previously voiceless seems to be a unifying element in the poems that re-examine the mythological feminine .’ As a part of this empowerment , Rich emphasises the necessity of deconstructing the mythological frameworks that patriarchal narratives have for so long been used to silence women .
Likewise , in Dear Big Gods , Mona Arshi examines the oppressive spotlight of the male gaze as a destructive force in the experience of constructing the female identity in her poem , Let the Parts of the Flower Speak . She asks , ‘ You think you have illumed me / because you have translated me ?’ This highlights the product of translation ( in this case the male interpretation of the female narrative ) as a separate entity , constructed by men , rather than truly representative of the female narrative itself . Her sentiments here echo Rich ’ s ambitions in her exploration of the wreck as she explains ‘ the thing I came for :’ -pausing for emphasis before articulating the essential plight facing women and their narratives - ‘ the wreck and not the story of the wreck / the thing itself and not the myth ’ ( pp60-63 ). Both Rich and Arshi draw attention to the problematic nature of myths in the construction of the female identity as a framework often used
ENGL347 Women Writers
11 to constrain and project what Vujin describes as ‘ this Madonna / whore dichotomy ’, rather than encouraging woman to speak for herself , as herself . Katherine Leyton examines this , explaining how many destructive and reductive images of women ‘ required accepting a certain narrative about women , one created by men .’ This becomes particularly prominent as Arshi explores the discourse between woman and her identity as constructed by others , the female self destroyed and erased by the narratives of myth , ‘ The curse : almost certainly mis- / pronounced by a man . Draw me faithfully : bitch , stable-witch , / what does my ambiguity permit ?’ ( pp21- 24 ). Like Rich ’ s exploration of myths in the narrative of women ’ s identity , Arshi uses the ‘ bitch , stable-witch ’ extremes so often associated with female deviancy to highlight the absence of the female voice within these constructions - echoing Rich ’ s ‘ book of myths / in which / our names do not appear ’ ( pp91-93 ). Thus , both Rich and Arshi recognise the links between silent ambiguity and the construction of mythical archetypes of women , and Vujin interrogates these patriarchal narratives imposed on the female in what she describes as ‘ masculinising damage ’, describing the ‘ default mythological framework [ as ]