12.1 On the Use of Visual Metaphor

France and that there were no known manufacturers of it during the first time it was made . Such were the women of Sexton 's time - financially-distressed , powerless and lacking in identity . This powerlessness and lack of identity may also be the reason behind certain secret vices of women during Sexton 's time

Sexton , through her poem , also hints at the alcoholism of women when she ironically states that a lovely virgin 's lips [are] like Vin du Rhone (Sexton . Vin du Rhone is literally Wine of Rhone ' and such an ironic simile

may seem like another sensual of women as wine may involve sensuality but such a is rather an ironic portrayal of the fact that women during Sexton 's time secretly indulged themselves in alcohol

Useless Friendships . Still , one more use of irony in Sexton 's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ' is the author 's somewhat vague contention that friends are powerless in uplifting the role of women of her time Although there are in fact seven dwarfs - seven as in many , these seven people cannot even revive Snow White in stanza 7 . They desperately do useless acts like undid her bodice [and] looked for a comb ' [but naturally ,] it did no good (Sexton . They also do other useless things presumably from superstitions like washed her with wine [and] rubbed her with butter ' [but naturally ,] it was to no avail (Sexton Friends here are not only as small and powerless as exemplified by the dwarf ' image but also mentally-inferior , superstitious and utterly useless . And even in death , the seven dwarfs could not even bring themselves to bury [Snow White] (Sexton , which clearly implies that a woman dies helpless in the midst of helpless friends . No wonder Sexton herself ironically labels the dwarfs as small czars ' who...