h states, "A change in the concept of sexual identity is essential if we are not going to see the old political order reassert itself in every new revolution" (605). Rich believes a "change" in the "concept" or the way people are viewed is "essential" if the past is not going to "reassert itself" in the future. The "images" imagined is the "change" needed to be taken in the future. However, the images that surround us seem to do nothing more than maintain and sustain the traditional gender ideology.Although Rich tried to have Aunt Jennifer in "Aunt Jennifer's Tiger," be a person as distinct from herself as possible, she portrays Aunt Jennifer as being oppressed by her marriage. Rich reflects the same oppression through the use of images such as, "The massive weight of the Uncle's wedding band" (608). The "massive" or extreme burden caused by the "wedding band" or the marriage to suppresser. She is being oppressed by her husband. The image of Aunt Jennifer portrays the traditional ideology of the women under the control of a man. Bordo discusses the ideological construction of service as a woman's natural role, states, "It is this construction that it reinforces in the representations I have been examining, through their failure to depict males as 'naturally' fulfilling that role, and - more perniciously - through their failure to depict females as appropriate recipients of such care" (161). Women have an ideal role of subordination to men, and men have the oppressive role to be in charge and to provide for the female, though how ideal that role may be is questionable. Bordo means Rich's poetry depicts the current role of women in society and strives to express the need to fight the oppression and victimization of women. Her poetry creates a strong image of the position of women in society. Berger claims that, "Every image embodies a way of seeing" (107). Because of our own personal history, we may or may not recognize the i...
