"Housewife" By Anne Sexton

I found this poem to be afully clever simply by the title, overtime, we have created this image of what a "Housewife," is. A woman that stays at home while the husband works. So essentially, the woman really is "married" to her house. But even towards the house, the woman isnt seen as a lover or other half, but almost as a slave. Just as a partner to pleasure the other. Sexton at one point makes the reference, "On her knees." Obviously she is talking about cleaning the house, but it also has somewhat of a sexual inuedo, with the idea that some women are on their knees for the house, and some are on their knees for their husbands, "faithfully." The line "Men enter by force," just suggest the typical dominance role men play over women, especially in marraige. Many women don't have a say, they just work all day, then disrespect what the women hae been working on all day. This also implies more sexual references with the idea that many women have sex with their husbands because they tell them to or make them, not necessarily because they want them to. The only thing that confused me in the poem was the reference to mothers....