4. Figs and the Female Form

D. H. Lawrence’s “Figs” –

 

One could argue that women are consumable, and can be used by men that seek to ‘assimilate’, or even ‘destroy’ (Atwood 271) them. The visual aspect of some foods can relate to women in a more literal sense; a fig bears similar qualities to that of female genitalia in its shape and form.

Lawrence published “Figs” in 1923 during the Modernist literary movement. Fruits and women were illustrated in the Western literary and artistic movements during the Modernist period. Matisse, a French artist, featured women and fruit in many of his paintings. His painting from 1910, “Still Life with a Pewter Jug and Pink Statuette”, and three paintings from 1919, “Nude, Spanish Carpet”, “The Plaster Torso” and “Still Life” all display images of female bodies and/or fruit. The depictions are arguably feminine and delicate; the surroundings of the statuette are saturated with colour, however, the female form has a natural pale pink hue. The still life painting of a table surface contains a somewhat abstract depiction of a female form statuette and an orange fruit, among other objects. The woman in “Nude, Spanish Carpet” and the female upper body in “The Plaster Torso” are stylised and decorative, and the flowers in the 1919 paintings range from moderately detailed to abstract, all are thoughtfully painted in pastel colours of white, pink and yellow, arguably delicate, feminine colours. Fruit and the female body pervaded Matisse’s art in the early twentieth-century, as critic Berger illuminates Matisse’s ‘use...of pure colour’ which ‘he repeatedly declared…must serve expression’’ (qtd. in Galenson 36), the expression being; ‘the nearly religious feeling’ he had towards sensuous life – towards the blessings of sunlight, flowers, women, fruit [and] sleep’ (Galenson 36). Therefore, the sensual and arguably romantic themes of the natural and the feminine seem to relate to subjects of Matisse’s significant reverence or desire. The splendour of the female form and fruits in his paintings could be described as a beauty for the audience to consume, as their elegance and charm are the title and focus of their respective paintings. Matisse has strong emotions connected to the subjects in which he constructed his paintings, as he experiences a ‘nearly religious feeling’ of them. Lawrence might have been influenced by this sensual exploration of fruit and women, as the paintings were developed a short time before the publication of his poem “Figs”.

Smith observes that ‘a striking feature of men’s imagery of woman-as-food [is] that it’s frequently vegetarian’ (87). Unlike Atwood’s manifestation of female suppression in the form of a cake in The Edible Woman, Lawrence uses a natural substitute to represent female sexuality in fruits such as figs and pomegranates in their respective poems. Both fruits and cakes are sweet, which could show femininity and delicacy, as well as a desirable and aesthetic appeal.

Lawrence’s "Figs" uses multiple images that allude to female sexuality and women’s bodies. The fruit is described with vivid imagery; once it is opened, it is ‘glittering, rosy, moist’ and ‘honied’ (Lawrence 18). These descriptions connote decadence and are persuasively appealing. The use of glittering connotes sparkling jewels and regal luxury, meaning the fruit transcends its humble nature as a flower from a plant. I ague that rosy, moist and honied have been employed to further denote qualities of female genitalia, and as they are described with beauty and luxury, a reader might interpret Lawrence’s desire. He seemingly uses fruit to comment on these themes to distance himself from a more literal description, which may have been viewed as obscene by a contemporary reader. He also distances himself by stating that ‘the Italians vulgarly say it stands for the female part; the fig-fruit’ (18). He subverts the reader’s foresight of his relation of fruits to female genitalia by removing himself from the comparison; it is the Mediterranean ‘other’ that has a preoccupation with the yonic image. By distancing himself from this point of view, he is seemingly able to present a political statement of an ideal female secrecy of sexual desire. Lawrence explains that the fig ‘is female’ (18), and ‘was always a secret’, which is ‘how it should be, the female should always be secret’ (19). The notion of a yonic, female fig needing to be secretive seems to display Lawrence’s ideals of female sexuality; women should keep their sexual desires hidden. The religious overtones of virtue are only surface level; women with ‘scarlet lips’, an apparent signal of overt sexuality, ‘laugh at the Lord’s indignation’ (21). The ‘black figs with scarlet inside’ (21) seem to suggest the unchaste women who do not hide their sexuality, the black and red colours connoting the sinful and hellish. The women are said to believe they ‘have kept [their] secret long enough’, and react by ‘adorn[ing] the bursten fig’, rather than to ‘cover it’ (21). Lawrence believes that the women, manifested as ‘ripe figs’, ‘won’t keep’ (21). He repeats this statement to emphasise his point and to ensure the reader pays it due attention, and ends with a question: ‘bursten figs won’t keep?’ (21). I argue that this is an ominous warning of an unknown future in which women have autonomy in their decision of displaying overt sexuality. 

Lawrence begins by celebrating the yonic fig with its desirable and alluring attributes, however, he later uses the metaphor to present his political stance of correct and appropriate female behaviour; he has anti-feminist views of women needing to remain quiet, which was likely to have been a male anxiety in the post first-wave feminist years at the turn of 20^th century.