Aunt Jennifer's Tigers
by Adrienne Rich
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The poem gives expression to the voice of women stifled by the institution of marriage in a male-dominated society. Aunt Jennifer embroiders bright, fearless tigers on a screen, 'denizens of a world of green' who prance across the panel, 'bright topaz' in colour, proud and unafraid of the men beneath the tree. In sharp contrast, Aunt Jennifer's own hands 'flutter' and find the ivory needle 'hard to pull', weighed down by the 'massive weight of Uncle's wedding band', the heavy burden of her married life. The 'ordeals' of her patriarchal marriage have 'ringed' and mastered her. Even when she is dead, her 'terrified' hands will still wear the ring of the ordeals she was 'mastered by', while the tigers she made will go on prancing, proud and free forever. The tigers thus symbolise the free, fearless self that Aunt Jennifer could express only through her art, while she herself remained trapped and oppressed in life.
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The poem contrasts the free, fearless tigers Aunt Jennifer creates with her own oppressed, fearful life, exposing the burden of a patriarchal marriage and celebrating art as an outlet for a suppressed self.
The fearless tigers
Aunt Jennifer embroiders tigers that prance across a screen. They are 'denizens of a world of green', bright as topaz, and they move with confidence and pride, unafraid of the men beneath the tree. The tigers are 'proud and unafraid', everything their creator is not.
Aunt Jennifer's burdened hands
In contrast, Aunt Jennifer's own fingers 'flutter through her wool' and find even the ivory needle hard to pull. This weakness is caused by the 'massive weight of Uncle's wedding band' that sits heavily upon her hand, a symbol of the crushing burden of her married life in a male-dominated household.
Oppression even in death
The poet says that even when Aunt Jennifer is dead, her 'terrified' hands will still be 'ringed with ordeals she was mastered by', the trials of her oppressive marriage will stay with her to the very end. She never escapes the domination she suffered in life.
Art outlives the artist
Yet the tigers she has created will go on prancing, 'proud and unafraid', long after she is gone. Through her art Aunt Jennifer expresses the free, fearless spirit she could never live out herself, her creation triumphs and endures beyond her oppressed life.