The feminist criticism of patriarchal culture actually has a long tradition. Among the early voices in this criticism was Mary Wollstonecraft. In 1792, she argued in A Vindication of the Rights of Women that women must challenge society’s assumption of female inferiority and must strive to articulate their own identities. In the case of Piercy’s poem, we can see the poem as a whole to represent this challenge. For example, the poet might have written about the inferior position of woman deliberately. In so doing, he might be furthering the emphasis of how women are constantly discriminated and manipulated by men. As a result, the poet might inevitably open his audience’s eyes and make them find new ways to articulate new identities for women, to give the voiceless women their due voices.
From the feminine critic, Josephine Donovan’s point of view, feminist criticism “attempts to redress the moral balance” of portrayal of gender in literature. It “asserts that […] the standard of critical judgement should be changed, so that literature will no longer function as propaganda furthering sexist ideology”. She further argues that literature is, after all, a form of education that promotes moral growth by helping us to see beyond the usual illusions and facile stereotypes to recognize and confront the challenges of reality. For the feminist critic, an authentically moral literature “affirms the life of women…”. Until literature does so, one must resist inauthentic images of women. Thus, for Donovan, the images of women’s approach to literature provides fundamental model of moral criticism. Therefore, once again, we can say that Piercy has written this poem on the marginalization of women and how they are “pruned”, “dwarfed”; how their feet are “bound” and how their brain “crippled”, in order to mark the susceptibility of her audience which might draw them to “affirm the life of women”. Piercy indeed presents us with a very interesting description of woman through the metaphor of the bonsai tree. Normally, in keeping with its Japanese tradition, the art of bonsai objects what would otherwise be a normal tree or shrub to the confines of a small pot and pruning techniques in an effort to limit its growth and control its form. The tree’s limitless potential to grow “eighty feet”, contrasts with the fact that it has been restricted to a height of “nine inches”, by the gardener who prunes it. Similarly, the woman is not allowed to develop to her full potential. She is constantly subjected to discriminations and when one thinks of this, one inevitably develops a sense of revolt; which might have been the very objective of the poet; that is, to indirectly make one to resist inauthentic images of women.
Feminist criticism also concerns itself with stereotypical representations of genders. With its emphasis on the sexual, ‘sexual difference’ is a difference of women from men, of female from male. There is a concept of gender based on binary opposition which goes on. The tactic hypothesis of many studies seems to be that men and women are essentially different from each other. In our poem concerned, we inevitably see this essential sexual difference between male and female. While the male’s objective is to prune, and “to dwarf [the female’s] growth”, the female, on the other hand, has to abide by the male’s rules. In short, she has to accept everything that is imposed upon her by the male. She is repressed by not being allowed to develop fully:
“The bonsai tree
in the attractive pot
could have grown eighty feet tall
on the side of a mountain
till split by lightening
But a gardener
carefully pruned it.”
Then, there is the feminist critic, Butler’s concept of gender as performance. Butler argues that gender operates as an interior essence that might be disclosed; an expectation that ends up producing the very phenomenon that it anticipates. One anticipates that gender structure constitutes the constitutive framework within which men and women find their ultimate sense of self. It is only by performing gender, by repeating gender roles, through the act of dressing, mothering, playing for example, that one inhabits gender roles. In other words, gender identity is not in-built or in-born in our consciousness. It is basically performed. In fact, the majority of feminists today reject the relationship between our biological and cultural evolution. This implies that our biological makeup has no connection to informing social roles and behaviours. Here, we are inevitably reminded of Simone de Beauvoir’s claim that:
“One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.”
In Piercy’s poem, we are given a very good example of how one is not born, but rather becomes a woman. She is not let to herself and is ruled by man. For example, while the woman, who is presented through the bonsai tree, could have developed fully, without being dwarfed, she is bound by the shackles of a patriarchal world. In the poem, we are told:
“…could have grown eighty feet
on the side of a mountain.”
Here, it is interesting to note that the poet might be trying to say that in fact, the woman does not need man. She can live all alone. It is only then that she would have been able to “[grow] eighty feet tall”, all alone “on the side of a mountain”. So we see how the idea of gender as performance is justified. Instead of being allowed to develop fully, she is bound by a male-dominated society. This subordination is, by no means, presented as an overt attempt to disrupt that which would normally develop, but is instead presented as a law of nature. Her duty is to “be small and cozy,
domestic and weak”.
These lines show this method of indoctrination as the gardener croons while whittling away at the ability of his captive beauty, be it tree or woman. Deception is clearly employed to convince the tree, that is, the woman that its capacity for growth has been predetermined and cannot be exceeded.
On the ideological level of feminist criticism, the reader seeks to learn not to accept the hegemonic perspective of the male and refuses to be co-opted by a gender-biased criticism. Gender is largely a cultural construct, as are the stereotypes that go along with it: that the male is active, dominating, and rational; whereas the female is passive, submissive, and emotional. In Marge Piercy’s A Work of Artifice, the phrases “small and cozy” and “domestic and weak” are all too commonly used when referring to women. Piercy might be implying that these are terms which society uses when viewing women and their abilities. Feminists have stressed on the growing inequalities which continue between males and females. They admit that housework is unpaid labour and it is mainly women who give up paid labour to look after children, the sick and old and are likely to get the blame if these tasks are not performed properly. In this manner, women are stripped of any belief in their abilities and must resign themselves to living the life set out for them by the surrounding culture.
On the deconstructionist level, the aim of feminist criticism is to dismantle and subvert the logocentric assumptions of male discourse – its valorization of being, meaning, truth, reason and logic, its metaphysics of presence. Logocentricism is phallocentric (hence the neologism, ‘phallogocentricism’); it systematically privileges paternal over maternal power, the intelligible over the sensible. Patriarchal authority demands unity of meaning and is obsessed with certainty of origin. The French feminists, in particular, construe ‘woman’ as any radical force that subverts the concepts, assumptions, and structures of traditional male discourse – the realism, rationality, mastery and explanation that under gird it. In the poem concerned, the subversion lies in “the crippled brain”. This illustration signifies intellectual subordination made existent, not by any inherent inferiority, but by the prevalent, though unfounded view of women as naturally lacking in intelligence. One may also assume that Piercy, like other feminists, has taken into account, the disparity of educational opportunities for women, as opposed to men, in her decision to include this line. It has been scientifically proved that women do best at educational level. Thus, by presenting woman as having “crippled brain”, the poet might in fact be using irony to subvert the logocentric assumption that is usually associated with males. The reader knows very well that women usually do best at educational level. Hence the aim of deconstruction is achieved. Piercy is successful in construing ‘woman’ as any radical force that subvert the concepts of male discourse.
Elaine Showalter, one of the founders of contemporary feminist criticism, argues that the focus of feminist criticism should not be delineated by male perceptions and assumptions. Rather, it should be on the woman’s experience. Literature written by women inevitably contains just that. Because of their educational, experimental, and biological handicaps, women develop their sympathy, sentiment and powers of observation to bring the substance and significance of the female experience to readers. Hence, it is very interesting to note that A Work of Artifice is written by a woman. In addition, Piercy writes about woman and her experience, how the woman is always under the domination of man, always having to subjugate herself to man and his needs. In the poem, we see woman as being comforted in believing how lucky she is “to have a pot to grow in”. This ‘pot’ most likely refers to the belief that women should, and are indeed obligated to feel fortunate that men have taken it upon themselves to care for women since they are made to believe that they are too weak and unfit to function on their own. In addition to the lack of bodily strength commonly associated with the term, ‘weak’ also implies a lack of authority, mental power and moral strength, all of which have been incorporated into the stereotype of women. Women are often viewed as vacillating simpletons, incapable of taking charge in matters of any sort. They are simply kept in the “attractive pot” so as to be an object of admiration and not a human.
For Showalter, one focal point of feminist criticism has been the suffering of women and the stunting of her development. “With living creatures
One must begin very early
to dwarf their growth”.
These three lines comprise the secret of successfully stunting the growth of woman. A bonsai tree is dwarfed by pruning roots and branches, and by training branches to grow in certain directions by tying them with wire. Likewise, a woman is ‘dwarfed’ by being conditioned from birth to believe in her inferiority and by being denied equal access to educational, occupational and social opportunities. Women are under achieved in a whole range of areas, and they are kept in a secondary position to men to many areas of social life. This is a main feminist criticism. Piercy illustrates this by concluding her poem with examples of ways in which women have been shaped to meet and abide by the desired norm and thus, making them stereotyped. They lose their identity and personality to some extent since they act the way they are expected to act and not the way they want and feel like acting.
One example that Piercy gives to prove her point is the mention of “bound feet” in the poem. This has its origin in ancient Chinese custom. Women of higher classes in particular had their feet bound at a young age so that they would appear dainty and feminine. Although this was a symbol of prestige and physical beauty, it had its drawbacks. Women were rendered incapable of working or even walking, restricting their lifestyle drastically. But since it was about women, this idea was accepted and this further strengthens the point of the feminists that women are mere objects of male dominance and authority.
Another example that Piercy gives is her reference to the stereotyped domesticity of women with the line about “hair in curlers”. This clearly illustrates social subordination of women and the restrictions placed upon them to be ‘homebodies’ and nothing more – certainly not anything outside the home. Their role is only to take care of their home, husband and family. They are restricted to this kind of life and are expected by society not to transgress these barriers.
Yet another example that Piercy gives us reminds us of the feminine critic, Simone de Beauvoir who says, “Man’s love is of man’s life a thing apart, ‘tis woman’s whole existence’…”. Piercy presents us with sexual subordination when she refers to:
“The hands you
love to touch” .
In these last lines of the poem, we get a modified view of women as sex objects. While women view the men they love as their whole existence, it is not the case for men. Women are expected to provide for the emotional and sexual well-beibg of the males, regardless of their own well-being. They are reduced to the second plan and are given secondary importance.
Finally, history has given women every reason to want to talk and write about their own gender. It is not surprising then, that feminism chooses to focus on women because it is primarily women and not men whose lives are marginalized and obscured by male power. Feminist criticism is not based upon an objective or scientific aesthetic assessment of formal elements. Rather, one important feminist motto is that “the personal is political”. Hence, feminist criticism is self-consciously ideological, seeking to change individual readers and society itself. Although most people are not ardent supporters of feminism, few could find fault with the conclusions reached in A Work of Artifice. Few, if any, who objectively study history can deny the repressions of women. Applying feminist criticism to this poem can only help to read and understand the poem better.
Bibliography
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Marge, Piercy, A Work of Artifice.
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Patricia Waugh, Feminine Fictions, Revisiting the postmodern.
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Jane Miller, Women Writing About Men.
- Lecture notes, Week 3, 4.
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A glossary of literary criticism,
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Elaine Showalter,
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Elaine Showalter’s Towards a Feminist Poetics,
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Feminist Literary Criticism, http://cc/cumbercollege.edu/acad/english/litcritweb/theory/feminist.htm
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Josephine Donovan,
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Josephine Donovan’s Beyond the Net: Feminist Criticism as a Moral Criticism,
Marge Piercy, A Work of Artifice, line 7.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, Oxford, Oxford University Press 1974.
Josephine Donovan, Beyond the Net: Feminist Criticism as a Moral Criticism,
Marge Piercy, A Work of Artifice, line 3.
Marge Piercy, A Work of Artifice, line 19
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1949
Marge Piercy, A Work of Artifice, lines 3-4.
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1949
Marge Piercy, A Work of Artifice, lines 23-24