What do Women Want PDF

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It is essay regarding symbolism in poetry....

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Allie Dey Effective reading and writing (603-101-MQ, sect-52) Andrea Strudensky 26th November, 2019 Poetry Essay Symbolism “What Do Women Want?” By Kim Addonzio In this stimulating poem “What Do Women Want?” by Kim Addonzio the strongest symbol is the red dress. The red dress if we look at it as one word then it symbolizes femininity, temptation, seduction, magnetism, provocation, and a fiery temperament. It is worn when you want to stand out, make a statement. Women who wear red dresses often called the “lady in red” because wherever they go wearing that color, they are bound to get noticed. So we can say that the main character in this poem wants to have all the attention on her. Now if we separate the words “red dress” and analyze it separately then we can see a whole new different meaning of this. The color red symbolizes fire and blood. It also symbolize danger. And clothing in poems in this case dress symbolizes, what a specific society believes is valuable at a given time. So when analyzed separately red dress means the misogynists views of society that inflict dangers upon women. At the beginning, the red dress is represented as the weapon of choice to garner attention. By “flimsy and cheap” the author indicates that she wants it to be damaged. She wants the dress to be too tight, by that one can interpret the meaning of choking. At the beginning it’s not clear what she indicated by using a symbolism of choking, but as we dive into the poem much farther it gets clear. The line break between the fourth and fifth line, “I want it too tight, I want wear it until someone tears it off me.” As we said too tight connotes choking, the rest of the line, “I want to wear…until someone tears it off me” represents the idea that the main character plans on wearing the dress lifelong until her death. Because the only time someone will tear off someone’s clothes is when they die. When the main character says that she wants the dress sleeveless and backless so everybody knows what is underneath the red dress, by this we start to comprehend that she the red dress is not only a thing to get attention, it has much deeper meaning than that. Arms are the symbol of power and strength, it can also symbolize the weapon to protect ourselves. And back is the symbol of strength and hard work. By saying that she wants sleeveless and backless she is essentially indicating that she wants to show her power and strength and if worst comes to worst, she will use her arms as a weapon to protect herself. She mentions various places she wants to go 1

wearing that dress like, the street passing the Thrifty’s and the hardware store, Mr. and Mrs. Wong’s café, Guerra brothers workplace. Here the places she mentioned are normal places that one has to go through almost every day. It implies the meaning that she wants to be able to go anywhere she wants wearing that red dress. Also she mentions “…keys glittering in the window’ which symbolizes the way to new, happiness or the unknown. The line break in following line is intriguing: “I want to walk like I’m the only woman on earth and I can have my pick.” The first line finishes on only which symbolizes individualism and by walk like I’m the only it represents the idea of each of us choosing a path and paving the way we want. The second line starts with emphasizing the word woman on earth and pick. We all know that being a woman and choosing our choices in our personal life and professional life are still considered a farfetched dream for many. So the second line strongly emphasizes on the narrator conquering that stigma. On to the next line break: I want that red dress bad. I want it to confirm your worst fears about me, to show how little I care about you or anything except what I want. When I find it I will pull that garment Here, in these line we can interpret that the red dress is symbolizing an armour. In a simpler way above written words signifies the misogynist mindset of judging a woman for every decision she makes. The main character states that she won’t care about what others think of her. In this fear can be interpreted as judgements and opinions. On the final line of this the first words that are heavily emphasized is “I want”. Basically saying she will do whatever she want, without caring about other’s judgement. Next part of the poem is:

From its hanger like I’m choosing a body to carry me into this world, through the birth-cries and love cries too, and I’ll wear it like bones, like skin, it’ll be the goddamned dress they bury me in. 2

In these lines there is a very important symbolism hidden and it is the hanger. The hanger symbolizes a pro-choice movement. Putting the words hanger, choosing and body in the same line makes the red dress’s significance so much more. The final line “it’ll be the goddamned/ dress they bury me in.” indicates the armour part again. Her (main character) chosen uniform is the red dress. It can also symbolize the will power or strength one gets and decides to keep it with oneself until the day they die.

From beginning to end the red dress turns from a noose around neck to the essential and crucial necklace a woman wants and needs. We can see in the beginning that she associated the red dress with choking where at the end the red dress became an almost body part of her. It could be that she was hesitant to wear a mask for the world but by the end of the poem it becomes her armour. The main idea of this is that for a woman to become strong and independent, she has to have an armour or a mask that will lead the way to her goals.

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