"Women's Work." By Julia Alvarez
My response to this poem. I feel as if the author may have resentment towards her mother, due to feeling pressured to be a perfectionist. I feel as if the author is talking of when she was a young child and wanting to play, not clean. Feeling pressured to be like he mother, to be perfect at so called womanly duties. What you see on the outside must be perfect. Never show your inner soul, your heart. The author does not want to be like her mother, but in the end as an adult she finds herself doing woman's work, but not in the cleaning sense, but in her writing work.
I focused on the aspect of the mother teaching her child so called woman's work. That everything must be perfect an art. Who cares if you are smart, want to be care free and play, you must know your place as a woman and practice on the art of homemaking. Do not show emotions with your heart, put all your energy on looking good on the outside. I also feel in the end the author has inherited her mother's perfectionism, as she puts her heart into her work, her professional work. The author may feel she is putting all her heart and soul into her work instead of her child or children.
This response is well written. It sounds as though, for you, this piece was bitter. Why do you think the author would write this piece? What was the intention?
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