leads them to be overly enjoyed when they are freed from their husband’s power.
of the difficulty in acceptance. In the first few stanzas the poet creates the impression that she
The early 1930’s a time where segregation was still an issue in the United States it was especially hard for a young African American girl who is trying to grow and become an independent woman. At this time, many young girls like Maya Angelou grew up wishing they were a white woman with blond hair and blue eyes. That was just the start of Angelou's problems though. In the autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou goes into great depth about her tragic childhood, from moving around to different houses, and running away and having a child at the age of 16. This shows how Maya overcame many struggles as a young girl.
Given these points, Angelou’s widely use of devices, sentence length, and tenses allows the reader to capture the theme of her poem Men. Angelou shows how women are somewhat treated then and now. She lets the reader know that even after a man may have hurt a woman, a woman still would have a desire to go back to them because we are curious to know of them. She presents the idea that women are oppressed to men – women like Angelou who have had bad experiences with them. Overall, Angelou’s poem is like a story that presents men as head honcho over women and the affect that they bring upon
Maya Angelou’s word choice in “Phenomenal Woman” is simple and dull, but it fits the poem perfectly once it is read. The words used in the poem are not powerful but it keeps you reading. It makes the readers a have different opinion on the poem. Also it makes the readers analyze what she is really trying to say. For example, in the poem Maya Angelou states “Men themselves have wondered, What they see in me. They try so much, But they can’t touch, My inner mystery.” It is a little confusing on what she is trying to say because of her word choice and the way the sentences are connected, but reading furthermore into the stanza, it begins to become more understanding. Then too, If she had used a different word choice the poem would not have been so intriguing. For example, if she would have said “Men don’t really understand my personality”, instead of “Men themselves have wondered, What they see in me.” then the readers would not have to put much attention into it and the theme would be completely different. Moreover, another example would be “ It’s the fire in my eyes, And the flash of my teeth, The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet. I’m a woman Phenomenally’’. She uses simple phrases like “fire in my eyes”, “flash of my teeth”, “swing in my waist”, etc. to show the phenomenal woman she is. The word choice that Maya Angelou portrays in this poem, makes woman realize that