TOW # 1- Non-Fiction Piece- Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying

Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying by Adrienne Rich is a hodgepodge of advice and knowledge on the reasoning and meaning behind lying and the effects it has on women in society. It includes many reasons why people lie, how society causes and creates lies, habits of liars, and what trust means in relationships. The author Adrienne Rich was a essayist, feminist and poet. She is often considered one of the most influential poets of the second half of the second century. Her primary audience in Women and Honor is women, particularly ones in relationships. Her main purpose for writing this essay is to show the silence and oppression women face in these so-called healthy relationships and the struggle to not only uphold her honor but also the honor of her role in society.  She most often appeals to Pathos in her piece. Rich does so when she highlights the struggle of homosexual women in relationships. She writes that a "women love for women has been represented almost entirely through silence and lies". The idea lesbians often have to hide their sexuality and the shame that comes along with it validates her purpose. Showing that for homosexual women, their love is only supposed to explored in secret and that a male lover is still the most desired partner. By appealing to pathos Rich further connects with her audience and makes her narrative more effective. Thus validating her purpose and connecting with her core audience, women. Through Pathos Rich accomplishes her purpose for this piece and makes a thought provoking and scarcely true look on the struggles of women in relationships.