Chapter 14 Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Solutions
Question - 11 : - What does Aunt Jennifer’s creation of the tigers symbolize?
Answer - 11 : -
Aunt Jennifer’s creation of the tigers symbolizes her desires. Her fingers flutter to create the beautiful image of the tigers. By creating those tigers, she lets loose her inner aspirations. The wedding band sits “heavily” on her hand and keeps her from the only sense of expression she has—her needlepoint.
Question - 12 : - What does Aunt Jennifer’s death signify?
Answer - 12 : -
In the last stanza of the poem, the poet gives us a surprisingly truthful look at the reality and the end of Aunt Jennifer and women in her position all over the world. Aunt Jennifer is a subjugated even in death; she must conform to the norms of the patriarchal society. The ring around her finger symbolizes the weight she must bear dead or alive.
Question - 13 : - What is the theme of the poem?
Answer - 13 : -
“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” clearly reflects the gender struggle that women across the world are subject to. It is a feminist poem in which the poet criticizes the male-dominated world. Aunt Jennifer is left no option than to create an alternate world of freedom. Aunt Jennifer is a woman trapped by the social and cultural expectations and demands of her time.
Question - 14 : - Who do you think is the speaker of the poem? Why do you say so?
Answer - 14 : -
The speaker of the poem is the niece; the word “Aunt” shows her relationship with the speaker. The point of view here would seem to be that of a woman, indicating that the speaker is the niece of Aunt Jennifer’s. The niece voices a woman’s struggles with expression, rebellion, and a society where power is defined as masculine. The poem deals with a woman’s representation of Aunt Jennifer’s dreams, reality and the future.
Question - 15 : - How does the poet advocate gender sensitisation in the poem?
Answer - 15 : -
The poem reflects the gender struggle; Adrienne Rich criticizes the male-dominated world for terrifying and oppressing women as symbolized by Aunt Jennifer, leaving her with no alternative but to create an alternate world of freedom for herself with her sewing. The embroidering of tigers on the panel, her only form of expression, underlines a woman’s struggles with expression, rebellion, and a society where power is defined as masculine. The poet depicts the pain of a woman who is living with a husband who dominates her. Her hidden, vibrant inner life is in sharp contrast to the outer image of the terrified, trapped woman.
The poem is almost a tragedy relating the plight of women trapped in an unhappy marriage. The poet makes her stance clear by using the figure of independent and fearless tigers as a telling symbol of an ideal that women like Aunt Jennifer seek to approximate. Adrienne Rich yearns for freedom and equality for all women.