Analysis of "The woman hanging from the thirteenth floor window" In the poem The woman hanging from the thirteenth floor window, opens with a woman hanging from the window for his life, as he contemplated suicide. As intricate and elaborate as its history may seem, in reality it does not exist. Through special words and vague details, Joy Harjo manages to make readers believe that they are reading a poem about a single woman, but in reality the woman does not exist, nor has she ever existed. After reading the poem to the end, the reader might realize that the woman was not the focus of the poem, but rather herself. Such a realization is shocking, especially considering the ambiguous ending, but the details of his life are easily interpreted into personal memories and feelings throughout the stanzas. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The first stanza of this poem begins with the first of many lines that repeat the title. This sets the tone for the rest of the poem. The next lines, “His white hands are pressed against the concrete molding of the tenement building” (2-3) gives the reader a sense of anguish and concern. Then, the fourth line makes the reader begin to question the poem; "Hanging from the 13th per window east of Chicago," (4) almost all buildings in Chicago or any city exceeding that number often skip it, preferring to simply call it the 14th floor, or excluding offices or apartments on the floor. The author's choice to place this woman on the 13th floor makes the reader question the reality of the rest of the poem and also provides the first of many opportunities to offer one's own insight and experience into this poem through the eyes of the author. woman. Although the second stanza is only one line, it gives the reader some information about the woman. “She thinks she will be set free.” (7) This is a common thought for people contemplating suicide, but it has an almost airy quality to this poem, as if it were said in a gasp between the first and third stanzas, giving the idea of ​​being set free a happy thing, even if it would only be achieved through his death. This line also pushes the reader to ask themselves what they want to free themselves from, encouraging them to continue reading, further intrigued by the ambiguity offered in this poem. In the third stanza, the beginning seems to give this woman a past, an identity, but this will be taken away in subsequent lines as more ambiguous “facts” about this woman are given. The first obvious line in this stanza that seems so strange is “She is her mother's daughter and her father's son.” (12) Such a strange split of personality is understood to mean more than just one woman, but rather anyone, perhaps everyone, in the world who has ever seen himself as the woman hanging from the 13th floor window. This issue is supported by lines 14 and 15, “She is all the women in the apartment building who are watching her, watching themselves.” The fourth stanza makes it seem like the most common experiences are specific to this woman and her experiences, but they are actually something common, and the reader can relate to it, perhaps without even realizing it. «It was further north and she was a child then. They shook her,” (17-18) is a very vague sentence where many people can insert their own memories into the little story. Harjo seems to write this poem in a way that is simply vague enough to include many people's opinions and stories. This phrase also serves to offer a contrast to how her life as a young girl was happy and warm, while her life as an adult is cold and harsh, which is why the woman is contemplating thesuicide. In another way, verse five provides more context, but this time, even though the woman is still referring to when she was probably a child, she has begun to see the world more cynically: “It's a dizzying hole of water… it just crackles and hits the asphalt.” (20, 22-23) Many people can identify with these feelings, even if they have never been to Lake Michigan to see the water “talk softly,” because they can look back on a time in their lives when a thought kind time and the beautiful thing has now turned into something that simply exists, if it has not become something taken from the rich who “live in tall glass houses”. (21) The second part of the stanza is another nod to the Woman who is all women, because she “sees other women hanging from high-rise windows counting their lives.” (24-26) Now it has changed from being a representation of all women, but now it has expanded to every single woman who has contemplated suicide, and now they may no longer be on the 13th floor, now they are each on their own floor , because these new women exist, while the woman of the poem remains on the 13th floor, because she is not real, and neither is the 13th floor. In the sixth verse the author continues talking about how many women base their value on their children, where it was also mentioned in the fifth verse: "She sees other women... counting their lives in the palm of their hands and in that of their children" (24- 27) and now the sixth verse talks about the “woman” soft belly”. Her heart is also called the lowest part of her that hangs, which is a result of the possible loss of her children as they grow up. Almost all adult women will identify with the unconditional love of their children, and these lines call for that love to come out and put you in their shoes, entrusting your worth to your children, no matter how young or old they are. The seventh and eighth stanzas concern the voices that the woman hears. Such voices that anyone could identify with; “meowing cats”, “his grandmother's voice”, “gigantic men of light”, are all general terms and applicable to anyone. The gigantic men, for example, to a religious person, could refer to angels, which is why they call it "get up, get up, get up" (38) but to a non-religious person, it could be male figures of authority or simply a male vision , because they are seen as strong, and that's what the woman wants to be at this point, to lift herself up; be “strong”. The next verse speaks of the voices of those beneath her, some calling for her to fall and others wanting her to rise again, bringing this woman into a state of heavy confusion, a state that women in her situation should face . This confusion is continued in the ninth stanza, where he knows he is only holding on to his "thread of indecision." (48) This could be left open so that readers wonder what they would do, knowing that whoever has been in her place has been on this same thread, and some women have snapped, while others have brought them up again. the tenth stanza creates more confusion about her ambiguous character, as it states that she "thinks of all the women she has been, of all the men." (51-52) It brings to light who she is or is not, and that “she” does not exist at all except in our minds. Again, “she thinks about the color of her skin,” (52) while we know the author is Native American, she does not give a name for the color and, in the context of the poem, is open to any interpretation color, white, black, yellow or brown. The rest of this verse is filled with general memories, noises, images and feelings that everyone knows. The last, the eleventh verse, begins again with the repetition of the phrase "the woman hanging from the 13th floor window" and also reports the sentiment from the fourth and fifth verse/