Addiction and Consequences in The Woman Who Shopped

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The poem 'The Woman Who Shopped' by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem that although focuses on the events concerning a sole woman, acts as a portrayal for women in society as a whole. The poem is effective in depicting women in a negative way and by doing so Duffy creates a very straightforward poem that addresses her addiction precisely. The poem is a reflection of society so by keeping the identity of the woman unknown, she is able to grasp a wider audience.

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However, it emphasizes the widely thought notion in society at the time that women are inferior to men and don't deserve a status. The poem is filled with various sexual allusions, imagery & is structured effectively in order to present the danger of addiction and its consequences in "The Woman Who Shopped'. The danger of addiction is a main theme in the poem. The first stanza says, "Bought an apple" and the apple is a symbol of temptation, and has religious undertones as Eve was tempted to take an apple from the tree of knowledge, and the woman in this poem is tempted by the power she has.

Duffy is also clever by her use of enjambment whereby she uses the title to begin the first stanza by saying "The Woman Who Shopped went out with a silver shilling", this sets a very fast pace, which reflects the speed at which the woman becomes addicted to spending money frivolously.

Duffy cleverly hints that women are in control of themselves and are at fault for becoming addicted.

The pace of the poem further emphasizes this. Another thing that emphasizes this is the lack of punctuation, such as "curtains and mirrors and rugs" which show how quickly her addiction has taken over her and forced her to spend money frivolously. At first she saved up a "pound" which further grew into being able to afford "swimming pools" and "caravans". Duffy's clever use of lists shows us how quick the addiction grew. The poem has little use of punctuation but is structured in 4 line stanzas with a 12 syllable rhythmic structure. This structure is effective in making the poem almost like a song, which is successful in emphasizing the fairy tale like feeling, which shows readers that the woman is almost not real. Furthermore, the woman's addiction is romanticized as Duffy writes that the woman "pressed her face to the pane of the biggest and best; the happy shoppers were fingering silk, holding cashmere close to their cheeks, dancing with fur" and the use of sensual language emphasizes the extent at which the addiction takes over the woman's body. The fact that she is pressing her face to the pane of display window shows that she is reminiscing and also possibly looking into her life, and the pane of glass window is separating her from reality. This stanza contains a lot of caesurae which shows how broken the woman is due to her addiction.

The fact that "she slept there curled in the doorway" outside the shop shows that she finds comfort in the places where she can satisfy her addiction. The slow and imminent destruction of the woman is emphasized by "the sky was unwrapping itself into shreds", which shows how the sky is a reflection of the woman, and the addiction is causing her to self destruct, which further links to her loss of identity. The poems climax is when the woman cannot function without satisfying her addiction and constantly purchasing material goods such as when "the whisper of tissue..." emphasized that she was living materially, and her breath is no longer important, but is merely tissues and strings. Her material life is further emphasized by the fact that she has objects "stacked up on the lawn” meaning she has no use for them but buys them to satisfy her addiction. Another potent way Duffy emphasizes addictions and its dangers is the way in which she presents the objectification of women in the poem.

The physical and sexual objectification of women is entwined in the poem and this is effective and showing the universal and public view of women. In the second section of the woman, the woman can no longer identify as a human as she has become a department store. By getting rid of the human qualities of the woman, it makes the views of society to become a focal point. This is very dehumanizing as society dictates that the woman who shopped is no longer a human and therefore has no emotion, because she is just an object. Every part of her body is objectified and "her eyes windows squinting" emphasizes the difficulty of the woman to see where life will go for her. The fact that "her skirts were glass doors opening and closing" is an extended metaphor that emphasizes how the woman has had to succumb to prostitution in order to be able to afford various material items. The fact that some parts of the woman now building are made of glass show her fragility and how vulnerable she was due to her addiction.

The "changing rooms of her heart" refer to how quick she changes partner or the brevity of her relationships as people are constantly coming in and going after using her, which further alludes to the connotations that the woman may potentially be a prostitute. The quote "where juggernauts growled, unloading their heavy crates" is a sexual innuendo which emphasizes the fact that the woman had to take to prostitution in order to satisfy her addiction. This point is further emphasized by "She would have a sale and crowds would queue overnight" which shows that she is a prostitute as she is literally selling herself. "Credit cards swiping themselves in her blood" emphasizes that she is willing to sell herself in order to be able to afford her addiction, shopping has become a drug to her. Duffy presents femininity in a bad way, which further emphasizes the views of society. The woman is very vulnerable and what happens to her is inevitable. On one hand she is always searching for a cheaper alternative to what she wants and is constantly looking for bargains. She then "took to the streets" which shows that she became a street crawler in order to look for money in order to satisfy her addiction & she has become "part of the pavement" shows that she is no longer identifiable as a woman and is just part of the street. Additionally, the irony in this poem is whereby she first looked for bargains, but then she becomes a bargain for men that people seek, which alludes to the undertone of her prostitution. Finally, the use of the word "cunt" is a derogatory term and this emphasizes the objectification of the woman, how she has lost her worth and glamour.

The sexual objectification of women is further emphasized by when the woman's hair is described as "stone" because she has lost all possibility of self-governance as the addiction has taken over her and she is much like a statue; stuck within this material lifestyle. Conclusively, Carol Anne Duffy presents women in a negative light in order to emphasize that they are to blame for their own problems. The use of caesurae in the second part of the poem contrasts the use of lists in the first half of the poem, in the first half, the lists created a fast flowing pacey poem which emphasized the speed at which an addiction can take over your body, on the other hand the use of breaks and caesurae in the second part of the poem creates a clever contrast in order to break up the poem and slow it down in order to successfully show the readers how the addiction slowly causes the woman to break down. In the last line the "birds shrieked" which shows that there is a complete loss of the woman's integrity and she is fully entrapped by her addiction. The fact that the woman's hair is described as "stone" shows a complete loss of autonomy, as she is trapped like a statue; which is similar to the way society traps women by sexually objectifying them.