I want a red dress.
I want it flimsy and cheap, I want it too tight, I want to wear it until someone tears it off me. I want it sleeveless and backless, this dress, so no one has to guess what’s underneath. I want to walk down the street past Thrifty’s and the hardware store with all those keys glittering in the window, past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly, hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders. I want to walk like I’m the only woman on earth and I can have my pick. I want that red dress bad. I want it to confirm your worst fears about me, to show you how little I care about you or anything except what I want. When I find it, I’ll pull that garment from its hanger like I’m choosing a body to carry me into this world, through the birth-cries and the love-cries too, and I’ll wear it like bones, like skin, it’ll be the goddamned dress they bury me in. Kim Addonizio’s poem, “What Do Women Want?”, is centered around a red dress. At first, she appears to be writing superficially about her want for an attractive red dress. The poem opens up with her saying, “I want a red dress. I want it flimsy and cheap.” I believe that this stands for her childish wants and dreams. Addonizio thinks the dress is pretty and she wants it only because of its outward appearance. As she grows up and matures, she desires the red dress because of the fact that it stands for the sexual freedom of a desirable woman. Being a woman means to her that, “I want to walk like I’m the only woman on earth and I can have my pick.” She believes that the cheap, backless, sleeveless, red dress will give her that power. This expectation of hers cements the belief that a dress will make her into a woman. Once she realizes the dress will give her this power, she says, “I want that red dress bad. I want it to confirm your worst fears about me, to show you how little I care about you or anything except what I want.” Addonizio views the dress as a way for her to become a desirable woman who doesn’t conform to the 1950’s housewife standards. She wants to be wanted by everyone around her. I bet that it’s an invigorating experience to turn heads every which way when you walk down the street. I know that the vain part of me would enjoy that. To me, the red dress stands for so much more in the poem. If a dress brings a woman confidence, then bring it on. If Addonizio wants to live her life with a “red dress” mentality, I say more power to her.
13 Comments
|
SarahI'm an AP English student and high school senior who loves everything about lemons and Grey's Anatomy. This is my blog to talk about literature and everything English. Archives
March 2017
Categories |