The poem, Advice to Women is included in the collection of poems, Women in Dutch Painting (1988, P.22). It is a typical Eunice de Souza poem that compares a cat’s haughtily indifferent attitude towards life, the universe and everything (it’s always there – and it’s all mine – let it be) to what a woman’s reaction must be when jilted by a lover.
Title of Advice to Women
The poem is an advice to those common women who face ignorance, humiliation and neglect from their, lovers and husbands. Those women find it difficult to get accustumed with sudden and certain changes in the behaviour of their counterparts. They die in their soul with a contempt to themselces and an agonized feeling for their lovers. But the poem is a solution, an advice to them to grow indifference to any odd behaviour they come across from their dearest ones. Hence the title is significant and appropriate.
Summary of Advice to Women
Women should rear cats if they want to learn how to deal with the unexpectedly changed behaviour of their lovers; as cats make return to their litter-trays, one should not expect that the change means neglect only. It useless to be abusive at the enemies of their pets and women should have a good knowledge of a lonely death from the habitual surprised stare of the great green eyes of their pets.
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Wordnotes and Annotations
Stanza 1 (II. 1-6):
“Keep cats
if you want to learn to cope with
the otherness of lovers.
Otherness is not always neglect –
Cats return to their litter trays
when they need to.”
Gist: The poetess clearly and resolutely advises women not to bother about the changed behaviour in their lovers and she advises them to rear cats in their houses in order to learn the haughty and instinctive behaviour of cats. This knowledge would help them to adjust with the sudden and certain changed behaviour of their lovers. She says that cats do return to their litter trays. In the same way women should be patient to the attitudes of their lovers in order to have those men return and surrender to them in their most urgent moment.
Keep: own and look after (an animal) for pleasure or profit; keep as a pet. Keep cats: rear cats as pets.
otherness– being or feeling different in appearance or character from what is familiar, expected, or generally accepted. otherness of lovers: changed behaviour in lovers towards the beloved person.
Keep cats…otherness of lovers: The poetess advises women to rear cats as pets in their houses. It will help them to observe the strange and characteristic behaviour of cats. Cats are not as faithful as dogs. Cats live their lives by their own terms and they do not even abide by their masters in every respect. One needs to be patient enough to keep cats. Now, the image of cats is very significant in this case. The poetess, actually suggests women to grow a habit to be patient to the cat-like changed behaviour of their lovers.
Otherness is not always neglect – There is an ironical tone in this comment which becomes clear in the following lines of this stanza. We should remember that the poetess is critical about the attitudes of both men and women. She wants to remind women that they should not think that the otherness or the strangeness in their lovers’ behaviour would reflect only in their acts of neglecting their responsibilities towards their beloved ladies. As cats are fickle and self-centered in their attitude, the women should accept the fact that their men are instinctively fickle and they (women) should have a patient attitude to this.
litter trays – a container holding dry material (called litter) that is used as a toilet by animals (especially cats) while they are indoors.
Cats return to their litter trays! when they need to – Taking a clue from the previous line we can say that the poetess indicates to an elemental behaviour of men (lovers). Wherever they may roam about, the pet cats always return to their litter-trays when they feel the urgency to do that. In the same manner, men may roam about for their other interests, but they do return to their ladies in their moments of urgency. The women should be aware of this fact and they should feel confident about it. One cannot overlook the implication of the ‘litter-tray’ in this sense. If we compare the men with cats, what do the ‘litter-trays’ stand for? Do they refer to the women? Do the women are meant to absorb the physical and mental excretion of their male counterparts? The poetess makes the image of ‘litter-tray’, something nobler than its literal meaning. Women have that generosity to accept and absorb all vices of men and by that generosity they can win their lovers at the end.
Stanza 2 (II. 7-12):
“Don’t cuss out of the window
at their enemies.
That stare of perpetual surprise
in those great green eyes
will teach you
to die alone.”
Gist: The poetess further discusses how to handle cats as pets. There is a clear shift of tone in this stanza. If cats in the first stanza stand for the male, now, in this stanza, they represent the women. She advises not to shout abusively at the enemies of their pet cats out of the window as they (women) will find a surprising gleam in those green eyes of those cats. Those eyes never reveal their (cats’) mind and they (cats) will teach women how to be content within their world and to die alone.
cuss: to shout offensive words at someone because one is annoyed with them. their enemies-the stray cats outside the house. Those stray cats are enemies to the pet cats in the house as they envy the good luck and comfort of the pets. They also try to provoke the pets to come out of their secured and comfortable life and become stray cats like them.
Don’t cuss out of the window at their enemies.- The poetess forbids women to shout at the stray cats outside the window. Those stray cats are enemies to the pet cats in their houses. Metaphorically those enemies are social criticizers as well as the external vices that try to interfere in domestic peace. The poetess, through this image, advices women to sort out and solve the problems between two lovers within the domestic walls. She wants to mean that it is unwisely to make personal problems public. N.B. The image bears dual significance. At one hand, pet cats may imply men in the comfortable shelter of love of their wives or lady-love. On the other hand, they may refer to women who lose confidence on their power of love and get involved in unwanted disputes with external nuisances. The poetess, as a feminist writer, not only criticizes the men but also the women who show lack of patience and are regarded as a species without depth of thought and intelligence.
That stare – Refers to the fixed gaze of those cats.
perpetual– permanent; habitual. The second meaning is more relevant with this line. perpetual surprise-cats have a unique kind of look. Their wide open eyes, look as if they are always surprised at things happening around them. This may be a camouflage to their real intention. They have a deceiving stare. N.B. Another interpretation of this phrase may relate the woman soul, as they face uninterrupted shocks and surprises from their loved ones and from the society, who never go deep into the mind of the women and treat them externally. In this sense, the perpetual surprise definitely arouses a sense of isolation in the women. They feel companionless among companions. This sense is revealed in the last lines of this stanza as well as the poem.
those great green eyes– referring to the eyes of those pet cats.
teach you to die alone– The concluding lines of the poem evoke a melancholy tone. The poetess at the end of the poem hints that women should know how to live and to die alone. The cats are symbol of a special kind of life style. They are unique in their thoughts and actions. They become pets but they never surrender fully to their keepers. They never mind any offensive behaviour of their keepers. It is because they live in their own world. Perhaps no one has any entrance in their world. They live by their instinctive desires. The poetess, perhaps, instructs the womankind to build up a world of their own, where all happiness and sorrows will become fleeting and trifle. And thus only women can survive in the world of physical and psychological adversities.
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