Daystar: The author writes, “she would open her eyes/and think of the place that was hers/for an hour-where/she was nothing,/pure nothing, in the middle of the day” (300-1). This was the strongest image for me. There is a woman lying in bed with her husband, but can think of nothing other than the freedom that comes with abandoning the roles she plays in life. She is pure nothing when she can just sit. She is no longer a mother, a caregiver, a wife, etc. She is nothing but a woman immersed in nature, which makes me think of women needing to get back to the basics and away from being forced to maintain all of these roles. The main character’s retreat into the sanctuary of her mind, combined with her space in the garage and the overall tone of the poem gives the impression that this woman was feeling extremely overburdened with her life. It also speaks to the amount of time women spend catering to the other people in their lives. It seems as though the only way she can cope with the demands of those around her is by sneaking away for a few minutes of peace and lack of responsibility.
Why I Want a Wife: I love the humor in this piece! Judy Syfers makes a piece that rationally lists the irrational expectations men hold for the women in their lives. She ends her essay with the question, “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” (376), which sums up her work’s message. She uses her essay to consistently build up the idea of a woman, so by the very end, her audience is left with a super human vision of the average wife. Syfers does an amazing job of pointing out the unbelievable laziness of men when it comes to the domestic sphere, and she uses this backwards reasoning to make her point clear. While her piece is about having a wife, I don’t think her intended audience was men. I think she wanted to show women that gender equality was not present within the home. She wanted women to be assertive and ask for the change that they wanted and deserved.
A Pair of Silk Stockings: This story immediately reminded me of the poem “Daystar”. Kate Chopin writes, “he saw nothing unless he were wizard enough to detect a poignant wish, a powerful longing that the cable car would never stop anywhere, but go on and on with her forever. The main female character seems to share the same sense of escapism that is present in “Daystar”. There is this general feeling of wanting to move away from traditional female roles and spend more time, energy, and resources focusing on one’s self. Picturing in my mind a woman disappointed while riding home on the trolley, I think of the burden that mothers and wives must feel knowing that they are a key person in both their husband’s and children’s lives. It made me think of women who feel guilty if they spend time away from their family, especially if the reason they are away is for their own enjoyment. I can remember my own mother getting so upset if her job took her away from home for a couple of days. No one was mad or resented her for leaving, but it seemed to rip a hole in her chest to walk away. In this story, I feel as though we got the other side of this emotion. A woman who is too tied up in her family’s needs finally allows herself some pleasure and now she no longer wants to return to the usual way of life. It makes me question whether it is entirely healthy to be so unalterably focused on others as opposed to yourself.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Kristin, I really like the image your created from Daystar. I think that after reading your thoughts, it can be stretched and compared to Why I Want A Wife. It softly touches on the roles and in this case burdens of a mother.
ReplyDeleteI felt that I was asking the same question after reading A Pair of Silk Stockings. This woman was so wrapped up in the lives of those around her that it seems she forgot about her own life. It is similar to Daystar because of the idea of putting others before yourself. In both texts, the female character ends up favoring the time spent on themselves as opposed to those they are typically striving to care for.
I completely agree with you about Syfers pointing out the "unbelievable laziness of men." Her text really showed how men can be sometimes quite selfish and take for granted how hard a woman works to keep the household running. She conveys this idea of laziness/selfishness when she deals with the subject of sex and how a man expects it when he wants but a woman can never demand it nor expect it. It is such a double standard. And I also agree that women should have a more active role in demanding equality in the home and men should hold a greater responsibility in splitting the work.
ReplyDelete