Like Anne Sexton, the speaker in this poem is an outcast woman. Traditionally, society expects women to lead sheltered lives. Women are to be obedient, quiet, and timid. The modern, liberated woman completely shatters this tradition by courageously speaking her mind and living an independent life. She is empowered as she seeks education and a stable career instead of a domestic life.
Society appears to recoil from the idea of a powerful woman.
Male dominance becomes threatened, and men are faced with a loss of control. As a result, the male dominant society casts out the modern woman and tries to squash the change in power. This task may be accomplished by physically removing the liberated woman from the population or by mentally blocking her from acceptance so that she feels isolated. In fact, society has actually done both. During the crazy witch trials of the European Inquisition in the late l6th century, heretics and witches were tortured and killed.