At first glance “Diving into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich was a confusing poem. However, at a closer inspection and research about the author, I realized that this poem is filled with symbolism, such as the ocean, the wrecked ship and the book of myths. Many of the symbols can be linked with feminism and society.
If we decide to view the ocean as society, we can see the reason why Rich compared the wetsuit to “body armor.” Assuming the diver is a woman, she would need the armor to protect herself from society and its “pressure”. “First the air is blue and then / it is bluer and then green and then / black I am blacking out and yet / my mask is powerful it pumps my blood with power / the sea is another story.” The water getting darker and darker is the female diver getting deeper and deeper into societal pressures. Even with this “armor” it is still hard to adjust to the pressures surrounding her. That being said, she manages to keep consciousness because of her equipment, she does not give into society.
The drowned face on the wrecked ship at the bottom of the water is a symbol of other women who have “drowned” in the pressures of society, “whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes / whose breasts still bear the stress.” These are the women who have conformed to the ways that others want them to act and behave. They could not make their way back to the surface.
Lastly, at the beginning of the poem, there was a reference to a book of myths that the diver had read but no clues were given to what it meant. During the exploration of the wrecked ship, Rich wrote: “the wreck and not the story of the wreck / the thing itself and not the myth.” This event explained that the book of myths was a book about the shipwreck and thus about the women who drowned. It also explained why at the end of the poem after the diver resurfaced, checked in the book and found nothing: “a book of myths / in which / our names do not appear.” Her name, their names (whoever they are), did not appear on this book of drowned women because they were able to survive the pressure of the water.
I agree with your notion that, “Diving into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich is an extended metaphor for women and society. Rich implies that the forceful air from her oxygen mask is actually the suffocating pressures from society. The ocean is a metaphor for a realm that houses the truth which is why, “you breathe differently down there.” I think the poem also plays with the idea that ignorance is bliss. The narrator feels differently when she is in the ocean. However, the truth isn’t shielded and is open to anyone willing to search for it. This is evident when the narrator says, “There is a ladder./ The ladder is always there.” Also, the truth would be the wreck itself. Since the wreck is, “evidence of damage,” it is tangible proof that something destructive took place. The narrator can see for herself the result of what happened, rather than relying on “the story of the wreck” or a “myth.” This first person encounter with the truth allows the narrator to separate the facts from fiction. This is important for women in society to do- to discover, for themselves, society’s implications.
I also believe that the ‘book of myths’ might even refer to the misconceptions of women in society in general. As Woolf wrote in A Room of One’s Own, she mentioned that most of the books written about women were written by men. The book of myths are stories that may not be telling the whole truth. I do agree that her exploration to this wreck is her way of trying to persuade people to discover the real truth for their own knowledge rather than just rely on what is the popular opinion. You never know the truth until you see it for youself.