68
Vol. 21 No. 1, April 2021, pp. 68 – 78
DOI: 10.24071/joll.v21i1.2809
Available at https://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/JOLL/index
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The Body of Woman and Woman’s Rights as Portrayed in
Rupi Kaur’s milk and honey Based on Elaine Showalter’s
Gynocriticism
Priska Tarigan, Martha Pardede & Siamir Marulafau
tpriskalangit@gmail.com, pardede.martha@yahoo.com, penyairdcm2@gmail.com
Deparment of English Literature, University of Sumatera Utara, INDONESIA
Abstract Article
information
In the time of modern writing, women writers are increasingly free in raising
the theme of their writing. Women are no longer reluctant to write things related
to a woman’s body and it’s issue. This research aims to analyze the body of women
and woman’s rights as portrayed in Rupi Kaur’s milk and honey (2014). This
research belongs to library research that applied descriptive qualitative method
with gynocriticism approach. Reading and selecting data techniques were used
to collect the data. 28 poems raise the theme of the body of a woman and its issue
used as the data in this research. To analyze the body of woman and woman’s
rights in milk and honey, gynocriticism theory by Ellaine Showalter were used.
The result of the analysis shows that: 1) Woman’s body is described into three
aspects, that is objectification of the body, owner of the body, and strength of the
body. 2) There are three ways for a woman to embrace their rights. First, a
woman is asked to be able to accept and acknowledge herself as she is. Second, a
woman is expected to love and consider herself precious and equal to a man.
Third, women must be able to help and to support other women in fighting for
their rights.
Keywords: the body of woman; woman’s rights; milk and honey; gynocriticism
Received:
18 August
2020
Revised:
24 November
2020
Accepted:
30 November
2020
Introduction
In the development of woman literature,
woman’s writing style has changed and
evolved into three phases from the Victorian
period until the period of modern writing. It is
the feminine, feminist, and female phases. In
the feminine phase, woman writers were
written under the male pseudonym. In the
feminist phase, woman writers questioned the
stereotype and challenged the restrictions of
woman’s languages. In the female phase,
woman writers began to realize and place their
female experience in the process of art and
literature (Showalter, 1979).
Then, the female phase occurs in the time
of modern writing. In the time of modern
writing, women writers are increasingly free
in raising the theme of their writing. They are
no longer reluctant or inferior to write things
related to woman's personalities or matters
https://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/JOLL/index
Journal of Language and Literature
Vol. 21 No. 1 – April 2021 ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online)
69
related to the physicality of women. Women
writers also do not consider that writing or
literary work that they make just a tool that
they can use to fight against men anymore.
They see literature as a medium that can be
used to explain or tell about women as they
are.
One of the female writers that belong to
modern writing is Rupi Kaur, she is very clear
in expressing her opinions about woman's
issues in her works. Kaur is a talented writer
who is very active in fighting for woman's
rights. Her poems are mostly raising a theme
about femininity and the injustice that women
got from various things. She was born to a Sikh
family in India on October 4th, 1992, and grew
up in Canada as a Canadian citizen. Although
she lived in Canada for most of her life, she
never forgets about her culture of origin.
Kaur’s works were influenced by Sikhi culture
and Woman of color issues is one of her
focuses on her poem.
Her first book titled as milk and honey was
published in 2014, it is a poetry collection
book. The book is divided into four chapters;
each chapter depicts a different theme. It tells
about violence, love, abuse, and loss.
Femininity serves as the main theme of the
poems. All of the poems are related one to
another; it has the main story to tell that is a
woman’s journey of life. The title of every
chapter from the book represents the story
such as the hurting in chapter I, the loving in
chapter II, the breaking in chapter III, and the
healing in chapter IV.
As for that, Kaur’s poems can be classified
as female phase writing. It can be seen that the
female phase is a phase where women are
using writing both as a tool to fight for
woman’s justice and also as a forum for telling
women the way they are. Likewise, the Poems
were written by Kaur, telling about women as
they are and seem to be brave enough to show
the female side that is rarely displayed in
literary works. She did not hesitate to show the
side of female sexuality in her poem to voice
the injustice against women.
The research on gynocriticism has been
discussed by Sogra Nodeh and Farideh Pourgiv
(2012). This research are examined about
gynocritic creates a cultural locus of female
abstract identity in Adrienne Rich's A Wild
Patience Has Taken Me This Far, it’s describing
the forces that intersect woman writer’s
cultural field to the social setting in which they
happen. The result find out that Adrienne Rich
utilizing real female feel in a female space,
bring into being the symbolic weight of female
awareness.
Evi Jovia Putri (2014) conducted a
research on short stories wrote by women
from different cultural backgrounds. The
study wants to show the experiences of
women from various backgrounds from five
different continents through short stories. It
also looks at the culture of patriarchy to
underline the writings. The result shows that
women writers are trying to present that being
a woman was difficult, both as a young woman
and as well as a middle-aged woman. It is
proven by the failure of male figures in the
short stories to understand the thoughts and
desires of women. It also shows that
patriarchal environments create an obstacle
for women to be heard or to be understood.
Azadeh Nouri and Fatemeh Aziz
Mohammadi (2015) analyzed the heroine’s
internalized consciousness which echoes in
their behavior on Angela Carter’s Wolf Alice.
The result proves that all of the female
protagonists in carter’s short stories; such as
The Company of Wolves, and Werewolf and
mainly in Wolf Alice have similar
characteristics with different conditions, in
which they are represented in a very negative
light with less than ideal roles. In these stories,
the protagonist is a young girl who has many
conflicts with love and desire. Carter attempts
to encourage women to do something about
this degrading representation.
Mojgan Eyvazi, Mohsen Momen, and Homa
Poorkaramali (2017) analyzed three different
novels wrote by Iranian female writers to
show three stages of female writing
development in the novels based on Eline
Showalter’s theory of gynocriticism (feminine,
feminist and female phase). The novels’ title is
Hangover dawn (1995) by Fataneh Haj Sejed
Javadi, My Bird (2002) by Fariba Vafi, and Don’t
Worry (2008) by Mahsa Moheb Ali. The study
found that the three of the novels match
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Showalter’s models of female writing
development. It shows that Hangover dawn
follows the first stage (feminine phase), Don’t
Worry follows the second stage (feminist
phase), and My Bird comes to the third stage
(female phase).
Nodeh and Pourgiv’s (2012), as well as
Putri (2014), are focus on analyzing the culture
of a woman (the theory of woman culture) in
the novel and short stories, while Nouri and
Mohammadi (2015) are focus on analyzing the
psychology of woman (psychoanalytical
criticism) on short stories, and then Eyvazi,
Momen, and Poorkaramali (2017) are
analyzing the three phases of female writing
development on novels based on Showalter’s
Gynocriticism. Gynocriticism itself has four
models of analysis, that is biological criticism,
linguistic criticism, psychoanalytical criticism,
and the theory of woman’s culture.
Then, since sexuality and the body of
women are most talked in the poems and to
make the research more effective, this
research focuses are on the biology of woman
(biological criticism) in Milk and Honey by Rupi
Kaur. The objective of this research is to
explain the body of the woman and the way
woman embrace their rights as portrayed in
milk and honey.
Methodology
The method used in this research was
qualitative because the data in this study are
the words and phrases instead of the numbers
as statistical calculations. According to
Djajasudarma (2006), Qualitative method is a
procedure resulting in descriptive data in form
of written text or spoken in language society.
In this study, the researcher finds out the
answer to the problem of the study to explain
the body of the woman and the way women
fight for rights as portrayed in Rupi Kaur’s Milk
and Honey selected poems. The result of the
analysis was written in an explanatory
paragraph in showing a brief description of the
similarities and differences of related
exploration.
The data of this study were primarily
selected poems of Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey
poetry collection book. The poems was
selected based on the theory of gynocriticism
with biological criticism models of analysis.
There are 28 poems used as the data on this
research, all of the poems are contains the
problem about the body of a woman and the
way of woman in embracing their rights
through their body. Milk and Honey was
published in 2014. Kaur’s milk and honey was
the primary data of this research. In this paper,
the primary data were the selected poems of
Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey. The writer also
uses secondary data to support the primary
data. The secondary data were the data from
other resources such as gathering from books,
articles, videos, webs, and other supporting
material that relevant to this paper.
In the data selection, the writer will
choose the appropriate poems that going to be
analyzed. Then, the writer will also look into
the secondary data, make some notes, or
highlighting the related idea from other
resources. All those giving notes or
highlighting are important in providing the
study of the analysis in this paper. In analyzing
the data, the writer applied biological analysis
from gynocriticism theory by Elaine Showalter
(1997). A theory by Richard and Alexander
(Pardede, 2017) also used to help the writer in
understanding and analyzing poetry.
Results and Discussion
All of the previous studies are analyze
stories and novels, most of them are focus on
the theory of woman’s culture and
psychological criticism. This research is
focused on biological criticism in analyzing
poetry. The theory of woman’s culture is also
used to support the main models of analysis on
this study. The researcher aims to find how the
body of a woman is portrayed on milk and
honey and what should women do to embrace
their rights as a woman.
This study is analyze poems that related to
the injustices received by women and the
struggle that was undertaken to break out of
the bonds that bind them. It is the problems
faced by women related to their body and their
struggle to escape from the shackles of culture
and society by using their bodies. Below is the
analysis of the body of woman and the struggle
of woman in fighting for rights. The data were
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71
taken from the selected poems of the four
chapters of the milk and honey, they are the
hurting, the loving, the breaking, and the
healing.
The Body of Woman as Portrayed in
milk and honey
In this section, it is explained how the
woman's body is depicted by the poetess in the
poems. The woman's body was described in
several different ways by the poetess, and the
explanation of the description explains further
below:
Objectification of the Body of Woman
This section, explains the female body is
used as a sexual objectification by society,
especially by men. A woman is considered as
an item rather than being treated as an equal
gender. Women and men have different body
shapes, and it is easy for a man to be attracted
to a woman’s body. But this interest is only for
man pleasure and to satisfy their lust, without
being accompanied by the desire to care for
and look after the woman. The poetess
explained this through several poems. The first
poem that shows the sexual objectification of
woman is the following poem:
she was a rose
in the hand of those
who had no intention
of keeping her
In this poem, the word rose uses as a
metaphor which means a woman or a beautiful
woman. Besides, the third person pronoun
‘she’ and the possession ‘her’ which denotes
female gender, use by the poetess to
emphasizes that the rose on the line is referred
to as a woman. Then, the use of past tense in
the first line of the poem that says she was a
rose, has a meaning that that beautiful flower
has been damage. Or in other words that
beautiful woman has been broken because of
the hand of a man.
It can be seen that the poetess wants to
say that woman is treated badly by man. In the
line who have no intention of keeping her, Kaur
explains that man only wants to take
advantage of the beauty of women without
caring about the conditions of the body that
can be damaged if not treated properly. Then,
the line hand of those in the poems is a
metaphor that denotes a man who controls
women.
A tender and soft language is used by Kaur
in writing this poem. The poetess also uses the
euphemism figure of speech in the line who
had no intention. The use of the phrase no
intention by the poetess giving a mild
expression to the line, which the actual
meaning is, does not care at all. It is also found
in the poem that the poetess feels disappointed
caused by the man’s bad treatment towards a
woman. It can be seen in the line had no
intention of keeping her. When someone treats
us badly then automatically we will feel
disappointed. As well as the poetess which
shows her feeling by using phrase had no
intention in the poem.
you
have been
taught your legs
are a pit stop for men
that need a place to rest
a vacant body empty enough
for guests but no one
ever comes and is
willing to
stay
This poem talks about two main
problems. The first is, woman is a tool to
comfort a man and the second is the
powerlessness of a woman to disobey a man.
First, a woman is treated as a satisfying tool of
man’s desires and considers not very valuable
by society. It can be seen from the line your legs
are a pit stop for men, the metaphor of pit stop
uses by the poetess to emphasize that the men
who come to her use the woman as a mere
stopover. Men do not think of the woman as a
precious one, they only think of her as a mere
place to get rid of their fatigue. It can be known
from the phrase a vacant body used in the
poem. Through the line no one ever comes and
is willing to stay, she shows that the men come
and leave as they want.
The second, woman is taught to always
obey man whatever orders are given to her,
whether she likes it or not. Women have to
serve male guests by using their bodies or
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being a pit stop for men. The poetess shows it
in the line you have been taught. The phrase
have been taught tells that the woman is made
to be an obey thing who always follows the
orders of men. And the use of present perfect
progressive tense in the line you have been
taught your legs are a pit stop for men, shows
that it has been going on for a long time and
still happen until now.
In the line a vacant body empty enough,
there is a repetition of meaning with different
words used by the poetess, they are vacant and
empty. The repetition uses to emphasize the
woman’s condition and feeling. The woman is
not in good condition; she is broken and felt
empty. Moreover, there is an irony uses in this
poem, that is in the line empty enough for
guests but no one ever comes and is willing to
stay. The use of irony in that line uses by the
poetess to criticize the social behavior that
assumes a woman’s position is lower than
man. This attitude of society discriminates
against women because they are born as
female.
Owner of the Body of woman
This section analyses the poems that
express the owner of the female body. The
poetess conveys to the reader and all women
that they are entitled to themselves. Women
do not have to always obey and follow what
others are told to them, especially in matters
relating to their bodies. A woman has complete
control over her body and herself. She has the
right to do what she likes and not to do what
she does not like.
the next time he
points out the
hair on your legs is
growing back remind
that boy your body
is not his home
he is a guest
warn him to
never outstep
his welcome
again
This poem is made by the poetess to
remind women about who is the owner of their
body. Through this poem, men are also
reminded by the poetess that he should not
interfere with the woman about her body. A
woman's body described by the poetess as a
house, and the owner of the house is the
woman herself. From the line, your body is not
his home it says that the woman is the owner of
her own body, and a woman’s body is not the
man’s home. Then, in the line he is a guest, it
says that man just a guest who has no right to
determine or making decisions on a woman’s
body. Through the line remind that boy and
warn him to never outstep his welcome the
poetess wants to encourage women to dare, to
be assertive to the man who wants to act like
masters over herself. It says by the poetess that
woman should reprimand man and reminded
him that he is just a guest who could be evicted
at any time.
Through the line he points out the hair on
your legs is growing back, the poetess tells that
man often do not like woman's bodies that are
overgrown with lots of hair. It says that the
hair would bother man and they want women
to get rid of it. The phrase he points out and the
line outstep his welcome is also express the
man’s superiority towards woman. It can be
known that men think that woman’s body is
under their control. Men are accustomed to
commanding women to do something that
they want, and it makes them feel that they are
also entitled to the body of a woman. But, this
poem is made to remind men that they are not
entitled to the body of a woman, it is fully
entitled to the woman itself.
There is a metaphor used by the poetess
in this poem. It found in the line is not his home
and he is a guest. The home symbolizes a
woman’s body and the guest symbolizes a man.
The use of metaphor in this poem is to warn the
reader that the position of man in freeing the
body of a woman. A man is just a guest in a
woman’s body, he should not intervene in the
woman’s privacy. The woman itself is the one
who is entitled to control her body, whether a
man likes it or not.
Strength of the Body of Woman
This section explains the strength of the
female body. It is about the uniqueness of the
female body. It seems weak from the outside
but it is strong enough inside. It tells about the
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strength of females and what makes them
strong in facing the problem that comes
unfinished. Foucault (1995) said that besides
the visible parts, the human body also contains
the whole soul both the mind and feeling for
what is invisible to the eyes of human instinct.
So, this section raises a theme about the
strength of women, both physical and also
psychological.
Physically woman is weaker than a man,
but there are other strengths of a woman that
makes a woman can be stronger than a man. In
milk and honey poems, a woman’s strength
mostly is psychological. A woman cannot beat
a man in the physical strength, but a woman is
superior if it comes to heart and soul. Women
are unique in terms of power; they did not use
violence to defeat others. By love, a woman will
make others turn their anger into affection. It
tells in the poem below.
to be
Soft
Is
To be
Powerful
The poem above uses contrast to
strengthen the meaning of the poem and the
message that want to convey by the poetess.
The contrast is found in the word soft and
powerful. The meaning of this poem is a
woman with her unique power. Women can be
strong by being soft and tender. Generally, soft
is usually connoted as weak and far from
strong. However, in this poem, it says that the
softness of women both physical and also
mental is the greatest strength possessed by
women. To be soft is not always to be weak. It
is precise with that gentleness that women can
break down the hardness of the hearts of their
haters.
This poem tells that woman is a creature
that is strong because of her softness, to be soft
is to be powerful. Even though physically
woman is weaker, but from her soul woman is
not inferior to man. Woman has enormous
strength stored in her heart and soul. With the
tenderness that she has, a woman can do great
things that cannot be done by a man. It also
tells that woman should not feel inferior to a
man just because of her physical weakness. To
become a doughty woman does not need
strong bones and muscles or a big and tall
body. A woman can be strong with her
kindness. It can soften the hardness of her
hatred’s heart and turn their cruelty to become
affection and wish to protect.
This is a simple and one of the shortest
poems in milk and honey. The words in this
poem are smooth and soft but have a strong
meaning. The meaning of the poem is seen in
the lines of the poem, short but powerful. It
shows the power with the softness of a woman.
Through another poem, the poetess says
that the strength and the power of women are
not in their physical beauty, but it is in their
determination beyond anything. It shows by
the poetess in the poem below:
i want to apologize to all the women
i have called pretty
before i’ve called them intelligent or brave
i am sorry i made it sound as though
something as simple as what you’re born
with
is the most you have to be proud of when
your
spirit has crushed mountains
from now on i will say things like
you are resilient or you are
extraordinary
not because i don’t think you’re pretty
but because you are so much more than
that
Just like the three previous poems, this
poem also raises the theme of female body
strength. Specifically, it shows that women’s
strength does not lie in their physical, but it is
in their spirit and soul, your spirit has crushed
mountains. Through this line, the poetess
shows that women’s souls are extraordinary
so it can crush mountains. Mountains here are
not mountains in the literal meaning. It means
the hatred towards woman which has been
going on for a long time in society, and woman
has crushed it. Women can destroy the hatred
because of their spirit is strong, so they can
turn it into affection and love.
The phrases you are resilient and you are
extraordinary, highlighted by the poetess to
emphasize that women are far more powerful
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than just beautiful. Women are creatures that
are resilient in their gentleness and
extraordinary in their simplicity. Their
strength comes from their heart and soul
which are not easily broken even though they
have experienced much suffering. Through the
line i want to apologize to all women i have
called pretty before i called them intelligent or
brave..., the poetess emphasizes that woman is
not just a soulless flesh who only has a body to
praise. Women are more than just pretty or
beautiful, and it clearly says by the poetess in
the line ...you are so much more than that.
In this section, it is explained how the
struggle and the movement carried out by
women to embrace their rights. The movement
to support each other and encourage women
to love themselves more is the thing most
delivered by Kaur in her poem. The analysis of
how to embrace woman's rights is further
explained below:
Self-acceptance
This section analyzes poems that express
the woman’s self-acceptance. The poetess
conveys to the reader especially women that
they should accept themselves under any
circumstances. No matter how they look and
how their appearance, they must be able to
accept it in pride and with an open heart. To
reclaim the rights that are taken from them,
the first thing women must do is to accept
themselves first.
accept yourself
as you were designed
The poem above writes by the poetess to
convince women that they are beautiful as they
are. Wanting to accept and be grateful for what
is in them both physically and psychologically
is the first step for women to get out of the
circle that holds them. Recognizing and
accepting what they have with an open heart is
very important. It will make women easier to
love and respect themselves.
The poetess in her poem says that to be a
complete woman, a woman does not have to
have a smooth and beautiful body. The scars on
a woman's body are proof that they are tough
women, which is a picture that the woman is
soft but also strong. It is precisely the ability to
endure and the expertise to heal these wounds
that makes a woman whole and complete. As
written in the poem below:
i like the way the stretch marks
on my thighs look human and
that we’re so soft yet
rough and jungle wild
when we need to be
i love that about us
how capable we are of feeling
how unafraid we are of breaking
and tend to our wounds with grace
just being a woman
calling myself
a woman
makes me utterly whole
and complete
This poem tells about self-acceptance.
Accepting and seeing all of the flows on
ourselves as beautiful things. Can see a flaw as
a doon, i love that about us. Women often feel
that the scars on their bodies are blemishes
that should not be present. A lot of women
crave a smooth and beautiful body without a
scar found on their bodies. Because of this
desire, women end up doing various methods
that hurt themselves. Therefore, through this
poem, the poetess shows that the most
important thing for a woman is to accept
herself as she is. The poetess clearly states that
in the poem, in the line i like the way the stretch
marks on my thighs look human. The line tells
us that being human doesn’t mean that we
cannot have any scars on our bodies. Instead,
wounds and scars would make us more
human.
Through the poem, the poetess wants to
say that not having smooth skin is a very
normal thing for a woman. The line we’re so
soft shows that woman has a slender body so
they can get hurts easily. However, besides
being easily injured women are also gifted
with the ability to care for themselves and
recover from those injuries, tend to our wounds
with grace.
The line how unafraid we are of breaking,
says that being a whole woman is not by
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75
having no injuries at all. But by accepting the
wounds and caring it in the tender will be the
evidence of beauty and tenderness of a
woman. The line just being a woman, calling
myself a woman, also shows that woman
doesn’t need to be flawless. Just be herself is
more than enough to be a woman and to be a
whole human, utterly whole and complete.
Through the poem, it can be known that
thee poetess wants to encourage women to be
able to see herself as a precious thing. The line
rough and jungle wild when we need to be told
that woman has huge potential other than her
beautiful physicality. Rather than crave a
beautiful body, women should be proud of
their ability to survive in any situation.
The language used by the poetess in this
poem is soft and beautiful. She wants to touch
the reader’s heart with the poem. The phrases
and lines such as look human, so soft, how
capable, how unafraid, tend our wounds with
grace, being a woman, and whole and complete
give the readers a positive vibe. There is also a
contrast in the line so soft yet rough. The use of
contrast here aims to convince women that
they are precious, so they have to proud and
accept themselves no matter how.
Self-loving
This section analyzes poems that express
the efforts made by women to embrace their
rights by loving themselves. The poetess,
through her poems, says that before a woman
demands other people to respect and love her,
she must be able to love herself first. Because
by loving herself, the woman will give an
example of how others should behave to her. If
a person cannot love herself, how can others
love her and treat her well? This contains in
the poems below:
how you love yourself is
how you teach others
to love you
This poem has a very deep meaning and
also has firmness in conveying the message.
The poem reminds women to love themselves
so others will love them too. Through the
poem, the poetess also tells women that they
have a great responsibility for the treatment of
others. If a woman is always feeling inferior
and considers herself less valuable than a man,
then others will also treat her in a bad way.
But, when a woman appreciates and loves
herself and shows others that she is precious,
others will also treat her as such.
The line you teach others to love you means
that a woman herself has to make others love
them. The poetess clearly says that others will
see how a woman treats herself. If a woman
even cannot love herself how others will love
her. So, they should be able to set a good
example for others in treating them. And that
will only happen if they love themselves first.
In this poem, the direct language is used
by the poetess. She also chooses words that are
simple and easy to understand. By choosing
simple diction and does not use complicated
language styles, makes this poem looks like
advice to all readers, especially women. When
it is viewed from the poetical technique of
poetry, this poem is relatively short and also
simple. But the simplicity of the poem does not
reduce the power of the poem in conveying its
meaning.
Woman for woman
The analysis at this point is about women
who support each other, or it can be said as a
woman for a woman. To be equal to men and
get the rights that should be theirs, a woman
must be able to support each other. Woman's
struggle will never succeed if among women
there is still a sense of envy and a desire to
topple each other. In a study conducted by
Workplace Bullying in 2010, it was found that
the level of bullying by woman in the
workplace was very high, reaching 71% and
more than 90% of the targets were women.
From this research, it is known that women
often see other women as competitors rather
than as sisters who must be supported.
Women will be jealous of the success achieved
by other women, and they prefer to pout other
women's success rather than admit it. The
poetess also conveys this in the poem below:
what terrifies me most is how we
foam at the mouth with envy
when others succeed
but sigh in relief
Journal of Language and Literature
ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online) Priska Tarigan, Martha Pardede & Siamir Marulafau
76
when they are failing
our struggle to
celebrate each other is
what’s proven most difficult
in being human
Through foam at the mouth with envy, the
poetess says that a woman can be greatly
tormented because of envy when they see
another woman more successful than her. For
some women, the success of other women
means a setback for her. Then, instead of
acknowledging and appreciating the success of
other women, a woman often prefers to drop it
and hope that success will end quickly.
The line but sigh in relief when they are
failing, and celebrate each other is what’s
proven most difficult proves that many women
still have difficulties in supporting other
women. They can easily accept the success
achieved by men but underestimate the results
of women's efforts (narasi.tv: 2019). Women
will also feel happy when they are considered
better than other women, especially if they
were compared by man. The poetess then
criticizes this concept with the poem she wrote
below:
you tell me
i am not like most girls
and learn to kiss me with your eyes closed
something about the phrase—something
about
how i have to be unlike the women
i call sisters in order to be wanted
makes me want to spit your tongue out
like i am supposed to be proud you picked
me
as if i should be relieved you think
i am better than them
The poem above is addressed by the
poetess to men who often compare one woman
to another. It clearly says in the line you tell me
i am not like most girls. In this poem, the
poetess criticizes the attitude of men who
often discriminate between a woman to
another, and this is a wrong and disgusting
attitude. The poetess uses the
phrases something about and spit your tongue
out, to express her dislike of the attitudes and
words conveys by men to compare women.
In addition to criticizing the attitudes of
men towards women, this poem also has
another message addressed to women. The
message is to remind women not to be
persuaded by the flattery and praise that men
are giving to them. They should know where
are the words that can support them and
where is the one which only wants their falling.
This poem expresses Kaur’s hope that
women not to trust what men said and thought
that they were different and better than other
women. In the line like i am supposed to be
proud you pick me and as if i should be relieved
you think i am better than them, the poetess
says that woman should not differentiate
herself from other women. Women must help
and support one another so that they will be
able to get up and get their rights.
The poetess also reminds women that
other women are not enemies they have to be
defeated but sisters are obliged to support and
embrace.
other women’s bodies
are not our battlegrounds
In this poem, the poetess reminds us that
a woman's body is not a battlefield for another
woman. The word battlegrounds are used by
the poetess to emphasize the message she
wants to convey. It is known that women often
see other women as a barrier that must be
destroyed. Then through this poem, women
are reminded that that view is wrong. A
woman is not a barrier for another woman, not
even a shackled that has to get rid of, not our
battlegrounds. It can be seen that the poetess
hopes that women can support each other and
work together to fight for their rights. This is
also seen in the poem below:
we all move forward when
we recognize how resilient
and striking the women
around us are
The poem above shows that by
acknowledging and supporting the success of
other women, a woman will also move forward
and achieve her success. Accepting the success
of women around them is not a setback for a
woman, rather a way to be able to rise together
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Vol. 21 No. 1 – April 2021 ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online)
77
against the stigma that has been difficult for
women.
In another poem, the poetess also says
that when a woman is amazed and praises
other women the amazing itself is her.
for you to see beauty here
does not mean
there is beauty in me
it means there is beauty rooted
so deep within you
you can’t help but
see it everywhere
The line it means there is beauty rooted so
deep within you shows that what women see in
others is a reflection of her own. It is like seeing
through a mirror. By being able to see other
women in a positive perspective, the woman
must have become someone extraordinary
first. Therefore, from this poem, the poetess
says that women will succeed in fighting for
their rights when they want to support each
other and recognize the greatness of women
around them.
It can be concluded that to fight for their
rights, women no longer have to criticize and
fight against men who act badly on women.
Instead, the struggle can be carried out by
women by raising the dignity of women in
society. Women can fight for their rights nobly
and elegantly, that is by recognizing and
supporting each other. Woman for woman is
an act where women stop seeing other women
as competitors who must be defeated but
begin to see them as sisters that they must
embrace. Thus, women will be strong and can
rise together as a gender that equal to men,
they will no longer be ostracized but rather
they will be respected as men are respected.
Conclusion
Based on the analyzed data, the writer
then makes some conclusions about the
gynocriticism analysis on Rupi Kaur’s milk and
honey, the conclusion is as follows:
This research concludes that the body of a
woman in milk and honey is portrayed in three
aspects; objectification of the body, owner of
the body, and strength of the body. There are
also three ways offered by the poetess for
woman to embrace their rights, they are, self-
accepting, self-loving, and woman for woman.
In the objectification of the body, Kaur
shows how the woman’s body is used as a tool
to satisfy man’s desire. It is also said that
woman’s body is liked, but its natural system
of the body like menstruation is considered as
a taboo in society. In the owner of the body,
Kaur explains that the master of a woman's
body is the woman herself; a woman has the
full right to do what she wants and to not do
what she does not want with her body. And in
the strength of the body, it says that even a
woman’s body seem weak in the outside, but
women cannot be defeated easily because they
have huge power in the inside. Women’s
powers lie not in their physical but in the soul
and heart.
In the self-accepting, it says that the way
women could get their rights is to accept
themselves as they are and be proud of what
they have. In the self-loving, it says woman
should loving herself as is she is her soulmate.
And in the woman for woman, it says that after
a woman accepts and loves herself no matter
what the circumstances, afterward women
must also be able to acknowledge and support
other women. In this third point, it says that
women have to support other women in
fighting for their rights together.
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