Summary Of Mother Who Game Me Life By Gwen Harwood

“The women in Harwood’s poems are always shown as victims of a male-dominated world. Discuss.”

Throughout her poetry, Gwen Harwood often revisits and challenges the statement that women are victims of a male dominated world. The expectation that women would only serve as domestic housewives and child bearers is thoroughly rejected as Harwood identifies the repressive and restrictive cultural and social ideologies in which women were restrained too. As well as this, Harwood explores the experiences of women within society and the difficulties that they were exposed to. In her poem “Mother Who Game Me Life," she illustrates the constraints placed upon women by their overall situations and surroundings. Harwood also uses “Home of Mercy” in order

This demonstrates that women were often portrayed as victims of a male-enforced world in Harwood’s poetry, conveying universal experiences of motherly

Both “In the Park” and “Suburban Sonnet” express the frustrations of women who feel as if they are trapped by motherhood and their placing in the traditional lifestyle for their gender. As it is a main aspect of patriarchal society for men to have the vast majority of dominance and power due to their somewhat stronger emotional and physical characteristics, women were forced to forget all aspects of their lives and only focus on certain roles. In her writing titled “In The Park,” domestic life is addressed as the woman takes her children to the park and encounters an ex-lover. The superficial conversation that is undergone suggests the significant difference between a man and woman, as she is tied down to her children whom have consumed her in comparison to the man who appears to have a huge amount of freedom “to the wind she says, they have eaten me alive.” This controlling ideology challenges the traditional values explored and positions the reader to accept these by the way the mother’s regret is conveyed, showing how males were completely unaware of the sacrifices undergone during motherhood. Furthermore, Harwood uses “Suburban Sonnet” in order to describe how her true passion of music is somewhat hidden by her role of being a housewife. She appears to be tired of being bound by