Marge Piercy's Background and Commitment to Social Transformation
Marge Piercy, born in Detroit, Michigan on March 31, 1936, to Robert Piercy and Bert Bernice Piercy – a working-class family like numerous others, hard-hit by the Great Depression. The latter occurred in the 1930s resulting in devastating effects on tax revenue, personal income, and profits incurred suppressing voluminous families to abject poverty. She had a brother, her mother’s son by a previous marriage, who was fourteen years older. Hannah, her maternal grandmother to whom she was particularly fond of, was born in Lithuania to a rabbi. Piercy is an American novelist, playwright, essayist, social activist and poet. Her poetry and novels tend to focus on social issues and feminism frequently, although her genres vary (Swaim, 3). All of her books, however, entirely share the experiences of women’s lives – showing her commitment towards the vision of social transformation.
The Influence of Family and the Beginnings of Perseverance
Despite their family’s poverty, she reflects on her reasonably happy childhood. As she developed, she constantly wrote poetic stories however her family and culture demeaned her enthusiasm trying to convince her that she was wasting time. The society was trying to depict that women could not be better writers because of their predetermined roles as mothers and wives. Nonetheless, she almost died halfway through grade school after being diagnosed with German measles, later on contracting the rheumatic fever. She evolved from a healthy and pretty child into a skeletal being. However, while in her misery of sickness, she found solace in books. Her perseverance and persistence towards feminism grew stronger when she completed her graduate education – becoming the first member of her family to reach the tertiary level of education – from the University of Michigan.
The Formative Years and Inspirational Figures
Piercy was inspired by her maternal grandmother’s storytelling prowess, her mother’s imagination and curiosity, and her political cognizance – forged by the economic disparities and cruel social climate during her critical years. She further describes her mother as an emotional and creative woman full of odd tradition and superstitions – who read ravenously while encouraging her daughter to follow suit.
Challenges, Triumphs, and Dedication to Feminism
Extremely curious, she advised her daughter to be highly perceptive of her surroundings and always recall what she has observed. Piercy and her mother fought fiercely, as she developed and became more liberated which forced her to leave her home at the age of seventeen (after winning a scholarship), although she admits that their relationship was not in harmony till the latter years of her mother’s existence. She was much closer to her mother – who later died in 1981, unlike her cold-hearted father who never read any of her publications (Lyon, 330). Piercy did not quite complement the perceived image of what women were expected to be during the 1950s era. The Freudianism which infused educated values during her developing age labeled her deviant for her ambitions and sexuality. However, she later won the Hopwood awards (named after Avery Hopwood, writer of sex charades, who left his fortune to be used to encourage and support student writing at the University of Michigan). The act made it easier for her to learn through her senior year without the need to work to raise school fees.
Expanding Horizons and Her Political Awakening
The award also gave her the opportunity to travel to France after graduating. She was married to a French Jew, a particle physicist who was actively protesting against the war in Algeria, to whom she went with to France. Despite being witty and kind, his expectations of unadventurous sex roles in marriage and his disregard for Piercy’s writing led to their separation.
From Activism to Fierce Feminism
Piercy, during the period of social turmoil in the United States, she was the core organizer for the fundamental Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the social movement against the war in Vietnam. However, as days advanced, she realized that the movement was governed by a paradigm of male sovereignty which she found unacceptable. The chauvenism and masculinity that governed the movement motivated her into being a steadfast feminist. Due to her passion and poetry related to this area, numerous critics became conclusive that her works leaned more towards the political aspects of life rather than its artistic prowess. She wrote six novels which were entirely based on feminist characters but were rejected by every publishing company she approached. However, she still excels in raising social issues such as culture or class, but from a feministic approach with a variety of guises – inclusive of speculative or science fiction and historical fiction (Lyon, 332).
A Difficult Period and the Birth of Writing Fiction
During her stay in Chicago, after the failed marriage, she recalls that that period was one of her hardest moment in life. She felt the society defined her as a failure: being needy, dependent on part-time labor (working as a secretary, clerk at a department store, switchboard operator, a faculty instructor and an artist’s model), and being a divorcee at twenty-three. Her life made her feel invisible to the world. As writing delivered her from the cruelty of society despite writing novel after novel and not getting the platform for them to be published – due to the chauvinistic attitude that existed during that period (Lyon, 330). Piercy further reveals that it was at that moment that she decided to write books relating to fiction: she wanted to engrave on paper the life of women she knew – working class individuals, and also write fiction embroidered with a political dimension.
Social and Political Commentary through Poetry
Critical evaluations of Piercy’s works consider the vital role of social and political commentary, with critics perceiving her stress on social problems such as poverty, environmental destruction, neighborhood gentrification, and women’s and civil rights as admirable (Swaim, 2). Nonetheless, some critics have condemned her writing artistry for extreme, often ferocious imagery whereas some admire certain aspects of her creative writing, especially her humor, playfulness, and sensuality. Piercy, in her Poem “Barbie Doll (1969)” describes a young girl’s life who became a victim to society’s impression of beauty. The author uses the poem to express grave concerns facing developing females within the community. Furthermore, the poem was written in a free form to deliver her point more articulately. The fundamental message of the poetic paragraphs was to depict that society should not view beauty as the epitome of the ideal woman.
Piercy's Poetry: Drawing from Life and Its Many Facets
Piercy’s creativity through poetry evolves from her own life experiences and the lives of individuals around her with numerous works relating to her family, the natural world, relationships with friends, social and political issues (such as the war in Iraq), and feminist concerns. Her acute perception and precise choice of words embodied in rich imagery make her poetic works subtle to the reader. Piercy’s art revolves around Tikkun Olam, a Hebrew term meaning “healing the world” with the intention of captivating the reader’s passionate acknowledgment of everything the society could or should change for a better “tomorrow.” Moreover, Piercy always pays tribute to a loving constant she considers to have offered meaning and comfort even during changing events and phases in her life – her cherished cats (Lyon, 328).
References
Lyons, B. " Piercy, M. “An Interview with Marge Piercy.” Contemporary Literature, vol.48 no.3, 2007, pp.327-344. Project MUSE database.
Swaim, D. “Audio Interview with Marge Piercy.” Wired for Books. Ohio University. Archived from the original on August 11, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
