Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green
These are the opening lines of "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" by Adrienne Rich, one of the leading feminist poets of American literature. Here we get a picture of the artistic skill of Jennifer embodied in the images of the tigers.
Aunt Jennifer is the typical middle aged woman with a devastating married life. Her experience of the conjugal life has made her passive, terrified and overwhelmed by the possessive husband. However, she finds out her own way to express the independence denied to her. She is expert in needle work. On silk curtains, she creates fearless tigers. Though she is not bold, assertive and strong in her personal life, she has created the pictures of some creatures which will carry on her indomitable wishes. The tigers do not move only but stride ferociously. This movement of the animals represents the strength that Jennifer wishes unconsciously. The tigers are not average creatures. They are proud inhabitants of the forests. The image of topaz stones conveys their dignity and value. In a very artistic and subtle way Aunt Jennifer expresses her feeble protest against her modest domestic life by portraying the vigorous tigers which defy all regulations.
