Unfair Treatment of Women in A Work of Artifice by Marge Piercy

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*The poem “A work of Artifice” is written by Marge Piercy. The poem describes a bonsai tree and uses the tree as a metaphor for woman, by depicting woman that is treated unfairly, especially by not giving them their freedom of rights. I will prove my argument in this essay by examining the main metaphor, the relationship between the tree and the gardener, the tree symbolizing women and the Chinese foot binding.

The bonsai tree represents a woman and the gardener is a man. The gardener is a man because every day he whittles back the branches. In line 2 the bonsai tree is in an attractive pot. This pot prevents the bonsai the tree (woman) from growing on a mountainside. This also means the gardener is protecting the tree. It is ironic that the gardener provides the tree a home, yet in line 3 “could have grown eighty feet tall” suggests that it was frequently pruned and molded with the help of wire to give a certain artistic quality and shape the branches and the trunk. The tree is used for commercial benefits. Parallels in the poem allow the tree to become a metaphor for women in society.

The metaphor of the bonsai tree is symbolizing women and their roles in society. In line 7 “carefully pruned” signifying its importance the idea of protection is also present as the tree could have grown tall been “split by lightning” instead it is coddled and cared for. Line 9 -10 “every day as he whittles back the branches” it suggest that the gardener takes good care of the tree. Bonsai trees are subject to pruning root reduction, potting, defoliation and grafting. Just like these trees, women were restricted from reaching their full potential. Women are considered prized in the poem. Line 11 “the gardener croons” as one would wi...

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...ntrol and limit women, preventing them from reaching their full potential, therefore the tree(women) knows anybody who wants to control, limit or diminish any living creature, be it a woman or a tree, has to start manipulating and training it while it is very young age. Women are taught that their roles as wives and mothers are biological determined they are now told they should be glad they have husbands to support them and do not have to work outside home. Just as the bonsai tree could grow much larger and live outside the confines of its pot, however women can grow and develop differently and perform any of the jobs traditionally by men. There is a chance that Piercy was not symbolizing women. Either way this poem can be taken out of context.

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