{"id":142,"date":"2021-02-07T23:23:13","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T04:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/?p=142"},"modified":"2021-02-07T23:23:13","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T04:23:13","slug":"the-effects-of-gender-norms-in-diving-into-the-wreck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/2021\/02\/07\/the-effects-of-gender-norms-in-diving-into-the-wreck\/","title":{"rendered":"The Effects of Gender Norms In \u201cDiving into the Wreck\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Upon my first readings, I find myself drawing towards the mirroring of its first and last stanzas. Most interestingly, it begins and ends with the mention of \u201cthe book of myths\u201d (1, 92). I question what this book could be and what the wreck could mean. Ultimately, I believe \u201cDiving into the Wreck\u201d by Adriene Rich is a commentary about gender norms and their effects on gender identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cbook of myths\u201d is what pushes the speaker into this journey and what disappoints them in the end. I believe that the \u201cbook of myths\u201d is a metaphor for the history of gender norms. The word \u201cmyth\u201d indicates a false belief, a tale that has been passed down culturally. Gender and how it is perceived, is subjected to history and culture. Therefore, it is possible that upon reading and familiarizing themself with this notion, the speaker begins to believe that they must act a certain way to be accepted by the culture. In relation, they would be allowed to travel to and into the wreck.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The wreck is a representation of society, it is the world where gender norms dictate who is \u2018normal.\u2019 In the first stanza, the speaker gets ready to go out into the world. They describe that in order to do so, \u201c[they must] put on \/ the body-armor… the absurd flippers \/ the grave and awkward mask\u201d (4-7). They speak of \u201chaving to do this\u201d in order to be accepted (8). These lines allude to the idea that the speaker must prepare in order to exist in this society. The words \u201cbody-armor\u201d and \u201cmask\u201d support this idea, as the speaker must cover themself before they leave. In addition, the words \u201cabsurd,\u201d \u201cgrave,\u201d and \u201cawkward\u201d connotes that these actions are not voluntary. The anaphora in lines 5-7 indicates that it is a routine, as it elicits a feeling of familiarity with the task. The first stanza highlights that in order for the speaker to travel to the wreck, they must not be themself.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the last stanza, the speaker finds themself in the wreck. By the end, it is unclear if the speaker chose to live as themself or as how society wants them to be. The words \u201ccowardice\u201d and \u201ccourage\u201d paired with the enjambed line \u201cthe one who find our way \/ back to this scene\u201d does not make a clear distinction (88-90).\u00a0 The first part of the enjambed line seems to indicate that the speaker chose to live as their true self. The words \u201cfind our way\u201d heavily implies it. However, the line continues with \u201cback to this scene\u201d indicating that they did not. Either way, despite having lived a life – true or pretend – the speaker and others like them find that \u201c[their] names do not appear\u201d in the \u201cbook of myths.\u201d (94, 92). It relays a discouraging message, even if the speaker chose to live as their truth or not, they\u2019re still erased from history – their identity is not acknowledged.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDiving into the Wreck\u201d may be disheartening in its message, but in it there also exists bitter-sweetness. The first stanza emotes a feeling of isolation, referring to a singular \u201cI\u201d and ends with the word \u201calone\u201d (1, 8, 12). It indicates that in the society they live in, one must face the disappointments by themselves. Whereas, the last stanza talks of \u201cwe,\u201d \u201cyou,\u201d and \u201cour\u201d (87, 89, 94). This alludes to the idea that the speaker is not alone, that there are others like them. There is solidarity in this ending, despite the discouraging message.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Upon my first readings, I find myself drawing towards the mirroring of its first and last stanzas. Most interestingly, it begins and ends with the mention of \u201cthe book of myths\u201d (1, 92). I question what this book could be and what the wreck could mean. Ultimately, I believe \u201cDiving into the Wreck\u201d by Adriene … Continue reading The Effects of Gender Norms In \u201cDiving into the Wreck\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4640,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169398],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2021-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4640"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}