Fanny Fern’s “Hints to Young Wives” is a fine piece of
satire. I note that it was it was published on February 14: Valentine’s Day,
1852. Fern declares that she would like to gather up “Hints to Young Wives” and
the author who wrote it and hurl them into a bon fire. Fern, a married woman,
knows how men are, but naïve young women have to learn the hard way. She
describes a woman who takes to heart the content of such advice columns and
makes a fool of herself. She describes the woman’s over reaction to her
husband’s imminent arrival: “The minute she sees her husband coming up the
street, she makes for the door, as if she hadn’t another minute to live…” (2101).
The woman’s teeth “chatter in her head” as she undresses him, which suggests
her husband’s indolence. She carves the meat because it might tire him to do so
and in the process “dislocates her wrist” (2101). Isn’t carving the meat the
husband’s responsibility?
Mr. Fern comes home one day when Fanny has a screaming
headache and thoughtlessly throws a tattered coat on her lap to be virtually
remade while he relaxes. Fanny, doing her womanly duty, turns the pocket inside
out while checking to see if it needs repair. Prior to that she drops her
infant, a female, on its head and thinks it just as well “to put her out of
future misery” (2102). She finds a love letter in the pocket written by Mr.
Fern to her dressmaker! She concludes that nothing like that will ever again
happen to her, and it didn’t. Note the irony that it is Mrs. Fern who is
repairing Mr. Fern’s coat rather than the dressmaker he is having an affair
with.
Fern’s homespun satire has a biting cynicism to it that
expresses a deep understanding of gender relations, particularly during the
1850s. Notice, too, that the husbands in the story are always taking but never
giving. The story is hilarious, but it has a serious point to make, which Fern
deftly drives home: Don’t make a fool out of yourself to please a man! Most of
them are not to be trusted anyway. And don’t take those silly advice columns
seriously.
Charles, I like what you point out about "Hints to Young Wives." I hadn't seen the irony in Mrs. Fern fixing Mr. Fern's coat instead of the dressmaker, until you pointed it out! I would also agree, that while this column is humorous on the surface, it brings to light a serious subject. A subject, which I believe is still very prominent in the lives of young women today.
ReplyDeleteMorgan, Good observation about the relevance of Fern's satire to today's women. In some ways, Fern reminds me of comedian George Carlin, who was always funny. And yet, as you point out in this story, there were serious matters and powerful truths lurking beneath the humor. You have helped to clarify that for me.
ReplyDeleteCharles, I think this is a wonderful analysis of Fern's "Hints to Young Wives." I had not noticed that the date had been on Valentine's Day, a day when men and women alike chase after love. As you point out, Fern does a wonderful job throwing in her husband's affair with the dress maker, and it compliments her previous point of behaving like a housemaid. She emphasizes a lack of attachment or affection.
ReplyDeleteI love how she is criticizing advice columns to young women, and to do so she writes her own advice column. This further emphasizes how seriously these women took these columns, as Fanny Fern decides it is the best way to reach them.