A Prisoner to Her Sex: The Hauntings of the Female Genitalia in Louise Glück’s “Mock Orange” Marissa Polodna College

In Louise Glück’s poem, “Mock Orange” (Glück 1995) the female flesh interferes with the speaker’s search for a desired full presence or wholeness. Through her representation of the mock orange flower as the female genitalia, Glück attempts to transcend the speaker out of her own body to find a personal identity not established by gender. Through the speaker’s victimized demure and self-hatred towards her own feminine desire for companionship, Glück challenges the hostage-like expectations society holds for women. Although Glück makes great effort at transcendence for her characters into a new social identity, she creates the resonating theme throughout all her works that a woman will always be held prisoner to her sex.

“Mock Orange” is not the only poem that Glück writes that signifies the paralysis a woman faces because of her sex. Take for example her poem “The Chicago Train” (Glück 1995). The poem reads, “And they sat- as though paralysis preceding death had nailed them there. The track bent south. I saw her pulsing crotch… the lice rooted in that baby’s hair (“The Chicago” 4-8).” This self-hatred and offensive nature can be found throughout many of Glück’s poems including “Mock Orange”. It is clear that Glück feels revolted...