Critical Summary of Woman Work by Maya Angelou
The very words "woman work" seem strange and a deviation from routine because a woman, generally a housewife, is considered to be free having nothing to do. It is a general perception that house wives are always free to gossip and hang about. The poetess has another view point. Maya Angelou tells us about the sacrifices made by a housewife; she leads a tiresome and monotonous life for her family.
The poetess enumerates daily routines of a housewife to prove her case.
She has to mop the floor. She has to clean the house. She has to bathe and dry the kids. She has to prepare the children for school. She has to buy food. She has to cook for her family. She has to weed the garden. She is fed up with this boring life. She has no source to enjoy life. She calls nature, a mother, to console her with white "icy kisses", sunshine and rain. She yearns for change but at the same time cannot leave her responsibilities. The poetess has briefly communicated the self-earn chains of slavery of the household drudgery for a housewife whom we generally consider a chit-chatter.
The theme is that we ought not only to share the burden of women but also learn to respect their work as a full time job. The entire of life of a housewife is based on sacrifices which she makes for her family. She even suppresses her natural desires for the sake of her family and children and bids good bye to the very nature and its beauty we all love.
