“Had certain ideals” foreshadows that those ideals will play a critical role in the lines to follow. This emphasizes the simple, though crucial, point that the rape victim does not share “his ideals.” Second, Rich uses this separation to highlight the great significance behind the man’s “certain ideals.” Line three is the shortest line in the entire poem, for it is the preface for what is to come. Fist, whereas the first two lines include an element each that the rape victim shares, line three does not possess such an element. Rich, creates this separation for two reasons. Not only does “had certain ideals” (Rich, line 3) stand apart poetically but, due to its placement on a separate line, “had certain ideals” stands apart physically as well. Both lines end with the same possessive pronoun and a word that begins with the letter “b.” Line three breaks this parallelism. Both lines follow the pattern transitive verb, preposition, possessive pronoun, object of the preposition. The first two verb phrases mirror each other. Rich utilizes this technique first in lines two and three, “he comes from your block, grew-up with your brothers, / had certain ideals” (Rich, lines 2-3). Rich employs parallelism and repetition to illustrate structure, which she proceeds to break in order to express the wrongfulness about the patriarchy’s criminalization of rape victims. Whatever happens to “you,” the injustice, the subjugation, effects the reader on a more personal level thus, the reader tends to pay more attention to declarative sentences and tends to feel more demand from imperative sentences. Once line two introduces the possessive pronoun “your,” all that follows put the reader directly into story. ![]() Rich presents the entire story in an experiential way and uses second person point of view to augment the potency behind these demonstrations of power. His will, the will of the patriarchy, is served by the female in the end. Truly, Rich argues, the rape victim should be the focus and her will should be justly served, yet, once again, the male figure denies her that right. Syntactically, “you” should be the sentence’s focus. “You have to confess” (Rich, line 13) may be the core of the sentence, but because it lies buried at line thirteen’s end and because of the enjambment, line thirteen has a less definitive tone. Even though “to him” is a mere adverbial prepositional phrase, its physical placement at the front of a line, gives it power. In this way, Rich employs syntactic hierarchy to express the reality of the situation. Even line seven’s syntax alone explains that “you,” the rape survivor, exists in a state of the complete and total mercy to “he,” a police officer, the man. In line seven, the clause “that could kill you” is the humble servant to “machinery.” This along with the fact that “machinery” functions as nothing more than a lowly object of the preposition, forces “you,” the inferior noun in the dependent clause, to the bottom of the totem pole. Adjectival dependent clauses act in service to the noun or pronoun they describe. The line, “he has access to machinery that could kill you,” (Rich, line 7) places “he” as the subject of the independent clause, “you” as the direct object of the adjectival dependent clause, describing “machinery.” Sovereignty belongs to the subject noun in any clause, but supreme power belongs to the subject that reigns over the independent clause. Through breaks in repetition and opposing descriptions, Rich conveys an image of hierarchy that displays the disturbing reality that the victims of rape are themselves treated as criminals. ![]() Even the woman in Rich’s poem knew that because of the policeman’s pre-judgments, she would be found “guilty of the crime / of having been forced” (Rich, lines 14-5). This story takes place in the early 1970’s, in an era when men scoffed at women who claimed they were raped and would often accuse them of adultery. In “Rape,” one of the key poems in this collection, Rich tells the story of a woman recounting the details of her recent rape to a policeman. One of the most influential books published during the Second Wave was Adrienne Rich’s collection of poetry Diving into the Wreck. Image of Adrienne RIch from the New Yorker
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