How to Triumph Like a Girl

Gender roles in nature are different from gender roles in human society. There are many examples of species in which the female has more prominence and does more of the dangerous and difficult work than the male. Female lions, for example, hunt and kill while male lions do not. In the wild all animals are instinctively capable of using their power, whether it be the power to fight, kill, give birth, or run.

Horses have long been prized by human beings for their speed and strength. The image of horses connotes freedom, with their connection to the ability to travel freely before the advent of motor vehicles. The speaker is looking to the animal kingdom for an avatar of her natural power, that is, the power that creatures have innately, the life-force that allows them to survive and thrive.

Limón says the female horses “make it all look easy, / like running 40 miles per hour / is as fun as taking a nap, or grass” (Lines 2-4). It is easy for the horses to run fast because it is their natural gift. It is part of their nature just as it is their biological imperative to eat and sleep.