Housewife By Anne Sexton Summary

Anne sexton was an American poet born in Newton, Massachusetts well known for her work that is very confessional poetry that revolved around her long lasting battle against depression, suicidal tendencies and intimate details from her very private life dealing with the relationship with her husband and children. During her childhood Anne was raised in comfortable middle-class conditions in Weston, Massachusetts, she had all the materialistic things she wanted but was still unhappy. Her life was never easy as a child, although her dad was a successful businessman, he was also an alcoholic and her mother’s literary dreams had been put to a stop by her family life. The only person she could truly trust was her great aunt who lived with her family …show more content…
In Sexton’s piece Housewife, she starts with a very ironic line, saying some women marry houses instead of men. She later starts giving the house characteristics that are a lot like a person.
“It 's another kind of skin; it has a heart, / a mouth, a liver and bowel movements (Sexton).”
Much like a person Anne describes the house as having skin, heart, mouth… etc. The poem shows how a house is an enlarged version of a woman, protecting her from invasion, but also preventing relationships. She also includes a religious reference in the verse that compares men to Jonah because they enter against their own conscious will. Sexton ends her poem by saying “ A woman is her mother. / That 's the main thing (Sexton).”
With this line Sexton compares women to be their own mothers, kind and loving, caring for themselves and for others. That is the main thing that she wanted to point out in this poem, that no matter what relationship may be happening a woman is much like a housewife, married to her house that provides protection and where they can be