A WORK OF ARTIFICE

BY Marge Piercy
EXTRACT 1:
“The bonsai tree…split by lightning”

Q1. Which tree is the poet talking about? How tall would it have grown and in what
circumstances?
Ans1: In the poem A work of Artifice, the poet, Marge Piercy talks of a bonsai tree, a
potted plant dwarfed and trimmed to an artistic shape. The bonsai tree could have
grown into eighty feet tall before being split by lightning if it were on the side of a
mountain if given the opportunity and not restricted to its pot.

Q2. What does the bonsai tree symbolise? Explain.

Ans2: The poet uses the bonsai tree as a symbol of the human desire to control and
shape nature. Bonsai trees are intentionally grown and pruned to be small and shaped
in a particular way. They are the living works of art that represent the human ability to
manipulate and shape the natural world for our own purpose.
It is a metaphor for women who face inequality, discrimination and suppression in
society. In the beginning of the poem, the bonsai tree is said to have a chance of
growing eighty feet tall if given the opportunity. The poem opens up with what could be
the true potential of women- as a tall and majestic tree, eighty feet tall tree on a
mountainside that could be damaged only by lightning. But women are likely to have a
‘pot’ and grow to a height of merely nine inches. These two qualities demonstrate the
extent of suppression of women and so do all other metaphors used in the poem.

Q3. Where would it have grown tall? How would its height have been its enemy?
Ans3: The bonsai tree would have grown eighty-feet tall on the side of a mountain if
given the opportunity. Its height would have been its enemy as the eighty feet tall tree
will have exposure to great heights and would have a high possibility of being damaged
by lightning. Hence its height would be responsible for its own destruction and so would
become its enemy.

Q4.Why do you think the poet used the words “attractive pot” in this extract?
Ans4: The poet places the bonsai tree in an ‘attractive pot’ which symbolises the absurd
and restrictive beauty standards of women. A small bonsai tree in an attractive pot
encourages the belief that women are desirable when they are pretty, delicate and
domestic. The pot reduces the potential of the tree to grow to its great heights and gives
control to the gardener. In the same way, women are controlled by the patriarchal
society and its standards which too reduces their potential. This conditioning begins
very early; by young girls’ feet being bound (outdated chinese beauty standard), brain
being crippled and hair in curlers. It represents the oppression of women, their inability
to grow and how society has kept them tied to ancient customs preventing them from
achieving their full potential.
Q5.What does “till split by lightning” symbolise? How is the tree protected from
lightning?
Ans5: The bonsai tree is carefully pruned to nine inches tall by the gardener who sings
and talks to the bonsai tree and deceives it that it is for its well-being that he has
transformed it into a bonsai, otherwise if it had grown to its full potential on a
mountainside, it would have been destroyed by lightning.
The bonsai has the potential to grow eighty feet tall and could only be destroyed by
lightning. The gardener deceives it by saying that he is protecting it from disfortuning by
pruning it in its attractive pot.
This symbolises how women have high potential that could have been reached but they
have been deceived by men (gardener) and the society that their beauty is what matters
most. The gardener “protects” the tree by pruning it and men “protect” a woman by
keeping her weak, small and fragile in mind and body in a home and “protecting them
from lightning”. This protection is used as justification for women’s oppression by
men/society.

EXTRACT 2:
“...carefully pruned it…the gardener croons,”

Q1. How tall is the tree? Why did it not grow any further?
Ans1: The bonsai tree in the poem is carefully pruned by the gardener to be nine inches
tall. It did not grow any further as the gardener keeps it confined to nine inches tall and
confined to its attractive pot while he prunes it and whittles down the branches
constantly to prevent it from reaching its full potential.

Q2. Who prunes the tree? Why does he do so?

Ans2: The gardener prunes the bonsai tree. The Bonsai trees require frequent pruning
and training in order to maintain their small size and achieve a particular shape or style.
The gardener shapes the tree imposing his own will on it so that it conforms to his
wishes. The reason why he does so is to create a specific aesthetic effect.

Q3.What does ‘croons’ mean? Briefly describe the symbolism used here.
Ans3: The word ‘croons’ literally means to hum or sing in a soft low voice.
The gardener in the poem croons to the bonsai soothing its worries and deceives it
using his soft voice to convince it that growing to nine inches only is good for the tree.
The crooning of the gardener could easily be transferred to a male talking to a female.
The man, like the gardener, would be telling the woman that she is lucky to be in a
home because she is small, weak and fragile.
Men croon while giving justification for women’s freedom and growth being curtailed by
the patriarchy. The difficulty imposed upon women by men is sugarcoated by crooning.
Thus, miniaturisation involves diminution and distortion. Of a woman’s personality.

Q4. What roles do the short lines of the poem play?

Ans4: The poem consists of only one stanza of twenty four lines, each line is short, of
length less than six words. The short lines lend a sing-song tone to the poem. The lines
seem broken just like the “whittling” of a bonsai’s branches. This shortness of the lines
stresses that the poet wants to deliver the message urgently.
By using short and simple lines, the poet emphasises the confinement of both the
bonsai tree and women.

Q5. Identify the gardening vocabulary used in this extract. How do these aid in the
artifice of the bonsai?
Ans5: The poet uses various gardening vocabulary throughout the poem. In this extract,
the gardening vocabulary used are ‘pruned’ and ‘whittles’.
These attractive words used in the extract aid in the artifice of the bonsai by the
gardener’s crooning and moulding of the bonsai to stay within its confinements. Words
like pruned and whittles symbolise the shaping of women by men’s hands and
restricting women to men’s view of women.

EXTRACT 3:
“It is your nature…pot to grow in”

Q1. What is the nature of the tree according to the gardener?

Ans1: According to the gardeners in the poem, the nature of the tree is to be ‘small and
cozy, domestic and weak’. They believe that the tree is naturally meant to be confined
and limited, rather than tall and robust. The gardeners intentionally manipulate the tree’s
growth and shape by pruning, so that it stays small and can be easily cared for.

Q2.Is the tree lucky to grow in a pot? Explain the irony in these lines.
Ans2: The gardener confines the bonsai tree in a pot and prunes and whittles its
branches everyday so that it grows only till nine inches tall. He deceives the tree by
crooning that it is protected in the pot and will be safe from the potential danger of
lightning.
Irony refers to a statement or expression whose intended meaning is quite contrary to
the literal meaning. The poet portrays the irony in the lines:
“How lucky, little tree,
To have a pot to grow in”
These lines suggest that the bonsai tree is lucky to grow in a pot but it is actually
restricted by it and its confinements.
Q3. What effects do these lines have on the tree? Explain.
Ans3: The lines suggest that the tree’s small and weak nature is desirable and
fortunate, as it makes it suitable for the art of bonsai. These lines have a psychological
effect on the tree, as they reinforce the idea that its purpose is to be small and
contained, rather than grow freely and reach its full potential. It is a form of conditioning
that shapes the tree to conform to human expectations and preferences.

Q4. Even though the tree had potential to grow taller, it didn’t. Why?
Ans4: The bonsai tree had the potential to grow to eighty-feet tall on a mountainside
with lightning as its only destroyer. Yet it didn’t as the gardener carefully prunes it to be
nine inches tall and confine it inside an attractive pot. This is his work of artifice.
Similarly, the symbols behind this implies that men and society do not allow women to
grow to their full potential and restrict them to their attractiveness.

Q5. If the tree was nurtured, it would have grown tall and reached its potential.
Comment.
Ans5: In the poem, the bonsai tree is restricted to nine inches tall and confined to its
attractive pot. But if the bonsai tree was nurtured and given the chance to grow, it would
have reached its actual potential.
Similarly, if women were given the same opportunities as men and the restrictions and
confinements placed were abolished, they too would be able to reach their highest
potential.

EXTRACT 4:
“With living creatures…love to touch”

Q1. Why should one begin very early? What do you understand by “dwarf”?
Ans1: The poet mentions in the poem how when it comes to living creatures, it is best to
start their conditioning early as done to the bonsai tree by the gardener.
Similarly, as a child, the girls are tuned to accept themselves as inferior to men, as
weaklings who continuously need the support of a male figure. Starting conditioning of
women, and the bonsai tree in this case, is thought to be best by the society as it will be
easier to control them.
The word “dwarf” literally means to make something smaller than its actual size. Dwarf
is a term that can either mean to stunt one’s growth or to belittle a person and to make
them feel small. In the poem, the poet uses it as a comparison between the bonsai tree
and women. This is what happens when society and men use their social standards to
prevent women from flourishing to their full potential. Through the use of demeaning
language and trickery, similar to that of the ‘crooning’ of the gardener, men are able to
oppress women and stunt their emotional as well as physical growth. Miniaturisation
involves diminution and distortion. So, a parallel is drawn between the bonsai tree and
women.

Q2. What is the significance of “dwarf” and “crippled”?

Ans2: The term ‘dwarf’ and ‘crippled’ are used to describe the bonsai tree. The bonsai
tree is ‘dwarfed’ because it is grown in a small pot, which limits its growth, while the tree
is ‘crippled’ because it is pruned and shaped to fit a specific aesthetic.
Symbolically, these terms represent the constraints that society and culture place on
women, who are often expected to conform to specific standards of beauty and
behaviour. The bonsai tree serves as a metaphor for the ways in which women are
pruned, shaped, and confined by societal expectations.

Q3. Briefly explain the meaning and significance of ‘bound feet’.

Ans3: The poet uses the phrase ‘bound feet’ in the poem referring to an outdated
Chinese custom of binding girls’ feet so that they remain small even as they grow. This
was a practice done to conform to the societal beauty standards placed by the men of
the society on the women.
The bonsai tree, like the bound feet, is an object of artifice that has been shaped and
restricted to fit a particular ideal. The poem suggests that both the tree and women are
capable of more growth and potential if they are allowed to exist freely and naturally.

Q4. “The bound feet” and the “hair in curlers” indicate that the poet is no longer talking
about a tree. Who/what is the poet talking about? Justify.
Ans4: At this point of the poem, the poet is no longer talking about a bonsai tree but is
actually referring to women and their struggles. The poet is talking about the constraints
imposed on women in society. The poet uses the metaphor of a bonsai tree to comment
on the societal pressure placed on women to conform to certain norms and
expectations.The phrases ‘bound feet’ and ‘hair in curlers’ represent the absolutely
absurd societal beauty standards imposed on women to directly refer to the oppression
and restriction of women.

Q5. Explain the meaning and symbolism in “the hands you/love to touch”
Ans5: “The hands you love to touch” suggests intimacy and affection but also reflects
the objectification of women. It emphasises the dichotomy of how society cherishes
women while simultaneously suppressing and controlling them.
The last two lines of the poem present the greatest challenge when trying to decipher
the hidden meaning behind the poem. These specific lines project the message of “do
not bite the hands that feed you”. It is a grim reminder that we often damage the very
things that we love.