Aunt Jennifer's Tigers
Written in 1951 by Adrienne Rich, "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" paints a decidedly dark portrait of a married woman's life in the domestic sphere. Patriarchal society, oppression and female helplessness are all delicately chided in this powerful poem. By examining the way Rich uses metaphor to further her purpose, we will unearth the deeper and multi-layered implications of this well known piece. In the first stanza, we are introduced to the sympathetic protagonist of the poem, Aunt Jennifer. Instead of describing her, however, Rich chooses to establish Aunt Jennifer's ownership of Tigers and continues to describe them. The tigers are vivacious and vividly portrayed. The tigers are colorfully described as "bright" and seeming full of energy; they happily "prance across
Aunt Jennifer is described as conducting needle work with a piece of wool. " We then realize that this menial, domestic task is made difficult by the "massive weight" of the wedding ring that Aunt Jennifer is wearing. " This is a particularly daunting notion as usually we thing of death as although tragic in many senses, ultimately a liberator. " Completely free and fearless of the men below them, the tigers "pace in sleek chivalric certainty. Where the first stanza serves as a medium to explain what the tigers represent, the second stanza tells us who Aunt Jennifer is, and what she represents. So in order to create something to stand up against the patriarchal society in which she lived, Aunt Jennifer decided on masculine creatures. Aunt Jennifer and her tigers are in fact polar opposites, her tigers are everything that she isn't and wishes to be. "In a possibly subconscious attempt to live vicariously through free and happy beings, Rich's protagonist, Aunt Jennifer, has created tigers. However, under the oppressive world that she lives in, even this relatively symbol embroidery seems somewhat of a daunting task, for "even the ivory needle is hard to pull. However, Aunt Jennifer's oppression is so extreme that not even death will grant her freedom. " As the poem unravels, we realize these tigers serve as a sharp contrast to the psyche of Aunt Jennifer. In a very bittersweet closing couplet, the tigers are described as eternal beings, having the freedom to forever "go on prancing, proud, and unafraid. In short, she says that even in death, she will be oppressed by patriarchal society, or "ringed with the ordeals she was mastered by. Here, we begin to really appreciate the juxtaposition between Aunt Jennifer and her tigers. Sedentary and listless, Aunt Jennifer represents an oppressed housewife lacking the ability to stand up for herself.
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