1. Patriarchy through Deception Patriarchy refers to the social system that gives power and control to men. The poet through the metaphor of a bonsai, explores the deceptive manner in which patriarchy operates. The word ‘Artifice’ refers to cunning devices used for deception. The poem explains how the women are deceived by society to lead restricted lives ‘Scanned with CamScannerspe poem uses the gardener and gardening techniques to show how the idea i weak i8 cultivated from an cally age, ane must begin very early to dwar their growth ‘he gardener ‘carefully’ prunes and ‘whittles’ the branches while he swoons reassurance that all is well. The gardener stunts the potential of the tee te sning and whittling under the pretext of Keeping it sale, Pattache ia eles Soibe same with women—they restrict their (women’s) moversent ie the socket gesecting them. Women are conditioned that they are domestic and weak and Fant only for feminine roles. By doing so, they want to tell the women tha they fortunate to have men to look after them, They could have fesdom of owing fo the open But they are restricted to. pot hoine). Thus, the gardener (society) Ghaures the tree (women) feels indebted to: him. 2, Suppression of Women The poem was composed at the height of the American Feminist movement in the 1970. It addresses the systematic suppression of women and thelr restriction. te their predetermined’ roles. The poem of pens with what could be the true potential of vomen—as a unwieldy eighty-feet-all tree on a mountainside that could be damaged anly be Tightning’: But women are likely to have a ‘pot’ and grow to a height of a mere rine inches. These two qualities demonstrate the extent of suppression of women. The oem is truly about how women are confined into their predetermined domestic role. The bonsai tree in the poem is a potent symbol and represents several things. It is rot just the size of the tree that the gardener alters, but its natural habitat as well, A small bonsai tree in an attractive pot encourages the belief that women are ésirable when they are pretty, delicate and domestic. This conditioning begin Very catly, by their feet being ‘bound’, brain being ‘crippled’ and hair in ‘curlers’. It ‘presents the oppression of women, their inability to grow and how society has kept them tied to ancient customs preventing them from achieving their full potential 3. Artificial Beauty Standards Zhe bonsai is carefully cultivated as an ornamental plant that thrives well indoors. Similarly, aesthetic standards for women are carefully and continuously encouraged. ‘These imposing beauty standards might be a lesser evil as compared to the extreme antiwwomen practises like domestic violence. But the poet says all these occur in ‘entinuum and women are coached from a very early stage in their lives that their ‘ef'worth depends on approval of men because with living creatures one must begin very early to dwarf their growth. Atfcial beauty standards can also be a way of brainwashing women. The post me to the painful practice of foot binding’ and ‘hair curling’ aimed at ‘crippling’ a WORK OF ARTIFICE a ‘Scanned with CamScanner,