The Poem “Woman’s Work” by Julia Alvarez

The poem “Woman’s work” by Julia Alvarez shows that nothing is impossible in this world. She discusses women’s domestic role and their contribution to the family (Hussain). Alvarez looks at how the mother’s story about obsessively cleaning the house affected the lives of many people around the world. Based on this, the phrase “nothing is impossible” comes from the mother’s hard work in a domestic role, encouraging women to work hard at home. She indicates that despite the existence of many chores, a woman is able to handle them effectively (Hussain). In addition, she uses literary elements such as themes, rhetorical questions, alliterations, and many more. Therefore, the phrase “nothing is impossible in this world” is displayed through a woman’s strength to manage many responsibilities.

The phrase “nothing is impossible” means that despite women’s challenges, they can overcome them if they are committed. To illustrate the problems experienced by women, Alvarez starts the stanza by asking a rhetorical question “Who says a woman’s work isn’t high art?” (Hussain). This is reinforced by the next line in the stanza, indicating the challenge of scrubbing bathroom tiles and keeping the house clean as if it were her heart. In addition, Alvarez uses the theme such as the strength of a woman to demonstrate that women can handle the many challenging house chores and ensure everything is in order (Hussain). As a result, the author indicates the strength and resilience of women in their homes in working hard to make sure that the house is clean.

The slogan “Nothing is impossible in this world” shows that everyone can get what they want in life. In the poem, “woman’s work,” Alvarez showed that the mother managed to train her daughter to be intelligent and hardworking, especially on household chores (Hussain). The speaker did not want to be the counterpart of her mother because she believed doing a woman’s work was a hard art. In the second stanza, Alvarez used imagery to build a picture of the girl’s frustration. For example, she had to clean the house while her friends enjoyed themselves outside (Hussain). However, in the last stanza, the mother makes sure that the young girl follows suit by being a woman working at home as an art (Hussain). After a series of complaints, she accepted and learned the roles of a woman in a family. Therefore, although the young girl was adamant and did not want to engage in household duties, she became her mother’s child and learned about a woman’s work.

The phrase “nothing is impossible in this world” was effectively explained in the poem “woman’s work.” Alvarez used literary elements such as themes, imagery, rhetorical questions, and many more to help the readers understand the poem’s context. She revealed that a woman has the strength and resilience to overcome challenges when handling household chores. In the poem, the mother had to scrub the bathroom tiles and ensure the house was clean. As Julia Alvarez pointed out, the mother succeeded in making sure that the young girl learned the importance of undertaking household duties as an art. For example, the young girl has learned to do all the housework and other work independently. Despite being agitated initially, she became her mother’s child by adopting her ways.

Work Cited

Hussain, Isra. “‘Woman’s Work’ Analysis: How Art Can Be Found in Anything- Art.” Astudiateam, Web.

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StudyCorgi. "The Poem “Woman’s Work” by Julia Alvarez." March 22, 2024. https://studycorgi.com/the-poem-womans-work-by-julia-alvarez/.

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StudyCorgi. 2024. "The Poem “Woman’s Work” by Julia Alvarez." March 22, 2024. https://studycorgi.com/the-poem-womans-work-by-julia-alvarez/.

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