Stevenson uses imagery that is in stark contrast to society's idealistic perspectives of childbirth and maternal instincts, in order to destroy it. Society's idealistic perspectives have led people to believe that childbirth is a woman's greatest tribute and victory in life. They believe that a mother will love the child with unfaltering certainty.
             "The Victory" is a poem written during the woman's liberation period, where all women were treated differently then most are now. There are women today, however, who are expected to live under the same circumstances and rules as women before the women's liberation. In India, all traditional families have the same expectations from their daughters as their family before them. A woman is expected to marry into a respected home and to do as the in-laws and husband says. She would be expected to produce an heir for her new family, preferably a male. Some believe that for women, childbirth is the ultimate and that a woman will feel the same and consider it as a victorious moment for them; and Stevenson disproves that through her poetry. The poem projects a clear-cut, black and white image, showing the reader that not all women consider childbirth as the greatest contribution they can make. The feelings a woman has for her child are not always clear and simple and can actually make women very uncertain. A woman has many thoughts during and after childbirth and some, at the end, won't see childbirth as a victory; this is evident right in the title. The poem is called "The Victory" instead of "My Victory," so we get an insight on the situation, that there is a battle or a struggle ensuing in the poem in which the speaker will not be the victor.
             The poem starts with the birth of a child, and the first thing the speaker says is, "I thought you were my victory" (1). In the pre-women's liberation period, many men believed that a woman must give birth, that it was one of their responsib...