To expand on
what we were talking about in class today, I want to continue the discussion on
Grace King's "The Balcony." One of my discussion questions that I submitted
to Dr. Hanrahan was, “In “The
Balcony” there are a lot of feministic terms used to describe a woman who is
both married and a mother, but there is no mention of a woman’s life before
those objectives have been reached. Is it being suggested that a woman has no
purpose until she obtains the goals of wife and motherhood?” Before class, I
had the preconceived notion that in “The Balcony” King was talking from the
perspective of someone who was married with children. This assumption came from
the way in which the group of women on the balcony seemed pretty inclusive-
almost as if you needed a special VIP pass (the title of both wife and mother)
to gain access into the conversation. However, I cannot help but change my
views after learning that King never did find a husband or have any children
during her lifetime. I am beginning to wonder if King wrote “The Balcony” with
the mindset that she was missing out on what society deemed the proper
lifestyle for a woman. Did she feel regret that she would never gain access to
the balcony or, like someone else mentioned in class (sorry, I don’t know names
yet!), was she speaking from the perspective of one of the children who was
falling asleep while the mothers were talking? So much to think about and
discuss!
Nicky
Nicky, I was also wondering along these lines. When the comment was made in class about how King never married or had children, I had the thought that it seemed like her balcony world was idealized - like an exclusive club she wasn't able to join. Do you think reading it with a sense of regret/being ostracized changes any interpretations from class?
ReplyDeleteInteresting points Nicky and to expand on that, at first I wondered if it is because once you become a wife and mother you forget what life was like before that. It is so all consuming and changes you so much that you are really merely a ghost of your former self. I too felt very thrown when I found out she never held either position and wonder if she was the child since she mentioned this child may be "precocious" which a creative writer budding may very well have been. I like your view too Kristin because is puts a spin on it I was not considering. Perhaps she developed a sense of loss from being dubbed a spinster or maybe feeling less than due to not fulfilling the expected gender roles of her time? Hmmm...lots to ponder!
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