What is Evidence by Natasha Tretheway Poem Analysis

📌Category: Poems
📌Words: 976
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 13 February 2022

Throughout Natasha Tretheway’s collection of poems titled “Native Guards'', she attempts to enlighten the reader on the lasting effects of domestic abuse, both in the mental and physical aspects of life. The disturbing imagery of these poems casts a light on the longstanding trauma that comes with prolonged abuse. Her poem, “What is Evidence” discusses the abuse of her mother in her long term marriage. Tretheway tells the story of a woman’s battle in her abusive marriage through a vivid yet concise sonnet. In this poem, Tretheway uses intense imagery and unique irony to describe the challenges a woman faced in an abusive relationship in an attempt to exploit the harsh reality of male dominance that women of all cultures faced in the 1900s, and which many still face today.

In this 14 line sonnet without a set rhyme scheme, Tretheway illustrates the effects of the abuse that an unnamed woman was forced to persevere through. Many readers assume that the woman discussed in the poem is a surrogate for Thretheway’s mother, named Gwendolyn. Her mother experienced much of the abuse described in this poem and suffered at the hands of a man. The name of the poem, “What is Evidence” is an insight on the poem. Throughout this sonnet, she describes the evidence of a man’s criminal behavior and the physical and emotional evidence left behind on a woman. She opens the poem up by discussing, “the fleeting bruises she’d cover with makeup” (Tretheway 1.1) The speaker is referring to the bruises her mother was forced to cover, the evidence left over from the undisclosed man’s physical abuse. A sad reality that many women face, having to cover up their bruises in order to protect their abuser. The woman’s case was seemingly no different, and the speaker uses the word “fleeting” to paint a picture of an old bruise that is slowly fading away from her face in the reader's mind. Whether it be going to work or just covering it up for whatever daily activity she had planned, the woman seems as though she is accustomed to being forced to patch herself up on a daily basis with makeup. Later in the poem, Thretheway continues to state exactly what is the evidence that the subject of the poem persisted through and adds that “the official document-its seal and smeared signature, fading already, the edges wearing” (7-10). While the actual meaning behind the official document is unknown, the reader can assume it is some type of legal paper that freed the woman from the metaphorical shackles of her abusive relationship. A pair of interpretations of this document are either a death certificate of her husband or a divorce agreement, separating herself from her husband for life. Either way, both of these interpretations mean the same thing, freedom. The image of the document fading and wearing away depicts how the paper must be old, giving Gwendolyn time to attempt to recover from her traumatic past. The story of Gwendolyn is sadly yet truly a tale as old as time, specifically in America. Throughout history there is a considerable pattern of while males abusing their power over people of African-American descent. Starting from the time of slavery, traversing through the times of Jim Crow and segregation, and struggling through the oppressive state seen time and time again in our current day, The only way change will be made is by attacking the white male patriarchy head on by exposing this racist history. Tretheway challenges this patriarchy through the use of a multitude of literary devices.

For instance, throughout this poem, Tretheway uses irony as a medium to deflect the effects of the abuse her mother faced. By deflecting the influence of abuse, the speaker in turns enhances the effects of said abuse by downplaying it. Tretheway uses repetition of the word ‘not’ across the whole poem. The question “what is evidence” is partially answered in the opening line when the author states that the evidence is, “Not the fleeting bruises she’d cover with makeup” (1-2) and later in the poem the writer also states that evidence is, “not the teeth she wore in place of her own'' (6-7). Both of these are concrete examples of the physical abuse that the woman suffered through. The fleeting bruises were most likely a result of physical abuse. The woman's need to wear fake teeth to replace her natural ones is also a direct result of the abuse. The need to replace her teeth can be viewed as a sign of either emotional abuse or physical abuse. In the case of emotional abuse, neglecting to take care of oneself, for example brushing one's teeth, is a common symptom of depression. The toll that constant abuse at the hands of her husband was forced to deal with could have led to the woman developing depression and all of the destructive effects that come along with it. On the other hand, the need to replace her teeth could be a direct effect of physical abuse. The woman’s teeth could have been literally knocked out from the physical abuse she faced. It is only at the very end of the poem where the speaker states the truth of what the evidence is when they state, “Only the landscape of her body-splintered / clavicle pierced temporal-her thin bones” were the evidence of the woman’s trauma. By finally giving the reader the truth of the evidence, the woman’s deteriorating health, the readers get a semblance of closure on the immense sadness that is the abuse the woman felt. 

While the poem as a whole is one with a very dark, melancholy tone, there are a few things that readers can take away as positives from it. First and foremost, the reader can tell that the woman was safe wherever she ended up. The readers know this from the collection of evidence that was referred to in past tense, such as the decaying document and bruises that were fading away. Another positive of this poem is that it, along with the rest of the collection, “Native Guards”, is that it helps to shine light on the bleak topic of domestic abuse. The collection elucidates the horrifying nature of domestic abuse using very intense imagery paired with irony to portray just how damaging that abuse can be for a person.

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