Domestic Work, 1937

In “Domestic Work, 1937,” Natasha Tretheway sets a colorful, hopeful, and ambitious tone, using syntax, imagery, and parallel structure to tell the story of a young maidservant wishing for a better life. The girl is a victim of the oft-discussed and studied gender role issue in society, where she is relegated to housework and chores instead of making a life and career for herself. Tretheway makes every line in the poem the same length, perhaps to convey the monotonous routine the girl settles into, cleaning and scrubbing every day without exception. Additionally, Tretheway uses vivid imagery to show the girl’s sorry plight, like when she “stared down her own face in the shine of copper-bottomed pots.” This makes her feelings much more real, and it contrasts the idea that the girl wants to shine in her own life but instead she shines pots and pans all day. However, Sunday is church day, when she “raises the shades, washes the room in light.” Sunday, the day when she doesn’t have to work and instead relishes in her religion, gives her hope that she will one day become a strong, independent woman. Finally, Tretheway uses parallel structure, italicizing lines after each paragraph when the girl talks to herself. This builds up hope and shows the reader that although she is relegated to robotic housework, the girl has a mind and an imagination of her own, one that is constantly changing.