Women have been fighting for rights for decades now. Their voices, unheard at first, are now like thunder rolling through the skies. Piercy shows how women who are not strong enough to fight publicly somehow fight back in their own subdued way. This poem is very clever in using detail to describe how these women plan to attack and conquer their husbands. The main reason for wives burning dinner is to get their husbands to notice them. They want the flame back in their marriage like they once had. Piercy writes, " once I was roast duck on your platter with parsley, but now I"m Spam." These kitchen soldiers are tired of being looked upon as the maids and servants of their husbands. They want to be told they are beautiful and smell good, and be showered with compliments. This happens in most marriages today. People, as a whole get, so used to each other, they are sometimes too comfortable around each other. Things tend to have steady patterns of consistency. These women are trying to break that pattern, to put some fire back into their marriages. War with wings, burnt legs, and thighs is their last option. They want to be noticed, seen, heard, and smelled. These soldiers want a compliment about themselves, how they look--a kiss or a hug, even maybe a little more. They want to feel like they are escargo at the finest French restaurant in town and the most expensive bottle of bubbling champagne at a New Year's party. They want to be women, beautiful, strong, and seem somewhat defenseless. Each woman wants to be Cinderella with her own custom twist on the fairy tale. .
Another poem by Piercy ironically entitled "Barbie Doll" shows how she feels society molds girls from birth to be mothers and housewives. Piercy did not fit the image of what women were supposed to be ("edwardsly"). The Freudianism that permeated educated values in the fifties labeled her aberrant for her sexuality and ambitions ("edwardsly").
