While initially reading \u201cIV. Carol, in the park, chewing on straws,\u201d by Judy Grahn, I envisioned the woman of focus within the piece, as disinterested with her life, putting on a persona to please others. After re-reading and pairing it with Adrienne Rich\u2019s poem \u201cDiving into the Wreck,\u201d I believe both speakers in each poem, ironically, have a desire to face hardships, in order to grow and reach a sense of purpose. In particular, the narration is in third person, therefore it directly shows not only an outside perspective of Carol but also her inner monologue. This is ultimately examined in lines 13-21, where the speaker states,<\/p>\n
On weekends, she dreams of becoming a tree;
\nA tree that dreams it is ground up
\nAnd sent to the paper factory, where it
\nLies helpless in sheets, until it dreams
\nOf becoming a paper airplane, and rises
\nOn its own current; where it turns into a
\nBird, a great coasting bird that dreams of becoming
\nMore free, even, than that\u2014a feather, finally, or
\nA piece of air with lightning in it (1).<\/p>\n
Grahn gives the reader an insight in this specific excerpt, where Carol\u2019s deepest desires are unveiled. Line 13 begins her inner monologue as she dreams of becoming another, in particular, something that is inanimate. The tone of the speaker in line 13 is almost nostalgic, yet in line 14 it is drastically different. She then wishes that she was \u201ca tree that\u2026is ground up.\u201d The switch of her tone from holding a positive connotation to a more gruesome one is quite shocking. From this immediate juxtaposition, I believe that Carol has an inclination towards death and suffering. Furthering this desire for suffering, in lines 15-16, it states, \u201cAnd sent to the paper factory, where it lies helpless in sheets.\u201d However, I do not firmly believe that this desire for suffering results in her \u2018end,\u2019 but instead, her personal growth. Directly shown in the following lines, the speaker shows Carol\u2019s longing for change and growth. It states, \u201c\u2026until it dreams of becoming a paper airplane, and rises on its own current. Not only does this line show her desire for newness, but also her ability to be independent. By having the paper airplane form and be able to \u201crise on its own current,\u201d Carol will not be at anyone\u2019s disposure. The final three lines of the excerpt are riveting, as the speaker explicitly shows Carol\u2019s longing for freedom and her ultimate means to do so. It is stated, \u201c\u2026where it turns into a bird, a great coasting bird that dreams of becoming more free, even, than that\u2014a feather, finally, or a piece of air with lightning in it.\u201d The overarching transformation of a tree to a feather heightens the amount of change Carol wants to have within her life. The smaller changes within, of tree to paper, paper to paper airplane, airplane to bird, and bird to feather, show the hardships and steps of changing, enveloped within the larger transformation.
\nRich\u2019s narration of \u201cDiving into the Wreck\u201d is similar, as the speaker gives the reader an insight into a wreck she discovers, and ultimately keeps going back to. In my blog post prior, I made a connection between the wreck itself and the speaker\u2019s feelings regarding the wreck. I believed that the \u2018wreck\u2019 meant the speaker\u2019s past and that the speaker wants to use the wreck as a learning experience for growth.<\/p>\n
In the seventh stanza, Rich states,
\nThe thing I came for:
\nthe wreck and not the story of the wreck
\nthe thing itself and not the myth
\nthe drowned face always staring
\ntoward the sun
\nthe evidence of damage
\nworn by salt and sway into this threadbare beauty (102).
\nIf the reader were to assume that the \u2018wreck\u2019 means the speaker\u2019s past, then the disregard for the story of the past only heightens the speaker\u2019s distaste for being stuck within the past. Through the metaphor of \u201cthe drowning face always staring,\u201d the reader can infer that the past is always lingering. By positioning the face \u201ctowards the sun,\u201d this demonstrates how the speaker has the ability to use the past to their advantage. However, this has not been done yet and the reader can assume through Rich\u2019s explanation of this image, being \u201cthe evidence of damage.\u201d Both Rich and Grahn depict their speakers as longing for change and ironically, wanting to face hardships along the way, in order for their ultimate growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While initially reading \u201cIV. Carol, in the park, chewing on straws,\u201d by Judy Grahn, I envisioned the woman of focus within the piece, as disinterested with her life, putting on a persona to please others. After re-reading and pairing it with Adrienne Rich\u2019s poem \u201cDiving into the Wreck,\u201d I believe both speakers in each poem, … Continue reading the Desire for Suffering in Grahn’s “A Common Woman: IV” and Rich’s “Diving into the Wreck”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4635,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169398],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233","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\/233","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\/4635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqhistoryandliterature\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}