Duffy-Exploitation of Women Essay Example for Free

Duffy-Exploitation of Women EssayTo what extent is Duffy a poet who exposes the exploitation of women and fights against their barely oppression? In your retort, you must include detailed critical discussion of rest Female nude statue and at least one other meter by Duffy. In response to the question above, I feel that Duffy is a poet who portrays the exploitation of women and does at times fights against their further oppression. In my view, just now by raising these controversial issues Duffy is drawing attention to the matter and consequently fighting against their further oppression.The agnomen Standing Female Nude is in itself significant. A single-valued function from sounding possibly slightly inappropriate, the title reveals the objectification of women and their point in fellowship. The word Standing however, gives the reader the impression that the casing does make up some(prenominal) sort of empowerment, as it is usually referred to as who has a high reputa tion or a position in society. This is presumable later on in the poem.Duffy immediately presents the issue of the exploitation of women and in my view, as a conduct is fighting against their further oppression by making people aware of the problem. The poem starts six hours comparable this for a few francs. This shows the reader how dismissive the character is towards whatever she is doing. The fact that she is so dismissive suggests that she is universe treated unjustly. The harsh alliteration few francs really emphasizes how the character feels she is too good to be doing that detail job or that she is simply non organism paid enough for her services.Either way, it reveals how Duffy highlights the exploitation of women by being mistreated and underpaid. In the threesome line of the first stanza, the poem reads he drains the colour from me. This could be either in a literal sense due to the fact someone is doing a image of her or in a metaphorical sense in that the puma is actually taking part of her, possibly suggesting that her dignity is being taken away. The way that the character is being bossed by the male painter shows that the woman is not in control of the situation.Although, the man refers to her as Madame, which could be a sign of notice towards the character I feel however, that it could possibly be interpreted to be said in a sarcastic and condescending tone. This adds further weight to my view that Duffy is exposing the exploitation of women and is fighting against their further oppression by making the reader aware of situation and the problems that women face. The word hung in the fourth line suggests that the character is no more than a piece of meat.It implies that the female person person character will suck very little put on from her work compared to the artist and emphasises the inferiority and exploitation of the woman. The fact that the painter is given a name and the female character in the poem is not, insinuates that s he is of no great importance and again highlights how the woman is exploited. In my opinion, this is some other key point Duffy includes in the poem to reiterate the issue of womens exploitation. It is an travail to fight against their further contumely by forcing people to think about the issue.In the first two stanzas all the negative points were order towards the female character. However, in the third and fourth stanza Duffy completely turns it around and focuses on the painters downfalls. This is demonstrated in the third stanza when she refers to him as little man. This is a sign of empowerment on her behalf, as she exploits his sexual attraction towards her by belittling him, referring to his sexual attributes. This is another example of how Duffy possibly fights against womens further oppression.However, I can understand how some people may disagree with Duffy as her view could be seen as a generalised theatrical performance of men and thus could lead some people to dra w the conclusion that her poem verges on being hypocritical. Nevertheless, I still feel that Duffy is simply exposing how women are exploited in an attempt to fight against their further oppression. The jiffy poem I am going analyse is Whoever She Was. Like the title in the preliminary poem, the title Whoever She Was is significant in relation to the poems meaning.The past tense verb, was in the title implies that the character has no identicalness and suggests she is not the same person as she was before. This perhaps indicates that as the character has lost her identity possibly due to her exploitation. The female character in the poem is described as a quiver figure on a shilling screen. The word flickering gives mangle the impression that the character is not constant in the sense that a candle flutters. This gives the reader an image of something going on and off and thus not constant.This could in any case be interpreted as her moving back and forth among reality and pa st memories of her children. This gives the impression that she is delimit by her role as a mother. Although, the exploitation of the women is shown in a different light and is perhaps, not as sheer as in Standing female Nude, Duffy is still exposing the exploitation of women. In the second line of the first stanza, the poem reads My hands, still wet, sprout woody pegs. The reference to sprout wooden pegs is metaphorical in that it reveals the determined roles of women as mothers.It is a very unimaginative view of mothers and the fact that the woman is saying this emphasises how she herself is defined by these roles and has herself been exploited. The mothers exploitation is also made apparent to the reader when the poem describes how she smells the apples burning as I hang the washing out. By including this Duffy is perhaps exhausting to show us how the character is living her life through the past memories of her children. I believe this as the smell of burning apples is quit e translucentive and this could bring back memories of when she used to cook for her children.This would underline how she has been defined by her role as a mother and not through her individual character. This shows that Duffy exposes the exploitation of women and highlights the attitudes towards mothers in an attempt to fight against their further oppression. The exploitation of the character is shown further when the poem narrates Mummy, say the little voices of the ghosts of children on the telephone. Mummy. The children are referred to as ghosts implying that they are no longer children.However, the mother still views them as children, perhaps because she has been identify by her role as a mother all her life and she considers this to be normal and true. Again, this reiterates Duffys decision and meaning of the poem by presenting the exploitation of women to the reader, which as result opposes their further oppression. The quote in the second stanza the film is on a loop is p ossibly a metaphor to the characters life. The word loop indicates the repetitiveness of her life because of the fact she is always characterised by her role as a mother and nothing else.It suggests that the character is stuck in a continuous cycle and cannot let go of her duties and responsibilities of being a mother. This is again reflects her self-perception of only when having worth and purpose as a mother. In my view, Duffy is trying to show the reader how the conventions and expectations of motherhood have influenced her personality and perception of herself. By doing this, Duffy is exposing the issue, possibly in an attempt to help people to understand how society has left the character to feel isolated.Consequently, Duffy is fighting against the injustices suffered by women. In the fourth stanza, Duffy deliberately mixes the narrative of the poem from first person to third person. This gives the reader the concept that the character in the poem does not distinguish herself . Because of this, we also get the impression that the character does not have a definitive sense of identity. This is also the case for the character in Standing Female Nude as she also has no distinct identity because of what she has to do in order to survive.In my view, Duffy purposely gives the characters no definitive identity to emphasise how their character and personality has been taken away because of their exploitation. Therefore, Duffy is revealing the exploitation of women to draw attention to the issue, in an attempt to combat womens further oppression. To conclude, although some people may find Duffys poetry to be an unfair imitation of men and to a certain extent be sexist, I feel that Duffy is simply trying to provoke awareness of the exploitation of women.Therefore, I feel that Duffy is opposing womens further oppression. The two poems Standing Female Nude and Whoever She Was are generally quite dissimilar they do have certain aspects which are similar. For exampl e, both characters do not have a real identity and although in very different circumstances, the two characters have been exploited. Once again, I believe that Duffy is simply a poet who exposes the exploitation of women in an attempt to help mitigate the situation for others.