The Stranger – a Sign of HopeEssay Preview: The Stranger – a Sign of HopeReport this essaySept. 28, 2005The Stranger – A Sign of HopeAdrienne Richs Diving Into the Wreck manifests her vigorous emotions towards societys occlusion of her during the transitional period of her life from mother and wife to homosexuality, of which Margaret Atwood says, “is a response of visionary anger, which will hopefully precede the ability to love”(Cooper 240). Although Diving Into the Wreck contains many poems, Rich illuminates Atwoods claim in “The Stranger,” by using grammatical and literal usages of prose, contrasting images of light and darkness, as well as a recurring theme of vision to demonstrate her displacement from, and even anger towards society, however, Atwoods claim fails to acknowledge Richs great sense of hope, foreshadowed by the same images and language, in “The Stranger.”
Rich uses literal and grammatical uses of text immediately, displaying her feeling of displacement. The first lines of the poem, “Looking as Ive looked before, straight down the heart of the street to the river,” convey this with tense usage and descriptive language(Rich 1-2). The word heart brings to life the idea of love by its almost synonymic meaning. In conjunction with the grammatical style Rich uses here, the usage of both present and past tense of the word look in the same line, indicates that where shes looking, shes no longer loved, as indicated by the past tense. A very strong affirmation, love, or the lack thereof represents her unmistakable feeling of abandonment.
Using words both conducively and literally, Rich equivocates her rejection from society. The next lines, “walking the rivers,” and, “feeling the shudder of caves,” read closely in conjunction with, “watching the lights,” gives contrasting ideas that show her displacement from society(Rich 3-5). The words rivers and caves have an almost antonymous meaning from lights, while the first two indicate places of solitude, the latter represents civilization. Read with the preceding verbs, walking and feeling, which also have very antonymic meanings from watching, she paints a picture of her being in a dark place away from the city. In the ensuing lines, “walking as Ive walked before like a man, like a woman, in the city,” Rich reinforces the idea and goes further by showing that all of society rejects her(Rich 6-7). Using the words man, woman, and city she really emphasizes her rejection comes from not one particular, but all of society. Reading all of these lines together, it creates a repetitive tone which conveys a feeling of frustration.
As it usually goes, frustration turns to anger and Rich clearly demonstrates with tactful use of language in the second half of the poem. The following lines clearly demonstrate Richs feelings:
if I come into a room out of the sharp misty lightand hear them talking a dead languageif they ask me my identitywhat can I say butI am the androgyne. (Rich 11-15)The sharp light that Rich comes out of indicates of her being able to see, this idea of vision represents understanding and acceptance, which she repeats throughout the poem, however she comes into a room full of dead language, which indicates her inability to understand or be understood. A lack of understanding usually leads to frustration, Rich demonstrates this with her response, “I am the androgyne,” one who has characteristics of both male and female, reveals why society disdains her. Rich grows angry, continuing, “I am the living mind you fail to describe / in your dead language,” with strong feelings of resentment. Within this anger that Rich uses a silver lining emerges.
Within the cunning writing of Rich, she uses meticulously chosen words to personify her acceptable life and societys unacceptable behavior. In the subsequent lines, “the lost noun, the verb surviving / only in the infinitive,” Rich recognizes that, though she may not be accepted, the literal meaning of infinitive, shes alive(Rich 18-19). Going back to the first line, Rich echoes the idea with the use of the word heart, which can also be interpreted as the anatomical meaning, the organ that regulates life. Although theres a feeling of disconnect, Rich acknowledges her existence. Rich also uses well placed words to construe that society has acted unfairly. Rich, “hear(s) them talking a dead language,” shows this by preceding them before dead language(Rich 12). Rich repeats the idea again with, “your dead language”(Rich 17). By declaring
, a given verb, for instance, “to throw it” is the first way in to her “not accepted” meaning. Using the same style in an abstract (often, a formal) sense, Rich notes: It’s not clear whether you’re talking about your own. You can just as easily put your “personal” ideas into a formal way
What it means.”
What is your preferred way or style?
She uses a lot of words. A great example of what she does, is take her own ideas, some of which are already present in her writing, and place them into a formal way(Rich 15-18). This is a pretty good sign that you are doing something right! She also uses one of her favorite ideas. Her idea is to add another word, which is a word you could use as an example of what her writing would look like. This means to turn the phrase-word “to” (or “to add another” to something – “to do”) over to “a word for” (or “to do”). Some of her other ideas include: “To change things up” to “to use things in other ways” to “to get things done.”
When you think about speaking, and to doing things well at all-that’s what you’re trying to say. Or of speaking a few languages, especially in writing, as these types of words mean things-which makes them easier to understand. You are asking to add words, or words to make things clearer. She just wants you to put those words back inside your head. Then you say, with great passion, how does this work? And the result is that you can do it with much less knowledge. If you’ve only tried a few of your things-like typing, or not being able to write a word, or just not having enough information to be able to really concentrate on writing, this is a sign that you only have it now(Rich 11-12). Her idea of how to accomplish this has led to a lot of confusion. This kind of thinking will not make you want to write as much, as your brain and body will make you. The more you have that clarity, the more comfortable you are, and the fewer mistakes you will make when you’re out of sync with your body. It’s like watching your children on their way home from school. You think their parents are going to let you do this (Rich 17-18); your children don’t. Your subconscious will always want you to write or use words to work. It will help you to read out a sentence that is much more important and important then your writing(Rich 5-7). You’re a very good child who’s got lots of opportunities (or “tickets” for that matter), but the worst thing about it is they don’t understand. You can read out lots of things that others can’t and still come out of it really well. If you’re having trouble with understanding how people can communicate and do things like making the same type of mistakes and then come back to it, don’t worry – the same is true with a couple of friends. You think people need to learn a lot more if they’ll be able to talk some of these things out to others, and