A Feminist Perspective: What’s That Smell in the Kitchen

Women burning bras in the 1960’s became a sign of the Women’s Liberation movemen
t. However, this was not the beginning of the women’s movement. This began m
any years earlier in the late 1800’s. In Marge Piercy’s poem, “What’s That Smel
l in the Kitchen,” she gives a description of what the women in the 1980’s are d
oing to be a part of the women’s movement. According to Bell Hooks, "Feminism
is a struggle against sexist oppression. Therefore, it is necessarily a struggl
e to eradicate the ideology of domination that permeates Western culture on vari
ous levels, as well as a commitment to reorganizing society so that the self-dev
elopment of people can take precedence over imperialism, economic expansion and
material desires" (26). Piercy argues that women do not have the single goal of
being servants to their husbands whether they are in the kitchen or the bedroom
.
In the first and sixth stanza of Piercy’s poem, the “women are burning dinners”
(597). Piercy uses the imagery of the women burning their husband’s dinners to
get the point across that they are tired and dissatisfied with their role as a
homemaker. This is also parallel to the women of the 1980’s continuing the wome
n’s movement of the 60’s. However, instead of burning bras they are burning din
ners. Burning the dinner is a sign of resentment against both the husbands they
can no longer stand and the tedious task of cooking dinner. These women don’t
want to just get out of the kitchen, they want to return to the days when they t
hemselves had a life and were not just their husband’s maid, chef, and sexual pa
rtner.
Piercy continues to show how angry the American women have become about
being seen as nothing but objects for their husbands needs and pleasures. In th
e beginning of the relationships the husbands would pay attention to the wives a
nd make them feel loved, but now the wives are disregarded and unappreciated, wh
ich makes them angry, “If she wants to grill anything, it’s her husband spitted
over a slow fire” (597). The author uses this metaphor for the feelings the wo
men in America have towards their husbands by wanting to make them suffer the sa
me way they do as they stand over the stove cooking their dinner.
In the 18th stanza Marge Piercy writes, “Her life is cooked and digested” (597).
Piercy uses this metaphor to imply that the women feel as though there is noth
ing left of their life. The women all over America have come to a realization t
hat the rest of their life is nothing but a product of waste. What they would
really like to know is that their hard work is recognized, they are the ones wit
h the most duties, and they want a say in the decision-making. They don’t want
to only be responsible for the caretaking of the house and kids.
“Look, she says, once I was a roast duck / on your platter with parsley but now
I am Spam” (597). The author again uses imagery to show that the husbands once
looked at the wives with admiration and lust. However, they now view the wives
as boring and dull. They no longer have the desire for the wives that they once
had. This makes the wives feel useless and unwanted, which continues to anger
the women. Then the very last line of the poem says, “Burning dinner is not inc
ompetence but war” (597). This symbolizes the beginning of the effort that wome
n have tried and continue to try to reach for a place of equality in society.
The women’s movement has brought an extensive amount of social and cultural chan
ge over the centuries. Marge Piercy was a part of this movement by her using her
writings to bring a feminist view to the plight of women in America. During th
e time she wrote this poem, she used her own experiences and views of women in A
merica and how they should be viewed as equals.