AUNT JENNIFER’S TIGERS

A Project By;
Amrith Krishna
Class XII
Guided by: Deepa Gulati
TGT English
KV INS Hamla
 Poet- Adrienne Rich
• Born: in Baltimore, Maryland

• Date of Birth : May 16, 1929.

• An American feminist, poet, teacher, and

writer.

• Rich demonstrated talent in life, writing

poems under her father's guardianship when
she was a child
•Her first book, A Change of World (1951), had been selected for the
Yale Younger Poets Prize.

•After having three sons at the age thirty the content of her work
became increasingly confrontational—exploring such themes as
women’s role in society, racism, and the Vietnam war.

Rich is best known as a key figure in feminist poetry.

 INTRODUCTION TO
THE POEM
• The world today is witnessing a drastic and welcoming change in
the society.
• It may not be wrong to state that women today have made a mark
in almost all fields and have progressed.
• People across the globe have contributed in empowering women.
• Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers by Adrienne Rich very beautifully
communicates the desire of women suppressed under the
expectations of their patriarchal(social organization in which the male
is the family head and title is traced through the male line) society.
 NOW, TO THE POEM

prance
Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz
topazdenizens
denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.
chivalric

Aunt Jennifer's fingers fluttering through her wool

Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.
Ordeals
Denizen
When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie TopazPrance
Chivalric
Stillorringed
A difficult painfulwith ordeals she was mastered by.
A person
The tigersofin the panel that she made
Manifestation Tothat
walk with
experience,
Will go on prancing,ordeals
proud and A mineral
unafraid.
who one
qualities
especially like
that a in
lofty proud
occurs
inhabits
severely atests
bravery, gait,
crystals of often in
particular
courtesy,
character honor,
or an attempt
various colours
place
and gallantry
endurance. to impress
and is used as
toward women
Close a gemstone others
Close
Close Close Close
Feminism Individuality [Aunt Jeniffer’s Tigers]
 STANZA I - EXPLANATION

• Rich begins her poem with a beautiful picture, setting the

scene for the dream world of Aunt Jennifer.
• Aunt owns tigers which are as bright as topaz and inhabit
a world of green.
• Her tigers are energetic and fearless.
•Aunt Jennifer's tigers do not fear men. They conduct
themselves in a heroic and manly fashion.

•The tigers are confident and certain of who

they are and what they want.
 STANZA II
EXPLANATION
Men Ruling

• The second stanza explains who Aunt

Jennifer is and throws light on her
suppressed feelings.

• Aunt Jennifer is described to be working

with a piece of wool. She is doing
needlework to a panel.

• Her fingers are fluttering to create the

beautiful image of the tigers.
 STANZA II
EXPLANATION

•Aunt Jennifer is expressing

herself through the creation of
her tigers. However, creating
those tigers and expressing
those feelings are hard to get
Wedding band or…..? out.

•Those feelings are repressed

by the weight of marriage,
gender roles, and a dominating
society.
•"Uncle's wedding band"
represents a patriarchal society
in which she lives.
 STANZA III- EXPLANATION

• The last stanza of the poem gives us a surprisingly

truthful look at the reality and end of Aunt Jennifer and
women in her position all over the world.

• Aunt Jennifer could never taste freedom even after her

death

? Lo
ove o
orL Fr king
F ee
ing do For
ok m?
Lo
 STANZA III- EXPLANATION
• Even in death she must conform to the patriarchal
society in which she lives.

• In the last two lines she tried to express herself and to

overcome the oppression that she probably could not
even explain, but she only knew how to do it through
masculine images.

? Lo
ove o
orL Fr king
F ee
ing do For
ok m?
Lo
CENTRAL IDEA OF
THE POEM
 CENTRAL IDEA OF
THE POEM
• Aunt Jennifer represented women all
over the world, particularly women in
America, who were caught under the
oppressive hand of a patriarchal
society. Adrienne Rich was perhaps
one of those women.

• Simple lines of Aunt Jennifer's Tigers,

describe a woman's struggles with
expression, rebellion, and a society
where power is defined as masculine.
 CENTRAL IDEA OF
THE POEM

• Her ‘Tigers’ are exotic and culturally

different from anything American
women would know or treasure.

• The fact that tigers are the theme of

Aunt Jennifer's needlepoint pattern
and illuminate the situation she finds
herself trapped in.
 CENTRAL IDEA OF
THE POEM

• The ring around her finger symbolizes

the weight she must bear dead or
alive.

• Just as she created and controlled

her needlework, society and gender
roles created and controlled her.
 CENTRAL IDEA OF
THE POEM
• Stuck in their homes, constricted and
forbidden to enjoy many of the things
they truly desired; American women
were forced to be "perfect" and to fit
the mold of the American wife.

•Aunt Jennifer represses her fears

and desires into the exotic tigers
which go on living even after the
weight of her world buries her.
 s e ws n A
r of er e H kcil C Why do you think Aunt Jennifer’s hands are
‘fluttering through her wool’ in the
1 second stanza? Why is she finding the
` needle so hard to pull?

What is suggested by the image

2 ‘massive weight of Uncle’s wedding
`
band’?

Of what or of whom is Aunt Jennifer terrified

with in the last stanza?
3
`
 What are the ‘ordeals’ Aunt Jennifer is
surrounded by, why is it significant that
4 the poet uses the word ‘ringed’?
`

Why do you think Aunt Jennifer created

5 animals that are so different from
`
her own character?
Click Here for
Answes

Advance
 Aunt is trying to make tigers with
the wool.
She finds it difficult due to
burden of her marriage,

the patriarchal society and her

suppressed desires.

She finds the needle hard to pull

as she cannot express her
desires after her marriage.

ANYTHING MORE ?
Questions Menu
 The massive weight of Uncle’s
band suggests
the burdens of marriage,
the narrow minded and
patriarchal society
and Uncle’s expectations
from Aunt Jennifer of a perfect
housewife.

ANYTHING MORE ?
Questions Menu
 Aunt Jennifer is terrified
of her bad experiences
after marriage,

Uncle’s heavy band and

her inability to craft her
independent personality.
.

ANYTHING MORE ?
Questions Menu
 The ordeals which surround
Aunt Jennifer are the bad
experiences after her
marriage,

the irrational behaviour of the

society and the oppression.

The ring signifies that all the

ordeals are bound to the
wedding ring.

ANYTHING MORE ?
Questions Menu
 Aunt Jennifer’s created images
of animals which explicitly
expressed her unfulfilled
desire.
She longed to be like the
fearless and proud tigers, but
was a victim of the partial
society.
In fact the tigers represent her
soul but is in complete
contrast with her real life
situation

ANYTHING MORE ?
Questions Menu
 SOME EXTRA QUESTIONS

1. Why do you 2.What do Aunt

think Aunt Jennifer’s tigers
Jennifer could signify?
not express
her desires
freely?

3. How do you think 4.Does Aunt

Aunt Jennifer Jennifer’s story seem
was a victim of familiar to you? What
the patriarchal image of America did
society? Could you have before
she escape from reading this poem?
it?
 ANSWERS TO EXTRA QUESTIONS
1. Aunt could not express her desires probably because she
was groomed to accept the norms of the patriarchal society or
also because there was no right forum to voice her wishes.

2. Aunt Jennifer’s tigers signify Aunt’s

desires to be fearless, proud of her own
identity. The tigers represent
independence and freewill.
3. Aunt was a victim of her society as she
was suppressed under the pressures of
an ideal housewife who has no freewill.
She could have escaped from it but she
seemed to be stuck in the groove of her
society without any passion for her own
desires.

4. Aunt Jennifer represents a majority of

women in the world. Today ‘Women
Empowerment’ is emerging as a very
important social issue. But such a pathetic
condition of women in America has never
been a highlighted topic.
Download this Presentation @
 Q1. Who’s The Author of this Poem
“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers”

A: Madhavikutty B: Adrienne Rich

C: Stephen Spender D: John Keats

 Q1. Who’s The Author of this Poem
“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers”

A: Madhaikutty B: Adrienne Rich

C: Stephen Spender D: John Keats

 Q2. Who are as bright as topaz and inhabit a world of
green ?

A: Aunt Jennifer B: Jennifer’s Husband

C: Poet Herself D: Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

 Q2. Who are as bright as topaz and inhabit a world of
green ?

A: Aunt Jennifer B: Jennifer’s Husband

C: Poet Herself D: Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

 Q3. What has massive weight?

A: Wedding Band B: Ivory Needle

C: Wool D: Tigers
 Q3. What has massive weight?

A: Wedding Band B: Ivory Needle

C: Wool D: Tigers
 Q4. Which of These do not describe Aunt Jennifer’s
Tigers ?

A: Confident B: Energetic

C: Fearful D: Heroic
 Q4. Which of These do not describe Aunt Jennifer’s
Tigers ?

A: Confident B: Energetic

C: Fearful D: Heroic
 Q5. What did "Uncle's wedding band" represent ?

A: Love and Affection B: Wealth

C: Artwork D: Patriarchal Society

 Q5. What did "Uncle's wedding band" represent ?

A: Love and Affection B: Wealth

C: Artwork D: Patriarchal Society

 Q6. Which of these suits to the central idea of poem ?

A: Problems of Artistes B: Opression of Housewives /

Women folk

C: Cruelty to Animals D: American Civil War

 Q6. Which of these suits to the central idea of poem ?

A: Problems of Artistes B: Opression of Housewives /

women folk

C: Cruelty to Animals D: American Civil War

 Q7. What will happen to the tigers she made after
her death?

A: They will die B: They will continue to

Prance unafraid

C: Her Husband will destroy

them D: None of These
 Q7. What will happen to the tigers she made after
her death?

A: They will die B: They will continue to

Prance unafraid

C: Her Husband will destroy

them D: None of These
 BYE
&
THANK
YOU!