Audre Lorde's poem Who said it was Simple is anything but simple, it is very compacted with metaphors. Audre’s life was complicated; she was a mother, feminist, and lesbian, because of this she was criticized for her writing. Her response just like and activist was to repost shading light on her sexuality and how it made her who she was. In the first stanza of her poem Who said it was Simple she states:
There are so many roots to the tree of anger that sometimes the branches shatter before they bear. This stanza has a lot to unpack. The roots of trees are strong and they essentially keep the tree alive, to me the roots of the tree is representing a person and their beliefs. Being underground most of the roots are covered by dirt, in some cases, bits may come out into the light but what you’d like to keep to yourself would stay hidden. The tree and branches are the person may show to the outside world. What I find important is her word choice when she says “sometimes the branches shatter” (line 2) shatter is an interesting choice. Shatter is more of a violent choice rather than crack or splinter. Knowing she is speaking of a “tree of anger” the word shatter makes me believe there was a violent outlash. Audre uses another interesting line within her poem. “[T]he ladies neither notice nor reject/the slightler pleasures of their slavery.” (lines 10 and 11) this was interesting to unpack. She is speaking of women being slaves to their husbands or even just males in general. The “slightler pleasures of their slavery” would represent the man of the house bringing home money or at times something nice for the woman of the house. In which case these “gifts” make their captivity slightly more bearable in the household. I believe these lines are to make women mad, almost as a trigger to realize that the men in their life are mistreating them and them living for the slightest pleasure is no way to live. She is trying to make women think about their home lives and think if they are happy where they are.
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