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Adrienne Rich

Pros

The article focusing on Adrienne Rich narrates deeply about the beliefs of the author. This enables one to recognize the peculiar thoughts and views that Rich, who is an inspiration to many people, possessed regarding life. For instance, the first paragraph of the article defines how Adrienne Rich viewed the world. She viewed it as a place where everyone grows and learns from each other through personal experiences as well as the experiences of others. Additionally, in the same paragraph, the author of the article uses imagery and metaphor as a language technique to emphasize on the use of experiences to guide one through life. For instance, the author states that, “What would our world be like with nothing, but dead headed zombies walking around?” which echoes the assertion regarding the effects of the absence of experience as a major teacher in life. Another pro asserted by the author relates on Rich’s contributions on feminism. Indeed, most of Rich’s poems were focused on issues of feminism especially relating to sexism and women’s role in society. Her works were based on addressing the negative perception of women in society by relating her experiences as a lesbian, a mother and a woman in an era where women were discriminated. This is shown by statement in the second paragraph, “Feministic views became a major influence on Rich’s poems”. Moreover, the author explicitly states that the works of Adrienne Rich were based on her urge to expose the fundamental truth of the events occurring around her American society and the world. It is also evident that Rich’s works focusing on worldviews are written in free verse, which is absolutely fact. This is because her poems were written in a storyline form as indicated by the author in the third paragraph.

Cons

Despite the validity of the article regarding Adrienne Rich, the author focuses on a single topic exuded by Rich’s works of art despite acknowledging the variety of issues that Rich focused on pertaining to the events encompassing her time. For instance, Rich focused on the events of the Vietnam War, which emphasized her negative emotions for the war. She also focused on other events happening in the United States such as the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, United States politics, administration, and racism, which characterized the period in which she lived. The author also mentions in the article that Rich’s works were influenced by other feminists, which is not correct. The influences attributed to Adrienne Rich’s work were because of her father, her own personal distresses as her mother and a woman and her sexuality as a lesbian, which was a subject for discrimination at that time. It is reasonable to assert that Rich’s works were based on the main objective of the validity of learning and growing because of the abundance of knowledge through experience. However, such a notion is not evident in her works. The objectives steered for by Rich were based on reclaiming the freedom of society, especially the discriminated. Adrienne Rich was the voice of the Oppressed. This is because her works empathized the plight of the major constituents of the society who comprised women and minorities such as the African Americans. On the subject of learning, the author implies that Freire and Rich had a common perception regarding learning. However, Freire deviated from the main objective of Rich’s works since he focused on the individual’s natural ability to criticize certain systems that were created to oppress. Freire’s notions employed critical and creative thinking rather than personal experiences as attributed to Adrienne Rich’s works.