My Life Had Stood A Loaded Gun Essay

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The Pen is Mightier than the Sword: Emily Dickinson’s Written War Against the Patriarchy in [“My Life had stood -- a Loaded Gun --”] The poet and naturalist Henry David Thoreau once stated that “Disobedience is the foundation of Liberty”. Emily Dickinson’s poem “My Life had stood-- a Loaded Gun--” stands monument to this sentiment, being a dialogue of Dickinson’s fierce disobedience against the gender roles she was binded in, refusal to accept the status quo of the Cult of Domesticity, and lack of fear to criticize society on their patriarchal wrongdoings. [“My Life had stood-- a Loaded Gun--”] contains Dickinson’s vicious indictment of the gender roles that embroiled the 19th century, which is delivered through the punchy and aggressive inner nature of the poem, the dark undertones and connotative meanings of words, and the use of figurative …show more content…

Her life does not remain her own to make do with; rather, she refers to “The Owner,”, demoting her existence to something that could be bought and owned, as could any plain possession, instead of a person with her own attributes and abilities(3). Her owner manipulates her, forcing her to kill a doe, carrying with it the death of innocence and purity that the doe represents, and the woman is forced to be subservient to him and obey his command (6). As the poem progresses, he eventually becomes her “Master” , able to exert the force of control over her without resistance, and she in turn follows his bidding, guarding his “Head” and protects it from harm (14). She acts as a protector for him, stating that to any enemy of his, “[She’s] deadly foe” (17), similar to the tool of destruction that she associates herself with. However, despite her supposed subservience to his whim, in actuality it merely serves as a mask to conceal her true anger at her

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