Equality In Marge Piercy's A Work Of Artifice

Girls have been put into a stereotypical box called society and have not been given the freedom to escape. From the dawn of time, females were given the submissive role to the man; they were told that their only purpose was to reproduce and then take care of their offspring, but what about themselves? Who takes care of them? As time has progressed, change started to happen and women were breaking out of their submissive roles. Society has recognized that women are growing in power, so they had to do something to regain dominance. “A Work of Artifice” by Marge Piercy uses word choice and metaphors to prove that sexism has dehumanized girls and denied them the right to equality.
All girls are born with the same natural rights as boys, but no one will let them explore their potential. Marge Piercy uses metaphors to compare a bonsai tree to a young girl and uses the gardener to represent society. Piercy brilliantly captures the gardener’s mind by sharing the voice of the poem with the gardener and a third person. “How lucky, little tree” (15) says the gardener as he “whittles back the branches” (10), “it is your nature\ to be small and cozy,\ domestic and weak,” (12-14). This proves that the gardener doesn’t think much of the …show more content…
Every human, no matter what race, gender, or religion has the same natural rights. It is society and power that dehumanize others to maintain social order. What society has been doing to girls is an artful skill, it is false or insincere behavior. It's a “split by lightning” (5) that removed the bonsai tree from its natural habitat; the same split that tore a girl away from her dreams. The gardener takes care of his tree; he nurtures it and trims it daily to the size and shape he wants. “With living creatures\ one must begin very early” (17-18) suggests that this “work of artifice” has prevented girls from being individuals since before they could form their own