A Work of Artiface

When I first read this poem the only thing going through my mind was the fifties. Women in the fifties were for show. They had no thoughts, no ideas, no place among men. They were to be seen and not heard. They lived to serve their husbands. Had they not lived in this manner perhaps they could have been doctors or lawyers or maybe one of them could have found the cure for cancer. "Could have grown eight feet tall on the side of a mountain" means that if they had been set free and let do as they wish they could have amounted to anything they wanted to. The men believed they were helping them and keeping them safe and happy just like the gardener thought he or she was doing for the plant. The gardener makes the plant seem lucky to get a pot to grow in just like men believed women to be lucky for them to have a home. They were lucky they had been chosen for marriage. The beginning young thing I didn't understand at first, but I think it means that this was driven into young men, young women and even children of the fifties. They were taught at a young age that men rule the house hold and women have babies and clean the house. The bound feet made me think of Chinese cultures because they use to break and bind the feet of little girls so that they would be small and delicate. After this last part of the poem it seems almost a mixture of Chinese culture and their treatment of women and the American culture in the fifties and the way society of that time viewed women. I really enjoyed this poem a lot because as a society most of us believe the fifties to be a time of prosperity and the rich social classes where everyone lived like a millionaire, but this poem shows how much destruction of self worth came through for women in this time. I really liked how right away I knew it wasn't about a tree. I knew it was about women and their roles in society. That was nice because I didn't have to beat the meaning out of it. I understood right away. Overall, I think this is one of my favorite poems.