Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers, a poem by Adrienne Rich is a part of
the feministic literary genre. It not only portrays the traditional role of a
domestic woman but also presents their ongoing struggle to make their position
in the oppressive patriarchal society as an individual with her own identity.
Rich’s struggle as a radical feminist which started after pouring
her energy into the role of wife and mother, can
be seen through the persona of Aunt Jennifer. Rich’s attempt to promote
awareness about women’s rights by choosing art as a medium i.e. through her
poetry and writing can be seen in the poem.
In the poem, we come across Aunt Jennifer, a strong woman who lives a life which she does not choose for own herself willingly but still fulfills her all the responsibilities without saying a word of complaint. Along with all the hardships which she faces through the course of her married life, she does not give up on her dreams of having a life of her own and on her terms. So, she finds art as a medium to express her innermost desires and wishes in the form of tigers, on her tapestry which are not afraid of men. To Aunt Jennifer, art provides an excellent way of escape from all her fears.
Aunt Jennifer, about whom we are told by the speaker of the
poem, gains the readers’ sympathies because of her life which she leads till
her death. In the poem, she is oppressed in her married life as it is a massive
weight for her. The poet presents
the whole concept of marriage through the technique of metonymy by using the
symbol of marriage wedding band. The
nature of married life is described as being very unbearable for Aunt Jennifer
as the wedding band sits heavily upon her hand so
she is bound by the restrictions of societal norms and unable to do anything
for herself as her marriage is not a blissful one with the sense of equality.
Even though the miseries of life are often considered to end
after death but the heart-wrenching description of Aunt Jennifer given by the
speaker of the poem after her death makes the readers’ sympathize with her.
According to the speaker of the poem, the cruelty with which she was treated in
her life will be seen even after her death as her hands will
show all the ordeals with
which she was
mastered by and their marks will still be
visible on her dead body.
The attitude of the speaker of the poem is not at all
sympathetic towards Aunt Jennifer and a mere description of the life of Aunt Jennifer
is given. It is only through the word aunt which enables the reader
that perhaps the speaker might have known her closely as a relative or an
acquaintance but the element of emotional bonding is missing and instead a
distance can be seen. The speaker of the poem also seems like an omniscient
narrator who can look at both the present and future of Aunt Jennifer.
The speaker describes the tapestry with the scenic images formed
on it which shows Aunt Jennifer’s fantasies of a dream world while tigers are
given the human qualities to represent Aunt Jennifer’s inner desires of freedom
as the tigers
prance and do not fear and will go
on proud and unafraid. So, it can be said that the speaker of
the poem is the poet herself who has distanced her personality to give a highlighted
effect to the poem because if she had associated herself emotionally with Aunt
Jennifer, she would have to give many details about what she thinks but the
poet in the poem gives mere description just like reporting an event so this
creates great sympathies for Aunt Jennifer in the readers because what is left
unsaid has a great impact.
In our society, we come across many women who are being
oppressed in the name of societal norms as they are forced to live their life
defined by others. In our culture women are supposed to sacrifice their entire
being for the sake of their families. Even in this time of technological
revolution, old customs and traditions are still practiced according to which
women are treated as the property of men. Gender discrimination is still
present even in the homes where sons are preferred to daughters who can enjoy
parents’ love and attention along with all the facilities including education.
So, women like Aunt Jennifer can be seen in our culture who gets victimized in
the patriarchal society.
Generally, art is said to have two major purposes i.e. art for
art's sake e.g. for entertainment, and art for teaching moral values or a
lesson about life. Some people also sell their art to make both ends meet. For different
people with different experiences of life, art has a different meaning and for
women who are like Aunt Jennifer, art is liberating. On one hand, readers’ do
sympathize with Aunt Jennifer for the difficult life which she leads but on the
other hand, the persona of Aunt Jennifer also gets appreciated for such strong
determination by not giving up on her dreams even while facing a lot of
problems in her life. The art which she depicts through her tapestry shows her
struggle for freedom from the life which she was forced to live. She lives
another life in an imaginary world created by herself where she could express
herself freely and openly with no fear at all. Aunt Jennifer’s art shows her
desire that how she wished her life to be and the images which she forms are
symbolic of her inner self that she always wanted to be like tigers who
go on prancing without any fear.
Art remains forever and this aspect is also described in the
poem as the poet talks about the tigers on the screen that they will be there
forever even after the death of Aunt Jennifer. In our culture, we also see
women like Aunt Jennifer with a great spirit whom they go on fighting off all
the odds and also make their identity in the society permanent through art. There
are many females like Parveen Shakir, Noor Jahan, Nazia Hassan who are still
alive through their art even after their death.
This article is written by Hira Wazir, one of the contributors
at the School of Literature.
