The Revolt of 'Mother by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman as a feminist text - Essay Example

For an instance Sarah says: "Father, you come here. Then Sarah Penn stood in the door like a queen; she held her head as if it bore a crown; there was that patience which makes authority royal in her voice”. Adoniram departs. (Wilkins, 555) It becomes notable that Sarah addresses her husband not by his name but according to his position & status within their household. The reader discovers that Sarah calls Adoniram as “father.” Here it’s noticeable that the husband gets influenced by the wife’s presence & calls her “mother” in return.

There is a second instance when Sarah proves that she is simply oblivious of the existence of the male chauvinistic ego. While discussing about the barn, she orders her husband to take a seat in following fashion:   ‘"Sit down, father," said she; "I've got somethin' I want to say to you." He sat down heavily; his face was quite stolid, but he looked at her with restive eyes. "Well, what is it, mother?" "I want to know what you're buildin' that new barn for, father…"’ (Wilkins, 555) The idealist woman opposes her husband in the most subtlest of ways.

She never encroaches or pounces upon Adoniram, but always creates an ambience which proves that she has a precise ideology & she is going to implement it. She maintains a perennial calmness while opposing about the construction of an extra barn. She dismantles her husband’s whim by denoting that constructing the barn is not the immediate need of the hour. She emphasizes that the upcoming marriage of their daughter needs a better preparation & thus advices her husband to invest his money in the wedding & not in the barn.

Her character evokes humility, dedication, honesty & firmness at the same time which proves that ‘feminism’ in essence may not actually be some sort of an ‘ism’, but an approach towards life. She speaks to her husband in the ‘humble fashion of a scripture’ (Wilkins, 555-556): "I'm goin' to talk real plain to you: I never have since I married you, but I'm goin' to now. I 'ain't never complained, an' I ain't goin' to complain now, but I'm goin' to talk plain. You see this room here, father; you look at it well.

You see there ain't no carpet on the floor, an' you see the paper is all dirty, an' droppin' off the walls. We 'ain't had no new paper on it for ten year, an' then I put it on myself, an' it didn't cost but nine-pence a roll. You see this room, father; it's all the one I've had to work in an' eat in an' sit in sence we was married” (Wilkins, 556).  The portion where she explains why her daughter requires a stable marriage proves that she is concerned about the precarious position of women in her society & that she would try her best in eradicating those unjust practices & ideologies.

She is woman who is clear to herself that he is supporting her daughter’s well being from an idealist point of view & not from some petty motherly idiosyncrasy (Reichardt, 171-173). This story speaks of the woman spirit; the woman, who fights for her rights & equally remains concerned about the rights & privileges of others around her. She represents meekness, but the author clears the air by saying that the meekness is a characteristic of her own will, not coerced upon by some other person (Vees, 2).

There is a mechanical air in Adoniram’s attitude while he listens to his wife’s lectures, which may be deemed as mechanical, but nevertheless the