Aunt Jennifer, the titular character in Adrienne Rich's poem "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers," expresses her inner feelings through the medium of embroidery. She creates elaborate tapestries featuring tigers, symbols of strength and freedom, as a way to escape the constraints of her life.
While the poem does not explicitly state Aunt Jennifer's feelings, we can infer her emotions through several clues:
- The repetitive nature of the embroidery: The constant stitching of the tigers suggests a sense of monotony and the need for escape.
- The tigers' contrasting freedom: The tigers in the tapestry are free and powerful, contrasting with Aunt Jennifer's own sense of confinement and lack of agency.
- The heavy wedding band: The weight of the wedding band, described as "the massive weight of Uncle's wedding band," symbolizes the oppressive nature of her marriage.
- The final lines: The poem ends with the image of the tigers "prancing" while Aunt Jennifer's fingers "pursue" the needle. This suggests a yearning for the freedom and power represented by the tigers, a freedom she cannot achieve in her own life.
By creating these intricate tapestries, Aunt Jennifer finds a way to express her longing for freedom and individuality, even if it is only within the confines of her embroidery.
