Mushrooms
The poem 'Mushrooms' was written by Sylvia Plath , using a feminist perspective. The literal meaning of mushroom is a fungi that appears overnight,often got trodden on,insignificant and unwanted.Sylvia used this title to express the oppressive treatment that men did to women in the society. This poem used plural voice to show that this was a common phenomenon in society that women were underestimated.
One of the idea expressed in this poem is that women were not appreciated within the society. It can be seen from stanza two "acquire the air" and stanza 3 "nobody sees us". Air is one of the basic need as a human being. However, as a woman,you do not have the equal right to enjoy it but have to acquire it from men, this is a little bit overstated but can fully illustrate how low women were within the society."nobody sees us" can explain that women are always ignored by men no matter how much they devote to homemaking and care of their husbands. Women spend their whole time in their family after they got married, however,men, instead of appreciate women's sacrifice, they ask for more from women,they want to take fully control of their wives.
The "toes and noses" in stanza two are the delicate parts of human body which you can easily break, and they are seen as womanly. Also "soft fists" , "heaving the needle",in stanza four can give people a feeling of weak. The connotation of these three phrases is that women are powerless towards men who are both mentally and physically stronger than them.Here Plath highlights the traits "weak" to make women inferior to men as their superior.
In stanza five, the mushrooms are described as "perfectly voiceless", this is actually a metaphor of women's disadvantage in society that nobody wants to hear their opinions, no one cares about their thoughts. In stanza six and seven , Plath wrote that "diet on water, on crumbs of shadow,bland manners ' asking little or nothing'" . This shows us that women lived in the shadow of
One of the idea expressed in this poem is that women were not appreciated within the society. It can be seen from stanza two "acquire the air" and stanza 3 "nobody sees us". Air is one of the basic need as a human being. However, as a woman,you do not have the equal right to enjoy it but have to acquire it from men, this is a little bit overstated but can fully illustrate how low women were within the society."nobody sees us" can explain that women are always ignored by men no matter how much they devote to homemaking and care of their husbands. Women spend their whole time in their family after they got married, however,men, instead of appreciate women's sacrifice, they ask for more from women,they want to take fully control of their wives.
The "toes and noses" in stanza two are the delicate parts of human body which you can easily break, and they are seen as womanly. Also "soft fists" , "heaving the needle",in stanza four can give people a feeling of weak. The connotation of these three phrases is that women are powerless towards men who are both mentally and physically stronger than them.Here Plath highlights the traits "weak" to make women inferior to men as their superior.
In stanza five, the mushrooms are described as "perfectly voiceless", this is actually a metaphor of women's disadvantage in society that nobody wants to hear their opinions, no one cares about their thoughts. In stanza six and seven , Plath wrote that "diet on water, on crumbs of shadow,bland manners ' asking little or nothing'" . This shows us that women lived in the shadow of