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Women’s Role in the Early 20th Century. How Does Gender Influence the Narration in Dorothy Parker’s The Waltz?
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Dorothy Parker is an American poet and fiction writer, who is well known for her humorous and satiric literary works. The Waltz is one of her short stories, which depicts social and gender problems in the society of the 1920s. By means of the first person narration and a specific word use, the writer manages to fully express the feelings and self-esteem of a woman at the beginning of the XX century and her role in a changing society.
Historical background is absolutely meaningful for the understanding of the short story. Beginning of the XX century, especially the period after the World War I, is characterized by a changing status of a woman in a society. Women get a right to vote, receive more sexual and social freedom by changing their hairdos from long to short, altering clothing, attending courses and lectures, and taking part in a public life (cf. Radek). However, all these changes turned out to have a minor influence on the role and significance of a woman, despite of the drastic changes in the appearance. “The image of the 1920s “flappers” was restricted to certain social classes, like white, young, and middle-class communities” (Bomarito and Hunter). In addition to that, the Great Depression had a strong influence too. It was the period of poverty and financial insecurity, which was characterized by a vast number of laborers and a miserable number of jobs (cf. Radek). There was not enough work for men, let alone for women. Due to this fact, women returned to their “traditional” roles of the housewives and mothers being inferior to men.
A woman’s role and her feelings are clearly expressed in The Waltz by means of the first person narration and a style chosen by Dorothy Parker. According to the manner of presentation of text The Waltz is a monologue that fully describes the young lady’s experience and concerns. Despite the fact that it is a monologue, it presents two different attitudes towards the situation. The story is about a girl that cannot refuse when a man invites her for the waltz. The main character has a mixed feeling of indignation that she should have refused and a feeling of obedience to the man. According to Nancy A. Walker, the short story “becomes a metaphor of man’s brutality and woman’s powerlessness” (English.illinois.edu). There are two female voices in the short story: one seeking for freedom and another lacking brevity to say No. D. Parker even uses colloquial and rude language versus official and polite in order to show this difference, e.g. “I most certainly will not dance with you, I’ll see you in hell first” (Parker 1) and “Oh, that would be lovely. [.] I’d simply adore to go on dancing (Parker 4). Such a monologue truly expresses a position of a woman at the beginning of the previous century by means of the ironical and even sarcastic tone of the narration. “The contrast between the polite public voice and angry private expression is both the source of humor” that ridicules the hypocrisies of the traditional society (English.illinois.edu).
What helps express the topic of the short story in a precise and clear way is a set of expressive means and stylistic devices used by the writer. The language of The Waltz is highly emotional, which is very typical of a female manner of expression. The narrator uses a great number of repetitions and elliptical sentences that characterize a stream of consciousness of the main character and reveals her feelings. “There was I trapped. Trapped like a trap in a trap” (Parker 1). There is also a great number of rhetoric questions that express indignation and fury, like in the following examples “Isn’t it a small world?” and “Why can’t he let me lead my own life?” (Parker 1). In addition to that, there are plenty of evaluation words that are typical of female speech, like “poor girl”, fascinatingly unpredictable”, “low requests”, “I’d adore to” (Parker 1). The stylistic devices mentioned above prove that it is a story of a woman that has contradictory thoughts and feelings and who is looking for a change of her status in a society.
As one starts to read The Waltz, it may seem that it is a story of a great gossip or a chatter box, who is going to tell her story of love. However, by means of the language and a specific manner of the narration, the writer depicts and highlights a role of a woman in the early XX century, so that the reader starts sympathizing with her. The narration of the short story does not only present the gender issues in a society, but also expresses it from the female point of view making it clear how exactly a woman feels like. The sarcastic tone of the short story and its humor are aimed at showing the gender discrimination as an enormous problem which has not been noticed before.
Works Cited
Bomarito, Jessica, Hunter W. Jeffrey, eds. Feminism in Literature – Introduction. Feminism in Literature. Vol. 4. Gale Cengage, 2005. eNotes.com. 11 Jul, 2016 <http://www.enotes.com/topics/feminism/critical-essays/women-early-mid-20th-century-1900-1960#critical-essays-women-early-mid-20th-century-1900-1960-introduction-2>
“On Parker’s The Waltz.” Modern American Poetry. The Department of English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign, 1999 – 2014. Web. 11 Jul. 2016. <http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/parker/waltz.htm>
Parker, Dorothy. The Waltz. Dorothy Parker. The Viking Portable Library, 1944. Web. 11 Jul, 2016. <http://dickatlee.com/poetry/pdfs/waltz_dorothy_parker.pdf>
Radek, M. Kimberly. “Women in the Twentieth Century and Beyond.” Women in Literature (2006). Web. 11 Jul, 2016. <http://www2.ivcc.edu/gen2002/twentieth_century.htm>
