The struggles of men and women against common perceptions of authority has
become a noteworthy subject amongst the western world as both genders had to face oppression
by the society and expectations they themselves created. The poems “To Be A Woman” by Daisy
Zamora and “Who’d Want to Be a Man?” by Gregory Orr both portray these oppressions and
their impact on the human beings who are subject to them. As the poems on their fundamental
level describe similar topics, there are some noticeable similarities in their content, but the
subtle difference of the speaker and victim creates inherent differences in the poems’ structure
and rhetorics.
The most prominent similarity between the two works are the base emotions faced by the subjects due to societal expectations. The first two stanzas of To Be A Woman describes the women’s role as subservient sacrifices as their “thoughts do not belong to you (women).” In order to emphasize on how women have been forced into subservient roles, the poem uses repetition of words such as “others” and “not yours”. The stanzas are divided evenly, the first line emphasizing how such discrimination comes from “being born a woman”. The stanzas emphasizes upon the revelation of how nothing that the women have belongs to them, thus creating much angst. The themes of oppression and suffering are also prevalent throughout the poem Who’d Want to Be a Man which describes the oppressions men bring upon themselves as “his heart” is a “black sack” where a small animal, a symbolism of the main character’s vulnerable inner self, is trapped within. The poem expresses how the man’s “grief”, “rage”, “ desires” and “mind” are systematically repressed. Like To Be a Woman, Who’d want to be a man shares the usage of partially identical wordings in the first lines of each stanza by putting “With his”, thus strengthening the burdens the subject, the typical man faces. These structural and contextual similarities demonstrate how perhaps both women and men are restrained by society in uncannily similar ways.
As much as the similarities between the two poems serve to connect upon a common theme, there are differences between the two poems that cannot be ignored. To Be A Woman has a major shift of tone at the beginning of the third stanza, changing from a sense of hopelessness to that of rebellious spirit. The diction used within the passage emphasizes on this aspect by using words such as “Rebel”, “fight”, “Scream”, “Destroying”, “liberated”, and “conquer”. Although the poem suggests that the social pressures given to women will never change, it describes how genuine rejection of such ideals will allow women to have at least themselves, their “voice”, and their “verb.” This hopeful tone is noticeably missing in Who’d Want to Be a Man as the poem sees no lighter shift in tone, instead further reveling on the desperate and lonely nature of men’s struggles against societal expectations. As the poem progresses through the concept of restraint, grief, rage, and the desperateness of a man’s life like “a tree on a cliff”, the poem ends with the speaker’s desperate pleas as his “longing that’s a dry well... and where is the rain?” Orr, instead of instigating a fight for one’s freedom, has no choice but to express hopelessness in a man’s struggle as the restraints that are put on men are done by themselves consciously, while a woman is able to stay true to her ideals by going against conventions of reality, the man’s mental prison is built by his very own ideals.
The two poems described within this essay seem so similar because they sing of in essence very similar things: repression of human beings. However, the difference between the two pieces come from the fact that the nature of the repressions are different, thus setting different tones, conclusions, and overall message.
The most prominent similarity between the two works are the base emotions faced by the subjects due to societal expectations. The first two stanzas of To Be A Woman describes the women’s role as subservient sacrifices as their “thoughts do not belong to you (women).” In order to emphasize on how women have been forced into subservient roles, the poem uses repetition of words such as “others” and “not yours”. The stanzas are divided evenly, the first line emphasizing how such discrimination comes from “being born a woman”. The stanzas emphasizes upon the revelation of how nothing that the women have belongs to them, thus creating much angst. The themes of oppression and suffering are also prevalent throughout the poem Who’d Want to Be a Man which describes the oppressions men bring upon themselves as “his heart” is a “black sack” where a small animal, a symbolism of the main character’s vulnerable inner self, is trapped within. The poem expresses how the man’s “grief”, “rage”, “ desires” and “mind” are systematically repressed. Like To Be a Woman, Who’d want to be a man shares the usage of partially identical wordings in the first lines of each stanza by putting “With his”, thus strengthening the burdens the subject, the typical man faces. These structural and contextual similarities demonstrate how perhaps both women and men are restrained by society in uncannily similar ways.
As much as the similarities between the two poems serve to connect upon a common theme, there are differences between the two poems that cannot be ignored. To Be A Woman has a major shift of tone at the beginning of the third stanza, changing from a sense of hopelessness to that of rebellious spirit. The diction used within the passage emphasizes on this aspect by using words such as “Rebel”, “fight”, “Scream”, “Destroying”, “liberated”, and “conquer”. Although the poem suggests that the social pressures given to women will never change, it describes how genuine rejection of such ideals will allow women to have at least themselves, their “voice”, and their “verb.” This hopeful tone is noticeably missing in Who’d Want to Be a Man as the poem sees no lighter shift in tone, instead further reveling on the desperate and lonely nature of men’s struggles against societal expectations. As the poem progresses through the concept of restraint, grief, rage, and the desperateness of a man’s life like “a tree on a cliff”, the poem ends with the speaker’s desperate pleas as his “longing that’s a dry well... and where is the rain?” Orr, instead of instigating a fight for one’s freedom, has no choice but to express hopelessness in a man’s struggle as the restraints that are put on men are done by themselves consciously, while a woman is able to stay true to her ideals by going against conventions of reality, the man’s mental prison is built by his very own ideals.
The two poems described within this essay seem so similar because they sing of in essence very similar things: repression of human beings. However, the difference between the two pieces come from the fact that the nature of the repressions are different, thus setting different tones, conclusions, and overall message.
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