A Work of Artifice – Contextual Q&A

Question 1

"The bonsai tree
in the attractive pot
could have grown eighty feet tall
on the side of a mountain
till split by lightning.
But a gardener
carefully pruned it.
It is nine inches high."

(i) What is the natural potential of the bonsai tree? (3)
(ii) What contrast is created in these lines? (3)
(iii) What does the "attractive pot" symbolize? (3)
(iv) How does the specific measurement "nine inches high" emphasize the restriction? (3)
(v) What does this opening establish about the poem's central concern? (4)

Answer:

(i) The bonsai tree's natural potential is to grow eighty feet tall on a mountainside, standing tall and strong until perhaps split by lightning—representing its power and grandeur in nature.

(ii) The lines create a stark contrast between what the tree could have become (eighty feet tall, wild, powerful) and what it actually is (nine inches high, confined in a pot). This juxtaposition between potential and reality forms the poem's central conflict.

(iii) The "attractive pot" symbolizes the attractive but restrictive boundaries society places on individuals, particularly women. Though aesthetically pleasing, it represents severe limitations on growth and potential.

(iv) The specific measurement "nine inches" is dramatic and shocking compared to "eighty feet"—making the restriction viscerally real through concrete numbers. The measurement emphasizes how utterly stunted the tree has become, trapped in a fraction of its potential height.

(v) This opening establishes that the poem examines how natural potential is deliberately suppressed through careful, calculated control. It poses the question: is it right to restrict something's growth? The opening also moves from the specific case of a bonsai to broader themes of artificial restriction and control.

Question 2

"Every day as he
whittles back the branches
the gardener croons,
It is your nature
to be small and cozy,
domestic and weak;
how lucky, little tree,
to have a pot to grow in."

(i) What daily action does the gardener perform? (3)
(ii) What is the significance of the word "croons"? (3)
(iii) What does the gardener claim is the tree's "nature"? (3)
(iv) How is the gardener's manipulation disguised in these lines? (3)
(v) How does this stanza exemplify the poem's critique of how oppression is masked as care? (4)

Answer:

Question 3

"With living creatures
one must begin very early
to dwarf their growth:
the bound feet,
the crippled brain,
the hair in curlers,
the hands you
love to touch."

(i) What does the phrase "begin very early" suggest about control and conditioning? (3)
(ii) What examples of restriction are listed? (3)
(iii) How does the poem shift from metaphor to reality in these lines? (3)
(iv) What is the significance of the final line "the hands you love to touch"? (3)
(v) How do these concluding lines deepen and clarify the poem's feminist message? (4)

Answer:

(i) "Begin very early" reveals that control and restriction are systematized from childhood. The conditioning must start before critical consciousness develops, before individuals can resist or question. This emphasizes how deeply embedded oppression becomes in personality development.

(ii) The examples listed are: "bound feet" (Chinese practice of binding girls' feet), "crippled brain" (stunted mental and intellectual growth), "hair in curlers" (subjection to beauty standards), and implicitly through the phrase "the hands you love to touch," the physical aspects of women's bodies objectified through the male gaze.

(iii) Until this point, the poem uses the bonsai tree as metaphor for oppression. These lines drop the metaphor and speak directly to historical and cultural practices of controlling women. The poem moves from symbolic/poetic language to explicit, historically grounded reality, making the critique impossible to ignore.

(iv) "The hands you love to touch" is deeply disturbing and revelatory. It shows that those who restrict and control women often do so under the guise of love and affection. The hands that bind feet, suppress minds and enforce beauty standards are hands of loved ones—family members, partners. This makes the oppression harder to recognize and resist because it comes wrapped in affection.

(v) These concluding lines crystallize the poem's feminist critique by explicitly connecting the metaphor of the bonsai to historical oppression of women. The poem moves beyond abstract critique to name specific, real practices. The final line reveals that oppression is intimate and personal—not always violent or overt, but embedded in relationships of love and care. This is the poem's most radical insight: that patriarchal control is maintained not just through force but through the infiltration of love and affection into systems of restriction.