“The Revolt of ‘Mother’”
“You ain’t found out yet we’re women-folks, Nanny Penn… You ain’t seen enough of men-folks yet to. One of these days you’ll find it out, an then you’ll know that we know only what men-folks think we do, so far as any use of it goes, an’ how we’d ought to reckon men-folks in with Providence, an’ not complain of what they do any more than we do of the weather.”
I found this quote extremely ironic. Mrs. Penn’s body language and tone are surely indicators of some resentment. She accepts her position of inferiority to men, namely her husband, but her daughter has yet to understand the way relationships operate between men and women. This I found very interesting, because the two women had very different beliefs. Mrs. Penn states that men are to be respected as people respect God, and that men are the determiners of women's intellect and ability. The imagery I pictured when I came across this quote was that of an older woman who was a servant to her husband, but who also possessed more knowledge than he cared to recognize. I found this interesting because her final decision to move into the new barn he built was completely contrary to her statement. This took extreme courage, and the fact that her husband actually gave in to her and respected her wishes proves even further that she was a strong woman.
“Trifles”
“When I was a little girl- my kitten- there was a boy that took a hatchet, and before my eyes- and before I could get there-…. If they hadn’t held me back I would have- hurt him.”
I imagined a group of cruel kids torturing a little girl in this scene. There was obviously more than one person at the scene of the killing of Mrs. Peters’ cat, for she was being held back and forced to watch its death. This quote connected the murder of Mrs. Wright’s bird to the killing of the cat. Because the animals were all both women had and loved, their cruel murders drove them to anger. They felt as if the only things they loved had been taken away, along with their happiness. This, I believe, caused Mrs. Wright to snap and kill her husband, and Mrs. Peters admits that she too would have killed her cat’s murderer. At first, I didn’t know how I felt about this quote, but after rethinking, I believe that it is a definite cause for one to snap. Mrs. Wright had evidently been in an unhappy relationship, and she only had her singing canary to make her happy, but when her husband took that away, she had nothing else to look forward to. This quote actually made me somewhat sad, because I can’t imagine having the one thing I loved taken away from me.
“As Children Together”
…and when one of the men who had gathered around you took my mouth to his own there was nothing other than dance hall music rising to the arms of iced trees.”
A first kiss is definitely a memorable experience. I could almost imagine a dance hall and trees in the middle of winter as I read this passage. The woman lost herself to her first kiss, and all she was aware of was the beauty that surrounded her. I think her first kiss inspired her in some way. It also familiarized her with the life her childhood friend had spoken about so often. She definitely misses her memories with Victoria.
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