Flamingo Aunt Jennifers Tigers - Revision Notes
CBSE Class 12 English Core
Revisoin Notes
Flamigo Poem-6
Aunt Jennifers Tigers
The poet is a feminist and at the centre of the poem. She addresses the difficulties of a married woman. The woman, Aunt Jennifer, is a nervous and fearful wife. She spends good amount of time in embroidering panel of tigers prancing across the screen. The tigers are fearless creatures pacing elegantly and majestically. They symbolize the spirit of freedom. Aunt is a victim of male chauvinism (male domination). She is so nervous that her fingers ‘flutter’ through the wool she is using in her tapestry or panel.
The poet portrays the marriage of Jennifer as an unhappy one for her. The “weight of Uncle’s wedding band “expresses how victimized, oppressed and dominated she is. It implies that aunt Jennifer has to work hard to meet his expectation.
She spends her life in fear but she embroiders on the panel the fearless tigers to express her secret longing for a life of freedom and confidence. Perhaps Aunt Jennifer uses art as an escape from her troubles. In her artwork she imagines the kind of life she would have liked. The creatures she places there are free and proud, just opposite to her. It seems that she creates a happier looking world than the one she lives in. She makes precise and brightly coloured pictures like the sharp yellow tigers of the poem, pictured against a green background. These bright contrasting colours are probably much more vivid than her everyday world.
Her artistic work will live on after she dies, as, according to the poet, her tigers will ‘go on prancing’ The Aunt is terrified about the fact that when she would quit the world and when she would be lowered into the grave, she would still remain afraid of her husband and would carry the marks of torture in the form of wedding ring even in her grave. Even her death would not end the problem and torture which a married woman experiences.
- The poet is a feminist and she addresses the difficulties of a married woman.
- She spends good amount of time in embroidering panel of tigers prancing across the screen.
- The tigers are fearless creatures pacing elegantly and majestically. They symbolize the spirit of freedom. Aunt is a victim of male chauvinism (male domination).
- Aunt Jennifer is so oppressed and terrified that she finds it hard to pull the needle.
- The “weight of Uncle’s wedding band “expresses how victimized and oppressed she is. It implies that aunt Jennifer has to work hard to meet his expectation.
- She spends her life in fear but she embroiders on the panel the fearless tigers to express her secret longing for a life of freedom and confidence.
- Even her death does not end the problem and torture which a married woman experiences..
