How we dwelt in two worlds the daughters and the mothers in the kingdom of the sons.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the dynamic between generations of women and their roles in a male-dominated society.
Adrienne Rich's quote highlights the experiences of women as they navigate their identities in both familial and societal contexts. It suggests a complex relationship between daughters and mothers, illustrating how their roles are shaped by, and often in contrast to, the 'kingdom of the sons,' which symbolizes a patriarchal structure that influences their existence and interactions.
In practice
In a discussion about gender roles, you might quote this to highlight the challenges women face in balancing familial obligations and societal expectations.
My children cause me the most exquisite suffering of which I have any experience. It is the suffering of ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratification and tenderness. Sometimes I seem to myself, in my feelings toward these tiny guiltless beings, a monster of selfishness and intolerance.
The word revolution itself has become not only a dead relic of Leftism, but a key to the deadendedness of male politics: the revolution of a wheel which returns in the end to the same place; the revolving door of a politics which has liberated women only to use them, and only within the limits of male tolerance.
A president cannot meaningfully honor certain token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.'β
There is no 'the truth','a truth' - truth is not one thing, or even a system. It is an increasing complexity. the pattern of the carpet is a surface. When we look closely, or when we become weavers, we learn of the tiny multiple threads unseen in the overall pattern, the knots on the underside of the carpet
It is the suffering of ambivalence: the murderous alternation between bitter resentment and raw-edged nerves, and blissful gratification and tenderness
It's as if, in the mother's eyes, her smile, her stroking touch, the child first reads the message:'You are there!'
Whenever you're in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.
What holds the world together, as I have learned from bitter experience, is sexual intercourse.
When men do the dishes, it's called helping. When women do the dishes, it is called life.
Here's my Golden Rule for a tarnished age: Be fair with others, but keep after them until they're fair with you.
People are trying to find an outlet to tell their truth.
Any time your life is at stake and you can't find even one woman to come forward and say, 'This is a good man,' your problem isn't what kind of woman THEY are. Your problem is what kind of men YOU are.
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