Readings/Response for July 16

"The Revolt of Mother"
by Mary Wilkins Freeman

I felt sympathy for Sarah Penn when she first tried to discuss building a new house instead of a new barn with her husband. I thought that after he walked out on their conversation, all hope was lost and there would be no new house for the family. What struck me most about this story, was the way that stay-at-home mothers even in today's world can empathize with Sarah's problem. As a homemaker, she is forced to go along with her husband's plan even when she disagrees with it, and only wants what's best for her family. A woman who depends on her spouse financially is put in an awkward position when she is faced with pleasing them, as well as dealing with the needs of what she thinks is best for her family. There is a book called The Feminine Mistake by Leslie Bennett that just came out, and it deals with this exact problem. I guess the book was on my mind when I read this story, so Sarah's role as the traditional "non-breadwinner" but primary "family caretaker" is what struck me most. However, I was delighted to see her push through what seemed like a dead-end, and move her entire family into a barn instead of putting up with her husband's stubbornness for the sake of her family. I think this added not only interest to the story, but a sense of hope as well. One might have thought that after her husband declared, "I ain't got nothing to say", that the decision had been made and there was essentially nothing Sarah could do to change it. I'm glad it turned out the way it did.


"Trifles"
by Susan Glaspell

Even though the focus of this play was about a murder, I think the more obvious, overall message was about women's friendships. I'm sure most women would be glad to have friends like Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale, who basically solved this entire murder investigation, and came to their own conclusion about how to handle the conviction of their fellow housewife, while the men walked around without a clue. I think the County Attorney was the villain in this story, not Mrs. Wright. If he had been any kind of investigator, he would've asked the women for their insight on another woman's thought process and household duties instead of criticizing and belittling them.

Even though Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are protecting a person who may or may not be a murderer, I think the reader still identifies with them and is hopeful that they'll conceal the evidence they've found, based on their dialogue about Mrs. Wright herself. They describe her as a lively woman before she was married to Mr. Wright, and come up with a number of other indirect excuses for why they should continue to hide what they know from their husbands and the law. The reason why we as readers are able to side with them is because they are justifying their actions with emotions, and doing what's morally right as opposed to lawfully. While the women respect the law, they seem to recognize that there is a higher set of laws to live by, and punishing one of their own is not something the women are prepared to live with. It's as if the women feel guilty about not coming to Mrs. Wright's rescue before things came to this, and feel that concealing evidence of her crime is a way to make up for that. I especially like this passage, which I think best explains their actions in their own words:

"I might have known she needed help! I know how things can be--- for women. I tell you, it's queer, Mrs. Peters. We live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same things---it's all just a different kind of the same thing."


"As Children Together"
by Carolyn Forche

I had to read this poem several times before I understood the relationship between the author and Victoria. Now I understand it to be a message from a woman to her childhood (and maybe adolescent?) friend, who she's since lost contact with. It seems to me that the girls grew up with similar backgrounds and experiences, and Victoria became the more "adventurous" of the two; and took off in search of---

"Flowers wrapped in paper from carts
in Montreal, a plane lifting out
of Detroit, a satin bed, a table
cluttered with bottles of scent."

I compare this to a modern day young women running off to Hollywood to become an "actress", or moving away from their hometown in search of something greater. For Victoria, this path apparently included getting involved with a variety of different men, who seemed to take advantage of her and rob her of her innocence.

I can relate to this because I have several childhood friends that I have lost contact with, and it ends up being more of an emotional obstacle than a distance one. What I mean is, the author states at the end of this poem that she knows Victoria is rumored to have "a trailer in the snow near our town", which means that she has ended up living not too far away from her long-lost friend; yet somehow, they no longer have contact. I have several childhood friends who have grown up in the same hometown as me, and now come here and gone to the same college as I have, who still live in this town... and we still don't see each other but once a year. The situation between the author and Victoria is a sad one, because it involves the seemingly crushed dreams of Victoria, who has retreated from her life of debauchery and would-be adventures.

However, the author obviously still cares about her, but the thought of them facing the innocent life they once had together seems more depressing than just staying separated. While the author calls for a reunion, she still writes this poem like she knows there isn't going to be one.