Critical Analysis of The Convert - Essay Example

Your Critical Analysis of ‘The Convert’ ‘The Convert’ by Elizabeth Robins is an account of the suffrage days, when women were fighting for equivalent rights to vote. The Suffragette Movement was a historic movement that marked the arrival of women on the front scene. Women were not just willing to suffer the atrocities but also take up ‘military’ ways to put up their demands. Women won and that marked a new beginning of which women bear fruits even today. This story is a description of those trying times. The story describes a young suffragist and her liveliness, while at the same time her determination to achieve what they seek has been beautifully illustrated by the writer. The story is a description of a meeting where suffragist and non-suffragist are debating over the worthiness of the movement by women. The story is notable in that it provides a good idea of why the suffragists were dissatisfied with the government, the transformation of the suffragists, and the thoughts of non-suffragists. Besides, fulfilling its motive of providing an account of suffrage, the story entangles the readers with its clever use of language. It is the language that captures the attention of readers at the first instant and a perfect storyline that gets the reader to continue reading. One can always know about Suffrage and Suffragette Movement through textbooks, but it is always better to be able to enjoy yourself while reading and that too get sucked into the era of the story and to feel the events as if they happened before you. This is the beauty of story writing and especially by someone who knows her job. Elizabeth Robins was an American but had a heart for issues such as suffrage that made more British than a British could be. She was suffrage writer and novelist bringing the times and suffering of the women to life. She was an active member of the suffrage campaign and was involved in women’s political issues. These factors become apparent as we read her novel, The Convert. Through this novel, Elizabeth Robins presented the picture of Britain as she saw it, a culture that supported man and pitied women. The Convert is an excellent piece of literature for it serves the basic purpose of introducing to its readers an era long lost and forgotten. One cannot deny the importance of literature for its use as an introduction to our history, which is what this novel does. Suffrage Movement was a political campaign in Britain through which the demand for the right of women to vote was forwarded. During those times, it was believed that the best work place for women was located within the private sphere of the home as full-time wives and mothers rather than in the male public sphere of business, wars, and politics. This secondary status of women was reinforced when they were denied the right to vote in parliamentary elections. This led to an agitation over equal rights and the struggle for the same. The lady concerned in the story is Ernestine Blunt, a dynamic lady, who through her skill over language captures the audience. She appears completely unconcerned about the proceedings only to appear as the last speaker. Her intriguing personality and her subsequent speech bounds the attention of audience. Their hooting and their concern over what she says is an evidence of how she captured their attention. Elizabeth Robin through an excellent display of language showers her readers with a colourful story that is built on a rather dark undertone of suffrage. The language used by the author for the protagonist is sharp, but the flow of words is never too abrupt. The words flow smoothly but their aim is sharp, and that is to put her point forward in the best possible way. It is interesting to see that the writer chooses to provide humour through the language of the audience. What becomes apparent is that the women involved in the suffrage campaign are highly educated and are completely aware of what they want, why they are fighting for it, and how to fight for it. On the other hand, the non-suffragists appear to be nothing more than a lowly class with no education, which is apparent from the way they speak. They do not want the suffrage campaign not because they think it is against the law but because they have been fed by the society that way and they refuse to see any changes without thinking about its positive or negative effect. The language is the soul of a story and Elizabeth Robin through her skilful use of language has proved it and has infused soul to the story, which could have otherwise been a lacklustre story about the suffrage campaign. The story is also important as in a short description it speaks volume about the suffrage campaign. When the protagonist begins by saying that, the suffrage campaign has just begun, it doesn’t just grabs the attention of audience and readers, but it also says a lot about the determination of the suffragist to achieve their goal. The story is important in that it represents the transformation of the Suffragette Movement from passive resistance methods to ‘military’ phase where throwing stones at shops, burning down shops etc became normal and a way for resistance. The story explains that the reason for this transformation was solely due to Government, which always came up with empty promises. The story explains how the Suffragette Movement never started on the first place because nobody paid attention to it before the suffragists began their unruly ways. The story also shows why it took the suffragists such a long time to achieve what they wanted. It wasn’t just because the ministers were not interested or that the campaign did not receive enough media coverage earlier but also because the people were not interested, except for a few suffragists, not even other women were interested. This is evident when a woman in the audience foul mouths the protagonist, a suffragist. The suffragist did not enjoy the acceptance of majority, which was the biggest problem for them. Since the novel dates back to 1907, the time when Suffragette Movement was on, the story serves the purpose of representing the Suffragette Movement to the people at that time. The story is not just an account of the movement but it has a political motive. It is well known that books serve the purpose of shaking the people concerned and rousing their conscience, evident from stories written during colonialism and through the recent dig of Arvind Adiga at the poverty and corruption of India in ‘The White Tiger’. The novel served the same purpose back then. The writer chose to write about suffrage rather than a romantic novel because the writer wanted the people to know that the campaign holds a meaning. The writer wanted to bring to fore the real nature of ministers and the unwillingness of the government to take up a matter that caused so much agitation. The novel shows the determination of the suffragist, and the reason why they fought for it. The author has taken care of the fact that the novel could contribute to the Suffragette Movement by opening the eyes of the officials towards their own apathy to sensitive issues and of their stern attitude to accept changes. The novel has the remarkable capability to rouse the feelings of a non-suffragist to understand the cause and to open his heart to accepting the change. ‘The Convert’ was a novel written to bring various pieces together and thus to provide a complete picture of the Suffragette Movement, of what the government did, what the non-suffragists felt and what the suffragists felt. It is important to note that the non-suffragists feel that suffragists are nothing but a bunch of rowdy people and the government protects them from these rowdy people. It was so because the movement gained publicity after its military transformation. This also explains peoples support for government and their distrust for suffragist. The story explains it all, through a capturing storyline and eloquent language. This is what makes the novel a heart winner. The author has written with all her heart into it, this shows and this is what captures the readers too. One might criticize the novel for being too feminist but it is just the circumstances that make the novel what it is. The story is a success because it is able to connect with the readers and shows them the events in their totality. This makes the story a resourceful and an enjoyable reading. Read More