"The retreating shadows of former sorrows rushed back in a gloomy train, and seemed to be pictured on the walls of her prison, magnified by the state of mind in which they were viewed - Still she mourned for her child, lamented she was a daughter, and anticipated the aggravated ills of her life that her sex rendered almost inevitable, even while dreading she was no more. To think that she was blotted out of existence was agony, when the imagination had been long employed to expand her faculties; yet to suppose her turned adrift on an unknown sea, was scarcely less afflicting."
In this excerpt of Mary Wollstonecraft's "Maria or the Wrongs of Woman", the author is stating how she feels as a woman through her use of imagery and metaphor. Wollstonecraft uses many words such as; prison, mourned, aggravated ills, dreading, agony, and scarcely. These words are used to create both a dark tone and a frightening image in the readers mind. "The walls of her prison", is actually the characters situation in society. Society has caused the character to be afraid for how her daughter will be treated as she ages, which are the aggravated ills due to her sex. Imagination has bottled her out of existence, stating how society demonizes imagination and causes for an informal exile, even though imagination is truly a good thing. In conclusion, Wollstonecraft uses a form of imagery, and description/metaphor to state how it feels to be a woman.
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