The Power of Women in “The One Girl at the Boys’ Party” poem by Sharon Olds

The Power of Women in “The One Girl at the Boys’ Party” poem by Sharon Olds

The “The One Girl at the Boys’ Party” poem by Sharon Olds stipulates that the power of women is not within their body as most people suggest, but it is also in their passion and mind. Notably, the poem addresses various stereotypes that emanate from this stereotype. In the poem, a girl dropped into a boy’s pool party. The girl is not submissive as expected from women, just like the other males at the party. Instead, she has focused on science and mathematics, something which shows the power of her mind even more than the males in the congregation. According to Sharon, women are proving to be as more powerful just like men and even sometimes more than them. The poem is all about the opposites (stereotypes) in girls and boys. Women are not supposed to be regarded as decoration, but they should instead be viewed from the point of the level of their interest in math, science, and educational capacity.

The “The One Girl at the Boys’ Party” dwells on the physical description in girls and tries to alienate their power from their bodies. Quoting from the poem, “… her body hard and / indivisible as a prime number” (5 – 6). In this case, for instance, Olds argues that girls are more focused on science and math when she refers to various prime numbers. The aspect of mentioning prime numbers compares the nature of girls and shows their importance and uniqueness because prime numbers are unique. They have no multiples, and also there is no other small number that can be multiplied to make it except itself and the number one. In this case, a girl being at the pool party is as unique as a unique number. The other notable thing is that prime numbers are exceptional when it comes to the spacing and distribution between the numbers. The further the number is in the number line, the more the space between two prime numbers (Ingham). This Ingham is a representation of how knowledgeable and wise women become with age.

Although this character (the girl) is not the only female in the party, she is the only one who shows significant interest and love in science and math. Indeed, this is the opposite of what women are stereotyped to be passionate about, that is about household chores, children, love, and men. After the girl jumps in the pool, Olds continues:

they’ll plunge in the deep end, she’ll subtract
her height from ten feet, divide it into
hundreds of gallons of water, the numbers
bouncing in her mind like molecules of chlorine
in the bright blue pool. (7 – 11)

The other critical element in the poem is that there is a core distinction between how the girl handles her issues, unlike men. Most young men are adventurous, and they have no problem when it comes to taking risks. When it comes to the girl, she is cautious, and she calculates her actions before doing anything just like she does before jumping into the pool. She thinks of her surroundings in the pool, such as the water molecules surrounding her and her height compared to that of the pool. It is something which was formerly thought to be done by boys, and that is why they were exposed to schooling when compared to girls. At the end of the poem, Old gives a sensual description of the female body and the additional power it possesses. Indeed, it can be argued that this description is not intended to reinforce the stereotype of the power of female bodies over men. Instead, she destroys the old stereotype that women are weak in their minds.

It can be stated that the poem shows that women carry power within themselves, and it is not in their physical looks but their minds and intelligence. This poem does not fit in gender stereotyping, but she instead focuses on the dynamics of women and their nature as human beings. It can be argued that this poem is centered on fighting stereotypes that negatively affect women. Unlike the old fashioned nature of humanity, Olds points out the power in a small girl in her youthful stage, the power displayed by her beauty when added to her academic thinking and the mighty of her mind. Indeed, this poem is a perfect representation and description of the similarities and differences between the two genders. Indeed, women are not supposed to be regarded as decoration. Still, they should instead be viewed from the point of the level of their interest in math, science, and educational capacity.