Women And Honor Adrienne Rich Analysis

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In “Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying”, Adrienne Rich specifically talks about why women lie, the reason lying began, and also what happens to not only the person being lied to but also the person telling the lie. Rich uses examples to show what happens to a person when they lie, what is the cause for someone to begin lying and also compares a women’s need to lie to many different things. Adrienne Rich’s main point is that all women lie to portray an image about themselves. The author’s secondary points are that women lie to others and themselves to be convincing, but also that women have been required to lie. Adrienne Rich first states that the notes are “concerned with relationships between and among women.” in order to show that women …show more content…

“The woman who tells lies in her personal relationship may or may not plan or invent her lying.”(413) This statement is implying that the person lying doesn’t even think about when they are lying that the lie just comes out of their mouth before it is even comprehended in their mind.Rich says that when people lie that they suffer from amnesia and describes amnesia as “the silence of the unconscious.”(413) implying that when someone lies that they don't really think that their mind just goes blank when a lie is being told. Rich expands on this idea by saying when a person lies they “lose contact with the unconscious” (414) Adrienne clearly states that when someone lies all the time that they really don’t know the difference. Rich says that it is like “taking sleeping pills” (414) this analogy is used to show a comparison to how lying avoids the possibilities of what could happen when telling the truth, like taking sleeping pills helps people sleep but the don’t dream. When going into the state of unconscious, that the person lying, “denies the importance of an event, or a person”(414) this example is used to imply that the liar at the same time is lying to themselves about just how important something really …show more content…

Women’s honor was never concerned about her moral compass but rather what she can do to benefit a man and his image. The harmful implications that this author has is that women and honor now has changed to lying about their life and changing their looks to persuade people into thinking that they have their life in order and also how they make the man in their life look based on how she handles things and the way she presents herself. Most people who read these notes will not realize that it actually has gotten worse for women there are going to be many people that continue to lie to themselves as Rich said that their not actually lying because they don’t think about when they lie they consider it a normal occurrence and they do not see what could happen if they actually told the

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