Silence of Women

Even though many ancient stereotypes have changed in our current generation, one common belief for society has been the idea that in a relationship, the man is the dominant figure. This can be seen all over the media- from television, the Internet, magazines, books, etc. Women are often showed as the weaker figure, and forced to lean on their men for everything. The poem “The Silence of Women” by Liz Rosenberg is about women becoming more demanding as they age and rebelling against the expectation for them to be submissive. The basic plot to the poem is that as a couple ages, the men become nicer and the woman take over the dominant role. After years of being “silent” they cannot take it anymore and they let everything out. It shows a lot of frustration for the women over time. They also feel like they spent their whole life doing everything for this man, and now they are too old and it is too late to do something productive with their lives. The narrator is describing a woman who has spent her entire lifetime doing anything for this man whom she loves. She was very submissive, and followed the society expectation for caring for her man and her children. But after they grow old, and the children have their own lives, she feels purposeless so she starts to take back her dignity. She was forced to “Sit there! And don’t you move!” and has feelings that have been bottled up inside for so long. “A lifetime of yes has left them hissing bent as snakes,” which means that after a life of going along with everything their men tell them, they are left “hissing” or angry and dangerous like snakes. The word “snakes” is an example of diction, or the choice of word used. “Snakes” gives the reader an image of a dangerous animal, which could hurt you. This is a good way to describe the way the women feel and what they are becoming. Another way to describe the women is that over time, there even begins to be a role change. The women do not only become more vocal, but the men