the woman who shopped

• the poem explores the dehumanising effects of consumerist society , material goods are more important than human interactions
• poem attacks commodification of beauty through capitalism
• poem attempts to transform her identity which ends up being futile , leads to disatisfaction and anger
• poem highlights how women are targeted by consumerism to buy products that 'benefit' them and buy endless products
• enjambment in poem = frantic pace to poem , conveys breathlessness of shopping
• 'brought an apple , red as first love's heart , bright as her eye'

  • apple = OG sin for Adam and Eve
  • suggests love for shopping and new things
• rhyme in first stanza ('brim' , 'him') suggests her enthuasism to stop
• the fact that she 'ditches' her suitor shows the flimsiness of products and how fast the consumer market changes
• happy imagery in second stanza ('dancing' , 'danced') shows her joy of shopping
• she 'wanted a wedding , a wedding dress, a groom' - groom being last on list shows how she doesn't crave human interaction , just another item she can buy
• 'flew away home' - fantasy , poem retreats into fairy-tale like
• 'shuffle his plastic with hers' - human interaction but through money and materialism
• 'deal' and 'shuffle' = game imagery , it's a game she'll never win. Society will never win against capitalism and consumerism when companies are always bringing out new products
• list of 'cutlery, crockery , dishwashers , bed linen , TV sets , three-piece suites, stereos, microwaves , telephones' - shows her growing obsession

  • flows into next stanza , shows her loss of control
• 'shrugged at the cost' - shows her indifference to cost of things and debt. Lost all rationality
• 'swimming pools , caravans , saunas' 'stacked up on the lawn'

  • world is consumed by consumerism
  • not important , list indifferent to previous lists
• 'she fled, took to the streets' - debt taken her to prostitution?
• 'where lights from the shops ran like paint in the rain' - shopping blurs reality
• 'pressed her face to the pane of the biggest and best' - superlatives , shows her obsession with perfection
• 'fingering silk' - negative conntations , invasive and not being treated with care. Shows how consumerism is more focused on the capital gained from the products rather than its quality - link to fast fashion?
• 'curled in the doorway, six shopping bags at her feet' - animal like , homeless? Bags at her feet highlight her being trapped and restricted
• Volta in Stanza 8 - abrupt shift in tone to darker surreal imagery. Speaker becomes shopping center
• Speaker called 'she' and 'The Woman who shopped'

  • represents all women?
  • shows detrimental impacts of consumerism and capitalism on women as a whole
• Lack of name and identity also shows how consumerism can overtake anyones life , it has no boundaries or limits. Obsession with products can happen to anyone
• 'Stone cold' 'concrete' - no emotion , dehumanising effects
• 'She seemed to be kneeling or squatting' - praying, begging , seeking forgiveness?
• 'her skirts were glass doors opening and closing'

  • glass doors - you can see everything
  • opening and closing - new men always sleeping with her
• 'her stockings were moving stairs , her shoes were lifts , going up , going down' - metaphor for promiscuity of prostitution
• 'first floor' - metaphor for women's beauty , facades
• 'second floor' - metaphor for possessions
• 'third floor' - metaphor for desire for men
• 'fourth floor' - motherhood
• 'fifth floor' - entertainment
• 'she loved her own smell , sweat and Chanel' -unaware of her own oppression
• the floor metaphors - continuing extended metaphor of her becoming source of accquisition
• 'changing rooms of her heart' - heart changing between different men. Markets and what products people want always changing - love for different products?
• 'juggernauts growled' - animal imagery
• 'light blazed for her now' - contrasts with 'walking with a suitor under its shadow' - shadow hiding her obsession. Hides society's obsession with shopping, easy to slip into
• 'crowds would queue overnight at her cunt' - conveys anger of narrator. forced to sells off her goods, her body is now a commodity. Highlights the consumerism in prostitution
• 'birds shrieked and voided themselves' - nature opposes capitalism , could link back to how birds avoided Auschwitz or as punishment for offending gods in classical literature