Women And Honor Adrienne Rich Analysis

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

lie in every type of relationship they are whether it is between a male and a female or two females.
Adrienne Rich begins her essay by comparing the differences in definitions of honor for men and woman, but then goes on to say that “Honesty in women has not been considered important.” Rich implies that because women’s honor isn't affected by if she tells the truth or not, that is why women lie so much (412). Women’s honor has always been things for a husband “virginity, chastity, fidelity to a husband” she uses this example of logos to show how women were thought to only be important by what they could bring to their future husband. Women’s honor isn't based on their morals at all; its based on how she benefits her husbands image and that is when Rich goes on to talk about women and lying.
As Rich goes on in her notes, she begins to describe why the lie begins “A subject is raised which the liar wants buried”(413) the implications of what Adrienne Rich is saying is that once the subject is brought up is when the lies start.

“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

is.
Rich’s main point is that women lie because they are “in fear of losing control”(413) implying that because they don’t have control, they feel vulnerable to someone else. Adrienne Rich explains that “when relationships are determined by manipulation”(419) that they “cease to be interesting” Rich uses this example to show how a liar being in a relationship like this gets rid of the possibilities that the person lying is trying to avoid. Throughout her notes she continues to build up the use of logos by referring to the subject as the liar, creating the feeling of anger but towards women and lying because she also uses she in these examples less often to clarify who exactly the liar is. On multiple occasions Rich uses short sentences to describe how the liar lives or how they are. For example “The liar fears the void.” (417) and “the liar is concerned with her own feelings.”(413) these examples are used to show a few reasons why a woman lies.
Adrienne Rich explains why women lie today by saying “Women have been forced to lie, for survival” and that, “In the struggle for survival we tell lies” these statements are implications that it is in human nature for women to lie that they can't help it because it is an instinct that comes out when they feel threatened. It is explained that women lie mainly to “men who have power over us” (416) this is implied that women lie to men with some sort of authority over them in order to protect not only themselves, but also their children, “[men] who legally own us and our children.” Rich refers back to women and honor and women and lying by saying “within the context of male lying…the lie as false source of power” this small bit of information opens up a new view on her notes by implying that women lie because of the false of the lie told to them that all men are above them. Because of that, women now feel the need to have control and that is why they feel the need to control every aspect of their life.
Women have been expected to lie as well, “Women have been expected to lie with our bodies” (415) Rich says this to imply that when women groom themselves or do something to better their image that they are lying. This type of lying is expected by women to please other people and give off an appearance of elegance and that is how all women are supposed to look by doing little things to clean themselves up for the people that they see. Women also lie with their bodies in other ways to and “had the truth of our bodies withheld form us or distorted”(415) based onhow men during certain eras want to see women. This changes the idea of women and honor,”what men have said about us”(415) it is not now just about what a women can give to a man, now it is about what women can do for men and how they effect a mans image.
Adrienne Rich’s argument that women lie to create a false image of themselves.

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

truth.
Rich has written about how women are in need of a new morality and new ethics; that being kept in mind the real reasoning behind “Women and Honor” is to begin to make herself more honest thus showing exactly how negative a lie can be. If Rich’s argument is taken seriously then people reading this will actually see how lying negatively effects a relationship, and like Adrienne Rich they will try to better themselves and be more honest to not only better themselves but also the relationships that they are in.