Analysis Of Victoria Chang's Poem The Boss Is Back

Alisa Tran

AP Literature

Mrs. Nelson

16 November 2015

Poem Theme Analysis: The Boss is Back

In the poem, The Boss is Back, written by Victoria Chang originates from her collection of poems in The Boss upon the hardships of office life. The continuous rhythm demonstrates the endless assigned tasks and projects given at the office, where breaks are nonexistent. Suffocation and anxiety are the main feelings of what how the persona feels. Overall, the persona contrasts between the rewards in good grades and how her boss fires the employees regardless of their performance. From the first stanza to the second stanza, the persona transitions between her identity of a mother and an employee implies how her work and personal identities are interconnected.

On the contrary, these two distinctive spheres, office and home, are reflections of one another. People gain a sense of control and pride in being capable to provide for others, yet they are forced to live up to the demands of both identities – the office and motherhood. A birth of a child signifies the loss of control, redirecting the boss’s entire life to support and to nurture her daughter. In ordering her employees around, she attempts to regain a sense of power. Chang reveals the art between paid work and caretaking, a labor of out of love and duty, resulting to an act of power. Individuals claim authority to define their identities, status, experiences, and motivation, ultimately becoming their own bosses. The accumulation leads to a sense of control at times when circumstances are beyond our control. Thus, Chang presents hope in her critiques of the norms of power and hierarchy.
The theme of control is displayed in both The Boss is Back and Margaret Edson’s novel, W;t.

Vivian Bearing undergoes an intensive cancer treatment, while she encounters a driven medical staff. As a well-known literature professor, she enjoys the challenge of seeking truth in complex or abstract ideas. While she lectures her college class, the students struggle to understand the lesson, for she assumes everyone shares the same amount of knowledge as she does. A doctorate degree in literature, Vivian takes pride in her assertions and lacks patience in explaining to others. Throughout her treatment, she loses control she once had in her classroom, shifting from a familiar and comfortable environment to the hostile and foreign hospital. In the presence of her doctors, her status shifts to being no longer the authority in the field. Once smart, ambitious, and capable of perception, Vivian is left weak and vulnerable for the first time. Vivian takes pride in her wisdom, for she knows that is the only trait that distinguishes her from the others. Ironically, what initially gave her courage eventually inhibits her ability to cope with her illness. The occurrence of obstacles is simply beyond our power to manage, therefore, those are the times when we are forced to relinquish and allow fate take

over.