There have already been a couple great posts written discussing Fanny Fern's "Hints to Young Wives." However, I wanted to look at one line in particular.
After Mrs. Fern finds the letter to her husband from the dressmaker, she reacts in an astonished way that does not seem all that surprising. She states that "I dropped the coat, I dropped the work-basket, I dropped the buttons, I dropped the baby (it was a female and I thought it just as well to put her out of future misery)" (2102). This is my favorite line, and as Charles pointed out in his post, it is a wonderful piece of satire, that is powerfully meaningful. However, her statement "it was a female and I thought it just as well to put her out of future misery" immediately referred me to Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. I realize that we have not read this novel in this class, but I assume that most of you have read it at some point. In the beginning the The Great Gatsby, Daisy is speaking of her daughter (whom she does not speak of highly or often). She states that she wept when she found that her child was a girl, and then she said "I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool" (17). Daisy is in a relationship that is certainly not to be considered happy with Tom. She is aware of Tom's cheating ways, but she acts blissfully oblivious, for the most part. We occasionally get glimpses into Daisy that show us that she is intelligent, and this means that she is aware of the corruption around her, and the mistreatment of women.
Fanny Fern and Daisy are both women who have seen the unfairness that the world had in store for women, and in Daisy has a similar reaction to Mrs. Fern. Mrs. Fern states that she "put her out of her misery," and in a similar way Daisy does the same. Daisy wishes for her daughter to be a "beautiful little fool." Beautiful, so that she will be able to marry and be taken care of, and a fool so that she will be unaware of the mistreatment she receives.
Fanny Fern was obviously far from a fool; she was worldly and well aware of the world and inequality that surrounded her. She found it better to simply not be a female in the first place.
Both Fitzgerald and Fanny Fern wonderfully display their thoughts on being a female. By having mother characters say and do such things to their daughters, in very anti-motherly ways, the shock factor is present, and the effect is strong and lasting.
Kristi, I am so glad that I am not the only one who thought of what Daisy said! That was the first thought that came to mind when I read it as well. However,I could not place exactly what line I was grasping at when I had the thought. I like the way you have put it. The fact that both women want to put their poor daughters "out of their misery" so that they do not have to experience the hurt of the world is, definitely, a shocking thing for readers to see. However, I also like the idea that they are a bit different from each other. Daisy wished her daughter to just be blissfully unaware of the mistreatment around her, whereas Fern does not wish for her daughter to experience it at all.
ReplyDeleteI want to challenge the idea of Daisy and Fern being "unmotherly" -- obviously the actions of these mothers are hyperbolized (surely Fern didn't actually drop her baby, this is humor) --but these hyperbolic actions serve to elevate the commentary behind them. Their comments about their daughters are actually quite protective and motherly. Both Daisy (via Fitzgerald) and Gatsby are commenting on the miserable state of female equality of their time, but in different ways. Like Kristi says, Daisy recognizes that ignorance and beauty are coping mechanism for her lower status, and Fern just doesn't want her daughter to be a part of that system at all. I think this idea is particularly revolutionary coming from Fitzgerald, as a man, recognizing that a woman can be miserable in her station as second-class citizen.
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