Women Facing Limitations - Essay Example

Constrained Women Short stories can often focus a reader’s attention on various elements of our lives that frequently pass by under our radar because they are now so deeply ingrained in our society’s norms. Such concepts in our life would include the inherent male-dominant beliefs of old in which the woman’s space is considered to be only within the home. On a social level, the woman’s place remains below men even in modern times and is usually placed only slightly above children in matters of importance. While these are ideologies that have, in the past 100 years, been increasingly challenged, particularly by women who have continued to demonstrate their ability to keep up with men, it remains the case that women continue to struggle, not simply on the social level, but on the personal level as well. This personal battle in the example of female subservience requires women to begin questioning the values learned in their youth to consider something both thrilling and frightening – the idea that they may be capable of making their own decisions in life without the leadership or approval of men. For many women, the concept alone would be the most they would achieve, especially in earlier time periods. The female characters found in William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” and Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” live within this oppressive ideology of the subservient woman both socially and internally, but also exhibit a yearning to escape the ties that bind them. In the greater social context, women are given few choices in how they should live a ‘good’ life. They are seen as finding happiness only as they are willing to remain constrained within the home and occupy themselves with caring for the children. However, because they are neither the breadwinners nor necessary to the continuation of the family once the next generation is born, their importance to the world becomes sharply reduced. In “The Lottery”, women are seen to fall into well-defined social roles, appearing last at the square, taking subservient positions beside or behind their husbands and holding little to no authority over the children. Tessie excuses herself for being late by offering a socially acceptable reason, “Wouldn’t have me leave m’dishes in the sink, now, would you, Joe?” (Jackson, 1949: 48). Mrs. Martin calls after her son Billy, but the boy only returns to the family at the word of his father. Within Faulkner’s story, Miss Emily Grierson is also trapped by social conventions. She is introduced as a woman who has never been provided an opportunity to become comfortable or familiar with the world outside of her father’s old world ideals. “None of the young men were quite good enough to Miss Emily and such. We had long thought of them as a tableau; Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door” (437). This created a situation in which Miss Emily “got to be thirty and was still single” (437), forced to live in her maidenhood forever and lacking any connection to the rest of the world; she is alienated from her society. Through this progression, Miss Emily can be seen making the transition from a normal young woman, to something of an oddity as a 30-year-old maiden, unable to escape the definition of her society. On the personal level, women often feel constrained to adopt these social definitions as a part of their own identity and desire at the expense of discovering their true selves. Tessie remains ignorant of the fallacies of her culture as she hurries to the square to witness the event occurring there and encourages her husband in playing his allotted role regardless of what that might mean to her personally. It is clear that she has never considered the personal implications of the lottery as, after being late to the gathering, she encourages her husband forward when the family name is called, “Get up there, Bill,’ Mrs. Hutchinson said, and the people near her laughed” (Jackson, 1949: 50). While some of this banter might be considered a sign of nervousness, it seems more like a Sunday gathering as if for a picnic or some other pleasant festival or announcement rather than something with such deadly and brutal consequences as the lottery depicts further on. Finally finding herself master of her own person following the death of her father, Miss Emily is seen to take on a greater role in society yet still based within the context of what was expected of a proper lady. Even the one time period in which Miss Emily was seen to be most alive, just following her father’s death and while she was courting Homer Barron, she remains described in terms of rigid, unchanging material — “her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows — sort of tragic and serene” (438), and her activities remain the socially constrained ‘acceptable’ activities of a woman – courting and earning a little money for herself through giving painting lessons. “She fitted up a studio in one of the downstairs rooms, where the daughters and granddaughters of Colonel Sartoris’ contemporaries were sent to her … Then the newer generation became the backbone and the spirit of the town, and the painting pupils grew up and fell away and did not send their children to her” (441). Not completely able to give up on her dream of having a ‘normal’ life like other women, Miss Emily steps over the line when she finally manages to break free of some of the constraints that have been placed upon her. Despite their best attempts to convince themselves that they agree with the social norms, though, each of the female protagonists in these stories reveals a secret desire to break free and be something else. When Tessie’s family is selected as the lottery winner, she suddenly realizes the brutality of the tradition and repeatedly insists the drawing wasn’t fair to no avail (Jackson, 1949: 51-53). Although she knows the yearly tradition and the way in which the lottery is to be played out, when it actually falls to her to pay the price of the lottery, Tess finally begins to act contrary to the traditions of her village. Although she reluctantly draws the ticket she is required to take, she holds it behind her back away from the view of the others as if this will be enough to protect her. “Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it” (Jackson, 1949: 52). She has even forsaken the cardinal rule of motherhood in wanting to protect her children above even her own life, as she insists that her grown daughter, the one who is already married or is perhaps a daughter by a previous Mrs. Hutchinson, perhaps also lost to the lottery, take a part of the family drawing. Yet, as is evidenced by her husband’s relentless adherence to the social conventions, Tessie is unable to escape her fate as the stones begin to fly. Similarly, Miss Emily breaks her bonds of femininity in her own spirit, although no one else may know of it. As the story unfolds, the reader learns that Miss Emily brought Homer Barron into her world rather than suffering the disgrace of joining his. When the men of the town broke through the door of the upstairs bedroom following Miss Emily’s death, they describe a grisly scene. “The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace, … what was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay; and upon him and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and biding dust” (443). In each of these stories, it can be seen that the female characters’ lives were strongly constrained by the attitudes of their society and their ability to question them. Within “The Lottery”, Tessie is not permitted to explore her new realization, dying very shortly after she discovers it. However, Miss Emily manages to create a world of her own making in which she may not have escaped the traditional definitions of living a ‘right’ life, but does it in her own unique way. Works Cited Faulker, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Anthology of American Literature – 8th Edition. Ed. McMichael, George, James S. Leonard, Bill Lyne, Anne-Marie Mallon and Verner D. Mitchell. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2004. 433-444. Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” (1949). Printed in Mercury Reader. Melanie Rubens. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2007. Read More