[Client’s Name]
[Client’s Professor]
[Client’s Subject]
[Date Passed]
An Alternating Arrangement Analysis
The portrayal of women in the short stories “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen and “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield are quite similar to each other. The four most prominent themes when it comes to women and feminism in both stories are the image of a mother, women and physical appearances, assigned tasks to women, and social class. In the succeeding paragraphs, this essay will try to analyze and explain how those themes are present and are related from one story to another.
The first theme presented was the image of a mother. In both stories, the authors showed women as a mother that has a strong influence over their children’s life. In “I Stand Here Ironing”, Olsen presented the narrator who was the mother of another character, Emily, as an unemotional and detached mother. This was further emphasized when their neighbor told the narrator that she should “smile at Emily” (Olsen 293). Because of this characteristic of the narrator, Emily also grew up hiding her feelings. When she was two years old, her mother enrolled her in a nursery school and although her teacher was depicted as someone evil, Emily never acted like the other children who clung to their mother and wailed. Emily was composed and only tried to reason with her mother using arguments such as, “it’s a holiday today” (Olsen 293).
On the other hand, Mansfield’s “The Garden Party” shows us how Mrs. Sheridan is depended on by her children. Laurie, Mrs. Sheridan’s only son, grew up to be just like his mother – superficial and mindful of social class. Jose, her eldest daughter, was the same too, which can be seen as she did not show an ounce of sympathy for someone who had just died, even going as far as referring to the person as “a drunken workman” (Mansfield 170) Even Laura, the main protagonist of the story sought her mother’s advice and approval when she asked “Mother, isn’t it terribly heartless of us?” (Mansfield 170). Although this sentence shows Laura’s consciousness awakening to the truth of social injustices and such, the tone and manner with which the statement was said also demonstrates how Laura is walking on eggshells around her mother. By questioning instead of demanding, Laura had showed that she valued the opinion of her mother.
Either way, in both stories, the mother was depicted as a major factor in a person’s character. Her upbringing, as well as her own personality, determines how her children acts and reacts around her. This point was made across quite effectively in both the works of Olsen and Mansfield.
The second idea that both stories being analyzed are trying to convey is that women cares a lot about physical appearances, whether their own or not. Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” described the superficial admiration of appearance as an important factor in what a feminine mystique is. In short, in both stories, there was always the element of a woman being terribly shallow. In “I Stand Here Ironing,” the narrator mentioned that her daughter Emily was “new and uneasy” in her “now-loveliness” (Olsen 292) and that she had to reassure Emily several times that she was beautiful before and still beautiful now. The fact that Emily wanted to be reassured several times that she was beautiful illustrated that she cared about her physical appearance. This ‘caring’ however can be seen as normal for her age.
The vivid example, however, can be seen in “The Garden Party”. There was a scene in the story wherein Mrs. Sheridan exclaimed, “‘the hat is yours. It’s made for you. It’s much too young for me. I have never seen you look such a picture. Look at yourself!’” (Mansfield 170-171). These words of Mrs. Sheridan can be understood if we examine the context from which it was taken. In that particular scene, Laura was asking her mother whether it was right to hold a party when someone down the lane had just suffered a terrible death. However, Mrs. Sheridan chose to ignore the question and focus instead on her daughter’s appearance. The general assumption would be that Mrs. Sheridan was using appreciation of Laura’s appearance as a means of avoidance and distraction. That could be true but, as the story progressed and as the reader gets to know Mrs. Sheridan’s character, the reader will know that at least part of Mrs. Sheridan’s praise of how Laura looked stemmed from genuine fascination and perhaps adoration of beauty – a beauty of course, that was skin deep.
The third point that both Olsen and Mansfield wanted to let their readers see was how women were only given tasks that are deemed ‘feminine’ and ‘delicate’. They are boxed in this category and anything else can be seen as possibly too ‘hard’ for them. For example, the whole story of “I Stand Here Ironing” used the symbolism of a mother ironing to indicate the woman’s suffering. ‘Ironing’ in this sense represented other household chores that are considered to be a woman’s duty. Notice in the story that the narrator always seemed to be ironing. Even while her thoughts were to other scenes, other time, her body was stuck to one place, still ironing. This can be viewed as a representation of how a woman is stuck to conform to the society she lives in despite her actual intelligence and her capacity to do so much more.
Similarly, “The Garden Party” made use of a party – a common status symbol in New Zealand (the setting of the story) – to depict how society thinks women should act. Planning a garden party was seen as a feminine duty. As can be seen in the story, Mrs. Sheridan was focused on it and pushed her daughters to also be actively involved. It was as if the success of the party determines their worth. If the party becomes a disaster, the disgrace will fall on the women because it was supposed to be their responsibility. Mrs. Sheridan, in a sense, had lost herself to the dictate of everything she was taught to be. She did not have what Friedan referred to as “a personal purpose stretching into the future” (433) beyond the planning of the garden party.
It was noticeable that in both stories the fathers were absent from the picture. In “I Stand Here Ironing”, the narrator was left by her husband, causing her to be a single mother. In “The Garden Party”, Mrs. Sheridan’s husband never lacked financial support. In fact, we can sense that he is giving much more than needed. However, Mr. Sheridan is always absent from the scene and in his children’s lives. In both cases, the child-rearing duties fell on the mothers. It is expected for the woman to raise their children.
However, it can also be seen in the stories how accepting the women had become of the roles given to them that they no longer goes against it. The narrator of “I Stand Here Ironing” is aware of the unfairness of what she had to endure as a woman and a single mother but her rebellion and complains never went outside her thoughts. Mrs. Sheridan of “The Garden Party” was a perfect example of Friedan’s idea feminine mystique because Mrs. Sheridan was someone “who never realized their human potential” (Friedan 43).
The fourth point is about social class. The female characters of “I Stand Here Ironing” and “The Garden party” might have come from different background and different social and economic class but it was clear that they all act according to the social class in which they are categorized in. Let’s take for example the narrator in “I Stand Here Ironing.” She came from the lower class as evident by the fact that she struggled to support both her and her daughter Emily. She acted meek because of the fact that it was not her place to speak up. She opted to justify her actions through her thoughts instead of speaking out. She stayed silent when people questioned her from her upbringing of her daughter to her lack of smiles.
Likewise, the cook from “The Garden Party” was seen as a nurturing or a ‘motherly’ figure. She was a warm person. However, this might have been because she was from the working class which means she had different aspirations as to that from the higher classes. In a way, it is a stereotypical identity.
The obvious example for women conforming to social class, however, would be of course Mrs. Sheridan. Christine Darrohn, the author of “‘Blown to Bits!’: Katherine Mansfield’s ‘The Garden-Party’ and the Great War”, mentioned that Mrs. Sheridan was a representation of the perception of the privileged middle class. Sebnem Kaya, a literary critic, explained that Mrs. Sheridan grew up with an upper-class Victorian education and her actions are merely a manifestation of the principles taught to her a child. This causes her to “concentrate exclusively on her own social circle” (Kaya 56). Mrs. Sheridan can thus be seen as a woman who is very discriminating towards other social classes. She is, for example, wary of the cook who is from the working class. She also does not understand why Laura is so concerned about the poor man who died. Her upbringing taught her not to concern herself with people whose social status was lower than her. This idea is what she is trying to pass to her children.
All in all, the points presented bring us to one glaring issue – the oppression of women. Women might be physically free but they are still bound by invisible chains shackled on by the society they live in. However, very few women ever notice the difference. Very few ever see and believe that those chains do exist. Women are deluded with the misconception of being ‘protected’ and ‘cherished’ when the truth is that their abilities are being restrained. Just like Mrs. Sheridan and all of Laura’s siblings, some do not want to fight their position in society in the first place. Some are aware of the inequality of women and men but rebel only in their thoughts and do not take their opposition farther, just like the narrator in “I Sand Here Ironing”.
Despite these facts, someone is always trying to oppose this oppression of women, some women wants to break free and gives their all for that dream. The level of consciousness for women are increasing and spreading to others. The stories show us that slowly, women are starting to question the roles society has placed on them but that it would take a long time for the status quo to be broken and for women to be truly free.
Works Cited
Darrohn, Christine. ""Blown to Bits!": Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden-party" and the Great
War." Modern Fiction Studies 40.3 (1994): 513-39. Modern Fiction Studies. The Purdue
Research Foundation, 1998. Web. 23 Sept. 2011.
Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: W.W. Norton, 1963. Print.
Kaya, Şebnem. "Laura's Lessons in Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party"" American
International Journal of Contemporary Research 1.2 (2011): 54-
61. American International Journal of Contemporary Research. Centre for Promoting
Ideas. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.
Mansfield, Katherine. “The Garden Party.” Literature: A Portable Anthology 3rd Edition. Janet
Gardner, Beverly Lawn, Jack Ridl, and Peter Schakel. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin’s,
2013. 163-175. Print.
Olsen, Tillie. “I Stand Here Ironing.” Tell Me a Riddle. Jack Coulehan. New York: Delacorte,
1961. 292-298. Print.
