1 Introduction

“Aunt Jennifer's Tigers” is a beautiful record of marginalization of women in an oppressive

chauvinist society. Entangled in the complex web of relationships aunt Jennifer has grown out to be
a timid creature and escapes into an alternative world of embroidery and sewing. Jennifer stands for
a woman who becomes a victim of gender roles dictated by patriarchy. Cultivated over years
through accumulated learning, her nervousness and fragility get deeply embedded within her
personality. Jennifer’s tapestry is Rich’s attempt to de-bias the gender roles in society. Though timid
in her real-life Jennifer projects her vivacity in art by showing ‘prancing tigers’ who seem to convey
her inner urges. Marriage the most intimate and sacred of relations becomes a medium of
exploitation of women where they are treated as second creatures. While her husband become the
archetype of patriarchal oppressions, who wants to control and frighten his wife. Adrienne gives
vent to the clout authority of Jennifer’s husband in marriage. The suppressed feelings of aunt
Jennifer get projected in the tapestry. The central conflict of the poem owes its origin to tapestry
which consists Tigers, as the free bright brave heart dwellers of green world. The tapestry is in strict
contrast with the fluttering Aunt Jennifer. Her feminine sentimentality can’t bear the sight of needle.
Her nervousness implies the constrains of married life experienced by women while her art will
stand testimony of her desire.

INTRODUCTION PART -II

Adrienne Rich was one of those major twentieth-century intellectuals. She was a poet, critic and a
scholar of towering reputation and rage, whose work distinguished by an unswerving progressive
vision and a dazzling, empathic ferocity. on. This poem was written in 1951, a time in which there
were much fewer options for women in terms of careers and family planning. Women were not
financially independent. We get a glimpse into the lives of the Aunt Jennifer's of the world, and a
glance into the ways that gender affects us. Even today the problem lay buried, silent, in the minds
of women over the globe. In the middle of the twentieth century women suffered a strange stirring
and a sense of dissatisfaction. Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. Time and again women
heard in voices of tradition and of Freudian superiority that they could desire--no greater destiny
than to glory in their own femininity. Some women, remembered painfully giving up their dreams
and passions, but most of the younger women no longer even thought about them. The society
celebrated their maturity, femininity and their adjusting mentality. Women were expected to devote
their lives from earliest girlhood to finding a husband and bearing children. But women's imagination
is boundless, like music, painting, and writing: their stream of apparition is incredible. ―Rich, in her
poems, has explored the mechanisms of the ‗male gaze and tried to re-construct the identity of the
women as it was before being distorted by the phallocentric ideology. The poet has directed her
gaze upon the gazing process of the mainstream. She examines women‘s allotted positions in
American society, and pry open a space in the critical models available for reconstructing identity
and, rewriting the canon that result in en-visioning a new world to come.

 “Aunt Jennifer's Tigers” Setting

o There is no setting specified in "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" and the poem does not
offer any hints as to where it might be contextualized. The most the reader can
surmise is that Aunt Jennifer is living in a society where a traditional
 heterosexual concept of marriage (one man and one woman) dominates. Given
that the poem's author, Adrienne Rich, was living in the United States at the
time of the poem's publication in 1951, the reader can infer the setting to be
1950s America. This contextualization would fit the speaker's depiction of
marriage and affirm the portrayal of Aunt Jennifer as being "trapped" in her
marriage, since opportunities for a woman to gain self-sufficiency outside of
her marriage would have been limited at this time.

Historical Context

At the time that "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" was written, in 1951, it would have been unusual
and unlikely for a woman to seek a divorce. Women were still relegated primarily to the role
of "homemaker" and had fewer opportunities available to them in terms of education and
profession than they do today. The concept of a woman being trapped in a marriage, reliant
on a husband who would provide for her financially, was thus not far-fetched at this time.

Rich—who was married for almost two decades until her husband died by suicide in 1970—
came to be a vocal critic of the institution of marriage. She herself ended up finding a long-
time partner in Michelle Cliff, a Jamaican-American writer. In the 1980 essay "Compulsory
Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence," Rich wrote:

Women have married because it was necessary, in order to survive economically, in order to
have children who would not suffer economic deprivation or social ostracism, in order to
remain respectable, in order to do what was expected of women because coming out of
'abnormal' childhoods they wanted to feel 'normal,' and because heterosexual romance has
been represented as the great female adventure, duty, and fulfilment.
As both a writer and activist, Adrienne Rich eventually became a leading voice in what is
now known as second-wave feminism (or "women's liberation," the term she preferred).
Second-wave feminism extended from the 1960s through the 1980s and sought to redress a
wide range of social injustices. Where first-wave feminism had largely focused on women's
suffrage, the second wave centred on issues such as reproductive freedom, workplace
opportunity and equality, and legal protections against sexual harassment and domestic
violence. Its advocates opposed the belief (widespread in post-World War II America) that a
woman's proper place was in the home, keeping house, raising children, and supporting men's
ambitions.

Character Sketch of Aunt Jennifer

Aunt Jennifer lives in a male-dominated society. She is a humble and restrained lady. She is
shown to be a victim of her domineering spouse. She is lacks confidence and fears him.
Aunt Jennifer spent her life in accordance with the rules laid down by her husband. Her life
was overburdened by demands and duties and lacked self-expression. Aunt Jennifer’s
ferocious personality, her need for independence, and her desire for self-expression are all
represented by the freely prancing tigers in her embroidery, which serves as an outlet for
her creativity. Aunt Jennifer’s character brings out the pathos of her situation, she is a
woman who has lost her identity as an independent woman due to her marriage.
Character Sketch of the Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
Aunt Jennifer’s tigers are part of an embroidery pattern that she is making. The tigers are
proud, fearless, brave, and strong. They move around freely in a dashing style. They are
elegant and fearless, and do not fear hunters. They live in a green realm, the forest and
have a bright and shiny skin. In contrast to Aunt Jennifer, they move and spring with pride
and freedom. They act as a counterbalance to Aunt Jennifer, who is terrified and confined.

LITERARY WORKS SIMILAR TO “AUNT JENNIFER’S TIGERS” BY ADRIENNE RICH

“THE YELLOW WALLPAPER” BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN:

 Similarity: Both works explore the confinement of women within domestic spaces and the
psychological toll of oppression.
 Difference: “The Yellow Wallpaper” uses fantastical elements to depict a woman’s descent
into madness, while “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” relies on symbolism within a more grounded
reality.

“NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING” BY STEVIE SMITH:

 Similarity: Both poems deal with misunderstood inner turmoil concealed beneath a surface
appearance of normalcy.

 Difference: “Not Waving but Drowning” has a more darkly ironic tone, while “Aunt
Jennifer’s Tigers” is primarily sympathetic.

WORKS BY SYLVIA PLATH (ESPECIALLY “ARIEL” AND “THE COLOSSUS”):

 Similarity: Both Plath and Rich explore female rage, frustration, and the desire to break free
from confining societal expectations.
  Difference: Plath often uses a more confessional style, with intensely personal imagery,
while Rich maintains some distance with the persona of Aunt Jennifer.

II. Analysis
The poem ―Aunt Jennifer ‘s Tiger‖ explores the controlled condition of women with all its
possibilities of challenging the patriarchal ‗gaze ‘upon the women. Aunt Jennifer is the
archetype whose creative energies are blemished by mans ‘desire to see the women in
conventional roles like knitting. ―For too long, she feels, women have been estranged from
their creative female selfhood. She refers to herself as a member of a new generation of
women writers creating new work from the ―psychic‖ energy being generated by women’s
movement toward what was being called the ―new Space‖ on the boundaries of patriarchy‖
[3]. The poem reflects a core theme that is seen in Rich's work throughout her writing life:
her unwavering support for women's rights. "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" on the peripheral level is
only twelve lines long. But at a deeper side this poem packs a serious punch, a kind of protest
and gesture of solidarity. "Patriarchy" is an important term while analysing Rich's work.
Patriarchy refers to a male-dominated society in which men hold authority and power and
women are subordinated to them. Rich, however, uses an inventive image to recast these
conventional themes in a new way. Aunt Jennifer is a wife who is totally controlled by her
husband. Her fingers ‗flutter ‘while in wool work. She is scared of her husband which shows
inequality and injustice in her marriage. Marriage brings two people in an equal position
where both expect justice, love and equality in behaviour. But here in this poem Jennifer has
become the victim of injustice. As long as power can be envisioned only in terms that are
culturally determined as masculine; the revolutionary content of the vision, which was all
limited to a highly intervened and symbolic plane, will remain insufficient. The fact is that
assertion against the patriarchy is here imagined only in terms set by the patriarchs may be
seen as this poem's version of the tigers' "fearful symmetry." And the "Immortal hand or eye"
that framed their symmetry is not Aunt Jennifer's framing her needlework. It is patriarchy and
male - chauvinism framing Aunt Jennifer. As a feminist poet Rich insists on the importance
of the ―imaginative identification with all women (and with the ghostly woman in all men) ‖
and commits herself to the re-creation of a female community. Rich hopes that the
community of all women ―the poet, the housewife, the lesbian, the mathematician, the
mothers, the waitress…. ‖ Will create a culture in which women have equal economic, social,
and political rights with men. She also strove to convey a sense of immediacy, even urgency.

 “Aunt Jennifer's Tigers” Symbols

o

The Tigers

The tigers in the poem symbolize the freedom and confidence that seem
unattainable to Aunt Jennifer in her real life. While the tigers are vibrant and
bold, described with powerful, active verbs like "prance" and "pace," Aunt
Jennifer is too weak to even handle her needle. While the tigers live freely in a
beautiful "world of green," Aunt Jennifer is stuck being a homemaker. While
the tigers "do not fear the men," Aunt Jennifer is scared of her own husband.

Aunt Jennifer's innermost desires for freedom—in a time when a woman

requesting a divorce was likely extremely rare and certainly frowned upon—
are thus expressed through the tigers. They are symbols of the liberated,
joyous state of being that evades Aunt Jennifer.

The tigers represent not only a freedom from man-made constraints (like
marriage) in the tangible world but also represent a unique freedom that no
man or woman can hope to attain—that is, a freedom from death itself. The
final lines emphasize that the tigers "will go on" even "When Aunt is dead."
Since the tigers are inanimate, captured within a tapestry, they can
theoretically exist forever. As a symbol of immortality, they highlight the fact
that even men—who might try to rule the world through patriarchal
institutions like marriage—are not all powerful. They are all fallible and none
of them will exist forever.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:

 Lines 1-4: “Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen, / Bright

topaz denizen of a world of green. / They do not fear the men beneath
the tree; / They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.”

 Lines 11-12: “The tigers in the panel that she made / Will go on
prancing, proud and unafraid.”
o

The Tree

The tree referenced in line 3 can be seen to symbolize one of two things. One
reading of the tree can see it simply as a symbol for the natural world. This
single tree is a small representation of the larger forest, the "world of green,"
that the tigers presumably inhabit. The "men" referred to might in this case be
hunters. Positioning the men "beneath the tree" suggests a power hierarchy,
namely that the natural world will always persevere over the machinations of
men. Indeed, certain species of animals and trees live much longer than
humans—and even a tiny creature like a cockroach can outlive conditions that
a human cannot.

This reading ties in with the view of the tigers as a symbol of freedom from
the mortal world: since the tigers are technically inanimate, captured as part of
an artwork that literally cannot die, they will outlive Aunt Jennifer, Uncle, and
any human institution like marriage.

Another reading of "the tree" is that it is a reference to the tree, as in, it is

an allusion to the biblical Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In Genesis,
when Eve ate fruit from the tree at the urging of the serpent, the Fall of man
resulted; human beings were cast out of paradise, and shame and sin were
introduced into the world. Eve was subsequently marked as the "weaker" sex,
since she gave into the serpent's temptations (while Adam did not).

At the same time, the biblical tree is associated with free will and deviation
from a higher power. Thinking of the tree as a symbol for the Tree of
Knowledge thus speaks to the theme of female subordination within traditional
male/female relationships like marriage. Whereas in her real-life Aunt Jennifer
is treated as subservient to her husband, in the tapestry it is "men" who are
"beneath"—subservient to—"the tree," and to the tigers that Jennifer has
created.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:

 Line 3: “They do not fear the men beneath the tree”

o

The Wedding Band

The wedding band is a symbol of the institution of marriage and speaks to the
poem's broader thematic ideas surrounding marriage, gender, and power. The
depiction of the ring as burdensome speaks to the argument that the power
dynamic of a traditional heterosexual marriage serves to oppress women.

The way that the band is described in lines 7 and 8 highlights this, as the band
is described as sitting "heavily" on Aunt Jennifer's hand, as if it's weighing her
down. It's also attributed with a "massive weight," a bit of hyperbole that
confirms the reader's suspicion that it's not the ring itself that burdens Aunt
Jennifer but what the ring represents—her marriage. The fact that it
is Uncle's wedding band affirms this interpretation, making it clear that the
man holds the power in the relationship, leaving Aunt Jennifer in the
subservient role.

The reference to the symbol of the wedding band in lines 9 and 10 further
supports this view. The phrase "ringed with ordeals she was mastered by" is a
nod to the previously mentioned ring. The use of the word "mastered" in this
instance again paints a picture of Aunt Jennifer as being in the subservient
role, the "slave" to the "master" Uncle.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:

 Lines 7-8: “The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band / Sits heavily
upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.”

 Lines 9-10: “When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie / Still
ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.”

III. Conclusion
"Aunt Jennifer's life implies the presence of patriarchal politics‖. She
feels the burden of duty and obedience. This is shown by the symbol of
the wedding ring that she wears. It is described as her husband ‘s
property: ‗Uncle ‘s wedding band ‘. Her life with her husband
described as a life of ‗ordeals ‘present a negative picture of marriage.
The tigers in the poem represent Jennifer ‘s innermost desire. She
wants to be strong like the tigers that do not fear the men. She wants to
create precious pieces of art. Her life has been uncertain, helpless. She
finds courage, justice and honour in the smooth movement of the
tigers. Thus, the tiger stands for her unfulfilled wishes. Perhaps Aunt
Jennifer uses art as an escape from her troubles. In her artwork Jennifer
 imagines the kind of life she would have liked. Adrienne Rich's poems
are known for her observation of the experiences of women in society.
This poem is remarkable in her mission of reconstructing identity.
“Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" is a statement of conflict in women,
specifically between the impulse to freedom and imagination and the
"massive weight" of gender roles and expectations, signified by
"Uncle's wedding band. Rich echoes many ideas of the radical feminist
movement, counterposing the struggle for women ‘s liberation to
workers ‘struggles for economic justice, despite the fact that, as she
later acknowledges, the vast majority of women are workers [11]. Rich
strongly argues that women ‘s disenfranchisement at the hands of men
must end. Rich deals with that power of the women which is to
engender, to create, to bring forth fuller life, unlike the exploitative
power of the males.

“Aunt Jennifer's Tigers” Summary

 Aunt Jennifer creates a needlepoint that shows tigers leaping across the canvas. Bright
and vibrant, like topaz gems, the tigers live within the green world of the
canvas. They are not afraid of the men standing underneath the tree, who are also
depicted in the image. The tigers walk with certainty, shining and courageous.

Aunt Jennifer's fingers swiftly and delicately work the yarn, yet she finds it physically
difficult to pull even a small needle made of ivory through the canvas. Her husband's
wedding band feels huge, and weighs down heavily on her hand.

When Aunt Jennifer dies one day, her frightened hands will finally be still. Yet they
will still be marked by the difficulties that ruled over her while she was
alive. Meanwhile, the tigers she created will continue to leap across her needlepoint
without shame or fear
Adrienne Rich's Feminism
Adrienne Rich enjoyed a long and influential career as a feminist figure, and
her attitudes about feminism shifted at various points throughout her life.
Even in her earliest periods as a published poet, her work critically examined
what was expected of women in society. "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" is an
example of this, as it deals with the way Aunt Jennifer, stifled and oppressed
by her marriage, creates art free from the terrors of her life. However, Rich's
life, art, and politics were still fairly mainstream at this point. Rich later wrote
of her early poems that she felt she "had suppressed, omitted, falsified even,
certain disturbing elements to gain that perfection of order." As early
as Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law in 1963, her writing experimented with looser
verse. It examined the relationship between what was expected of her as a
formalist poet and as a woman.
However, it was only after her move to New York in 1966 that she became
politically active. Both she and her husband supported anti-war
demonstrations and interacted with members of radical circles. Rich in
particular became involved with racial justice movements. After the death of
her husband in 1970, she became active in the radical second-wave feminism.
Second-wave feminism of the 1960s and 70s had many competing factions
and ideas. Broadly, it sought to address both the practical barriers to
women's equality, such as unequal pay and domestic violence, and the
academic question of the origin of gender as a social construct. Rich was
among a group of radical feminists who believed the influence of patriarchy,
or the oppression of women in favour of men, was ingrained in every aspect of
society. They argued women could not gain equality without a period of
separation, healing, self-examination, and creation of new norms. For Rich in
particular, this separation meant the use of poetry as a means to explore her
own identity and emotions, to promote solidarity and justice, and to find a
new voice that would be wholly her own. "In poetry," she wrote, "words can
say more than they mean and mean more than they say." Her later work was
often full of confrontational anger at the injustices of the world, and she was
criticized for writing poetry focused on politics over art. During this time, she
also wrote feminist prose essays, articles, and letters that made her one of
the most well-known voices within the women's movement.

Unlike many members of the predominantly white and middle-class second

wave of feminism, Rich, especially later in her career, included in her
feminism significantly more of what would come to be known as
intersectionality. Intersectionality is the idea that any individual may have
multiple aspects against which society discriminates, and these interact with
each other in ways that do not always fit easily into simple analysis. Rich was
not only a woman but also a lesbian, of Jewish heritage, and chronically ill.
All of these factors influenced her experience of the world. Rich leveraged her
success as a poet and public intellectual to draw attention to her political
causes. When Rich won the National Book Award in 1974, she accepted the
award together with African American authors Alice Walker (1944–) and Audre
Lorde (1934–92) "in the name of all the women whose voices have gone and
still go unheard in a patriarchal world." When she was awarded the National
Medal of Arts in 1997, she declined, citing the concentration of power in too
few hands. She added, "The very meaning of art, as I understand it, is
incompatible with the cynical politics of [the Clinton] Administration." She
went on to add that art "means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner-table
of power which holds it hostage."

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers | Themes

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Feminism and Abuse

At its root, feminism is the proposition that legal and social structures favouring men at the expense of
women are unjust. In the poem "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers," the specific structure under discussion is Aunt
Jennifer's marriage. The reader is given various clues that the power balance of Aunt Jennifer's marriage is
tilted against her and that Aunt Jennifer herself is profoundly unhappy. One of the most telling clues is that
the speaker refers to the wedding ring Aunt Jennifer wears as "Uncle's wedding band" rather than Aunt
Jennifer's. This turn of phrase might be dismissed if Aunt Jennifer were not also described as "terrified"
and "ringed with ordeals she was mastered by." This line again references her wedding band. The ring's
massive weight "sits heavy on Aunt Jennifer's hand" and interferes with her ability to sew her tigers. Even
so, her aspirational spirit, skill, and creativity show through in her artwork, as appreciated by the speaker.
Aunt Jennifer's marriage may be physically abusive, which is implied in the description of Aunt Jennifer as
being terrified. At the time the poem was written, domestic violence was often treated as a private, family
matter and not spoken about directly. The way the poem handles Aunt Jennifer's suffering is consistent
with this social norm. However, it is not made explicit, meaning the marriage may also be read as only
controlling and emotionally abusive rather than physically abusive. Aunt Jennifer is unhappy in it, though
she does not complain, as far as the speaker reports. However, the terror of her marriage bleeds into all
aspects of her life, even when her husband is not present. Major feminist critiques of marriage, especially
in the middle of the 20th century, included the patriarchal nature of traditional marriage. A wife was
expected to meekly submit to her husband, and society refused to address the problem of domestic
violence.

While the speaker is not defined as either masculine or feminine, she reports Aunt Jennifer's side of the
story and sits with her during sewing, which implies she is Aunt Jennifer's niece. With a female speaker,
the poem is not just an exploration of Aunt Jennifer's marital troubles, but it further tracks the realizations
the speaker experiences while watching it. If the speaker is indeed a girl, the societal expectation is that she
will enter into a marriage possibly much like her aunt's. The speaker prefers her aunt's tigers to her aunt's
marriage. In acknowledging Aunt Jennifer's art, specifically in the very female-associated medium of
needlepoint, the speaker validates her in a way it appears her husband does not. The skill and passion Aunt
Jennifer pours into her creations speaks to the rich internal life of the female characters.

Fear and Fearlessness

The tigers are introduced to the reader with the foreshadowing line that they "do not fear the men beneath
the tree." By contrast, Aunt Jennifer's life is circumscribed on all sides by fear. She is described as terrified
and weighed down by the ordeals of her marriage. The fear she feels is a tool to control her. This is
evidenced by the way her wedding ring, or rather her husband's wedding ring, weighs down her hand at all
times.
The juxtaposition of the tigers, who fear nothing, with Aunt Jennifer, who is so afraid her hands flutter
against her stitching, helps highlight the pervasiveness of her fear. They are a counterexample, possibly a
wish for a strength Aunt Jennifer does not feel she can exercise.

The Power of Art

The tigers are Aunt Jennifer's magnificent creation, and they are outside the control of any of the
oppressive factors in her life. They are an escape for the character and something magical in a world
otherwise defined by an unhappy marriage. Furthermore, the poem's speaker connects to Aunt Jennifer
through her art. The speaker marvels at the tigers and understands Aunt Jennifer more completely for
having admired them. Rich was a firm believer that poetry had the power to speak to people on a level that
transcended mere words and language. She believed it was a deeper, truer transmission of meaning and
symbolism. In many ways, the tigers also serve this function between Aunt Jennifer and the speaker, who
exchange no dialogue within the body of the poem. The embroidered tigers bring another layer of
symbolism to this theme, as they are created through needlepoint, an art form that in the 1950s was
associated almost exclusively with women.

Family Intimacy
All the characters in the poem are named by their relationship to the speaker and defined by their role in
the traditional family. Uncle is the master of the household. Aunt Jennifer is a quiet wife, terrified of and
"mastered by" her husband. While Uncle and Aunt Jennifer play out a very patriarchal marriage, the
speaker, most likely their niece, watches them and learns about marriage and the relationship between men
and women. The poem, which requires the speaker to observe not only Aunt Jennifer's terror but also her
calmer moments, can exist only in the intimate space of a family. In addition, though it is not explicitly
stated, the use of "chivalric" to describe the tigers implies they are rendered in the heraldic style of a family
crest. This further emphasizes the theme of family.

References
[1]. [2]. [3]. [4]. [5]. [6]. [7]. Fox, Margali. ― Adrienne Rich-feministpoetandauthordiesat82. ‖New
York Times 28March, 2012. Biswas, Banani and Akhtar, Tashima. ―A Study on the Mainstream ‘s
Gaze in the Works from Margin. ‖ Arts and Design Studies Vol 3, 2012 www.iiste.org.accessed on 7
august 2015. Cheri, Collingdale. Adrienne Rich: The Moment of Change, Pacific Coast Philology, Vol.
41 (2006), 146-148. O ‘Reilly, Andrea. From Motherhood and Mothering: The Legacy of Adrienne
Rich ‘s ―Of Woman Born. ‖ New York: State University of New York Press, 2004. Keyes, Claire. The
Aesthetics of Power: The Poetry of Adrienne Rich. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986. Albert,
Galpin. The Aesthetics of Power: The Poetry of Adrienne Rich by Claire Keyes, Adrienne Rich, The
New England Quarterly, Vol. 60 (4), 649-652 Yorke, Liz. Adrienne Rich: Passion, Politics, and the
Body. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1998.