Diving into the Wreck: Analysis
...or to the image. It’s important to state the differences between symbols and allegories because symbols open up possibilities for interpretation while allegories tend to restrict possibilities. Thus, this brings me to my thesis statement. “Diving into the Wreck”, written by Adrienne Rich, contains allegorical figures and is written in an allegorical frame-work form (set of ideas that conveys the allegory’s message or lesson). I will discuss and explain how Rich uses “Diving into the Wreck” to portray an image of how women struggle with the norms (myths) set by the Western culture. An allegory usually involves some type of journey. The poem also portrays a women’s journey of criticism and competition between sexes and her transformation by obtaining self-knowledge. It might help to state that this poem was written during the women’s movement and that Rich’s themes usually consist of feminism, lesbianism, political sexuality and the need for relationships without transcendence. This poem contains a hero or survivor, quest or journey and a treasure. The hero or survivor is a woman. The quest or journey is to change the old myths or norms of Western culture. The treasure is knowledge. The wreck represents multiple images of Western culture such as women’s successes and failures, male and female sexuality and culture that shape our lives and roles today. The diver or women is in search of what can be salvaged. It’s ironic because those women who survived the wreck; society tend to keep them quite. The ones that died; where the ones that spoke out for their rights and equality. First having read the book of myths, and loaded the camera, and checked the edge of the knife-blade, The book of myths represents the values of the W...