The poem \u201cDiving into the Wreck\u201d by Adrienne Rich is an extended metaphor for the long-standing oppression of women throughout history. In the beginning and end of the poem a \u201cbook of myths\u201d (1, 92) is mentioned. This book is where the speaker learned a lot about the history of the wreck she is exploring. The wreck in this poem isn\u2019t a literal shipwreck, but a metaphor for the oppression of women and the damage it has caused. Thinking of the wreck in this context, the book of myths seems to be a script that women are supposed to follow. This script lays out gender norms such as the clothes women should wear and the way they should act.<\/p>\n
In the final stanza of the poem Rich writes, \u201ca book of myths \/ in which \/ our names do not appear\u201d (92-94). Clearly this book does not mention the speaker or anyone else she is lumping in with her by saying \u201cour names\u201d (94). These people the book fails to mention are women throughout history. This can be deduced by analyzing the way in which Rich describes what was found in the wreck. Not only was there damage down there, but also treasure that was left to rot. Rich writes, \u201cthe evidence of damage \/ worn by salt and sway into this threadbare beauty \/ the ribs of the disaster \/ curving their assertion \/ among the tentative hunters\u201d (66-70). Clearly there is damage within this wreck, but there is also the shadow of beauty. This beauty is the stories of women that have been stamped down by men and \u201cleft to rot\u201d (82). Not only are these beautiful stories forgotten about, but the women\u2019s names are also left out of a book that is supposed to guide them in adhering to societies standards. By saying \u201cour names do not appear\u201d (94), Rich is commenting on how the accomplishments of women are seldom talked about and their names are not mentioned when they should be. This instills in women the belief that they are less important than men and shouldn\u2019t aim too high because they won\u2019t be remembered for anything either way.<\/p>\n
Because Rich is discussing how women\u2019s names are often forgotten, it draws my attention to the only name mentioned in the poem. She writes, \u201cnot like Cousteau with his \/ assiduous team \/ aboard the sun-flooded schooner\u201d (9-12). Jacques Cousteau was a French naval officer and explorer who studied the sea. I think it\u2019s important to note that the only name Rich mentions in this poem is his name, further emphasizing her point that women and their accomplishments are often forgotten about while men and their accomplishments are always remembered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The poem \u201cDiving into the Wreck\u201d by Adrienne Rich is an extended metaphor for the long-standing oppression of women throughout history. In the beginning and end of the poem a \u201cbook of myths\u201d (1, 92) is mentioned. This book is where the speaker learned a lot about the history of the wreck she is exploring. … Continue reading The Gender Script in “Diving into the Wreck”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4637,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169398],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185","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\/185","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\/4637"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}