Powerful Silence: an analysis of Margaret Atwood's "Torture"

In Margaret Atwood’s Torture, the notion of unheard control reigns painfully true. Appreciating that men possess a certain degree of power over women, the reader is left only to accept Atwood’s brutal depictions of assault as true. However, it is not Atwood’s imagery that makes this a strong poem. What gives this poem its depth is Atwood’s use of repetition. By repeating words and phrases associated with the notion of silence, Atwood’s theme of unheard power is greatly impressed upon the reader.
Atwood begins here by talking of “politics, free wi...