The poetess Eunice de Souza’s “Advice to Women” encourages women to build isolation in relationships.

De Souza does
this through an extended metaphor so that she compares a person in a healthy love relationship to a cat. Cats are not
needy. They come when they need to but otherwise stand out and they always keep them random.

As the title suggests, in her poem “Advice to Women,” De Souza is giving advice on how women should react to romantic
rejection. By metaphorically comparing females to cats, she encourages women to look at cats as models, while being
treated unfairly or shaken by romantic partners. Cats are known to be arrogant, conceited and indifferent. They come and
go as they please. They do not hold a grudge against their enemies. De Souza believes that women should be treated the
same way. In a sense, her poem is a tutorial on how to be happy and unmarried:

She explains that cats will teach women “how to fight lovers differently”. Cats are certainly the unique kind of people
who like to do their own thing, which is usually the opposite of what anyone wants them to do.

Yet, the poetess continues, cats do not always neglect a person. Instead, they “return to their litter trays / when they
need it.” In other words, the poetess claims that lovers come around when cats need something, she means, do the same
and the result is not always pleasing.

There is no help for this, the poetess points out. There is no need to be upset. One only has to accept the fact that cats
will always be surprised, perhaps forgetting that someone is present and perhaps forgetting why they should be cared for.
Lovers, obviously, do the same thing, leaving one until the end.

The poem strongly reflects her own personal beliefs as she chooses to remain unmarried. De Souza urges her female
readers to be as happy with themselves as cats are, and to handle romantic breakups with the same indifference to the
world of cats when lovers behave unjustly, rather than being indifferent.

The speaker’s tone of cool indifference mirrors the optimistic attitudes that her female readers will embrace. It flies in the
face of the intensity that we usually associate with love poems. The poetess refuses to adapt itself to the devices of
literature with the coolness that we often associate with love verses like the last rhyme or addition. Women don’t have to
play these traditional games, the poem implies that this poem does nothing more.

However, the general theme of most of Eunice de Souza’s works is the denial of women’s segregation and patriarchal
traditions. The target audience for most of her work is the female population. In some cases she criticizes women and in
others she encourages them. She aims to make women more aware and empower them.