"Paper Matches" by Paulette Jiles

{Author Bio}
Paulette Jiles was born on April 4th, 1943. She is an American born-Canadian poet and novelist. Born in Salem, Missouri, she was educated at the University of Illinois in Spanish Literature. Paulette moved to Canada in 1969 and married Jim Johnson. She has 3 stepchildren and 6 grandchildren. She currently lives in San Antonia Texas. 

"Paper Matches"

My aunts washed dishes while the uncles
squirted each other on the lawn with
garden hoses. Why are we in here,
I said, and they are out there?
That's the way it is,
said Aunt Hetty, the shriveled-up one.
I have the rages that small animals have,
being small, being animal.
Written on me was a message,
"At Your Service,"
like a book of paper matches.
One by one we were taken out
and struck.
We come bearing supper,
our heads on fire.

Jiles uses the simile-turned-metaphor of the the matches to convey the the speaker's anger and frustration of the gender roles that were enforced when she was a child. The matches symbolize feebleness and weakness. "I have the rage the small animals have, being small, being animal.”. The speaker, as a young girl, is filled with anger and frustration. The speaker's tone at this point still resembles an innocent child but you can hear and feel the grudging tone and the anger building up inside her. The Speaker is dumbfounded at the mere fact that they (the women) have to stay inside doing all the work while the grown men get to play around outside. The pronoun, "we", that is used in this poem is quite significant. Rather than saying "I", the pronoun "we" generalizes the women and makes them a whole. It's not just the women in this family that do all the work, it is all the women in society at this time. The attitude of the speaker shifts when she says, "I have the rages that small animals have..." The tone goes from being of an innocent child questioning the ways of society to the child growing up and actually realizing and feeling the division between gender roles. The speaker's tone expresses her disapproval with the social norms and treatment of women of the time. “One by one we were taken out and struck. We come bearing supper, our heads on fire.” The speaker's tone here shifts to sadness. The speaker feels despair and hopelessness. They do what they have to do because there is no other choice. This line also represents personification.