Living in Sin

In the poem, the female character encounters “a pair of beetle-eyes” (Line 13). Rich calls the beetle an “envoy from some village in the moldings” (Line 14). The female does not interact with her male partner in the poem, and, in fact, the only form of direct contact between living entities that takes place in the poem, aside from the cat chasing the mouse, is between the woman and the beetle in the kitchen. Even when living with another person in the same dwelling, loneliness can develop, especially when each individual is performing their own separate, gender-specified activities. Both the beetle and the woman represent their respective tribes, each trying to connect to or relay a message to the other through silent means. The woman, ultimately, has the upper hand if she chooses to sweep the bug away, but the beetle starts out at a higher status, implying something amiss about the woman. In other words, her lack of cleanliness, or attention to domestic work, can lend itself to critters, like a beetle, finding their way into the house.