Just a Flesh Wound

In an age where it seemed women would never overcome oppression Adrienne Rich searched for every evidence to the contrary. She understood the intersection of personal and public life and wrote to bring it into the spotlight. Rich also wrote about power and how it effects the women who obtain or seek it. Marie Curie is a perfect example of this. Her unrelenting dedication to scientific research led to several scientific discoveries that impacted the world. She was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize and the first person to receive two Nobel Prizes. Curie discovered an early treatment for malign tumors called Curietherapy and proved natural radioactivity. However, she payed the ultimate price for this grand success. Marie Curie died of Leukemia from over-exposure to radiation. In Rich's poem "Power" she addresses the way Curie handled the power she found in her scientific discoveries. The last few lines indicate, in a non-accusatory way, that Curie did not know how to handle the power she had discovered and because of this it destroyed her. The poem as a whole could be a lament for the deadly competitiveness set up by the patriarchal society. It also draws attention to the sacrifices women must make in order to achieve power. The spaces littered throughout the poem give the feeling of difficulty in reading. It interrupts the fluidity of language and imitates the struggle Marie Curie, and other women, experience in their search for power.