question_answer 8)

Do you sympathize with Aunt Jennifer? What is the attitude of the speaker towards Aunt Jennifer?    

Answer:

Yes, we do sympathize with Aunt Jennifer as desired by the poet. She tried to express herself and to overcome the oppression that she probably could not even explain, but she only knew how to do it through masculine images. Aunt Jennifer never got to see women standing strong and proud because they were simply women. She missed out on watching women become astronauts, businesswomen, artists, and policemen. The reason her tigers went 'on prancing' proud and unafraid' was because the tigers represented all things masculine and therefore, had nothing to fear.   In the end, Adrienne Rich showed that Aunt Jennifer represented every woman of her time. Ironically enough, she rebels using the oppressor's own language to feel a sense of triumph. Overwhelmed by gender roles, unable to communicate firsthand how she really felt, and torn between rebellion, expression, and society, Aunt Jennifer represses her fears and desires into the exotic tigers who go on living even after the weight of her world buries her.