A C T A U N I V E R S I T A T I S L O D Z I E N S I S
FO LIA LITTER A R IA A N G L IC A 3, 1999
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SLEEPING BEAUTIES:
FEMALE PROTAGONISTS IN THE SELECTED WORKS OF TURN-OF-TIIE-CENTURY AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS
T h o u g h heroines in A m erican literatu re created a t th e tu rn o f the cen tu ry co n stitu te a significantly bro ad spectrum o f fem ale types, there is a t least one featu re th a t brings m an y o f them to gether. T hese w om en frequently have a certain air o f aloofness or d etac h m en t a b o u t them . T hey give the im pression th a t they are only h a lf aw ake an d their inner selves are im m ersed in som e vague dream iness. C o nsequently, they seem only involuntarily involved in the external events w hich, w ith o u t th eir active p artic ip a tio n , inevitably send them to th eir doom .
T h e h eroin e o f “T h e A w ak en in g ,” while questing fo r a term th a t w ould accurately describe h er state o f m ind, to her ow n asto n ish m en t com es u p o n the w ord “delirium .” 1 T h e present essay will deal with different m anifestations an d consequences o f this delirium which seems a recu rren t feature in the fem ale characters o f A m erican literatu re o f th a t period. M oreo ver, it will be argued th a t this quality is crucial to the tragic developm ents o f th eir lives. T h o u g h it is the lot o f Lily B art, the h eroine o f E d ith W h a rto n ’s
The H ouse o f M irth, th a t will provide the stru ctu re o f the arg um ent, m ore
often th a n no t illustrative exam ples and parallels will be d raw n from o th er literary w orks as well.
O n the m o st a p p a re n t level this absent-m indedness m anifests itself in the w o m en ’s gaze. In The H ouse o f M irth Lily B a rt’s eyes often seemed “in a tte n tiv e ” 2 thus betraying som e inw ard p reo ccu p atio n . In M a ry W ilkins F re e m a n ’s sto ry “ Old W om an M a g o u n ” we are told th a t th e h e ro in e ’s
1 K ate Chopin, “The A w akening” , in: Sandra M . Gilbert, Susan Gubar, eds, The N orton
A nthology o f Literature b y Women (N ew York: Norton, 1995), p. 1046. All references in the
text will be to this edition.
2 Edith W harton, The House o f M irth (N ew York: Scribner’s, 1969), p. 10. All references
“ retro sp ectiv e” eyes “ seemed to see p ast all th a t she looked u p o n .” 3 H e r g ra n d m o th e r, while talking to Lily’s father, looked “ as if she saw th ro u g h all ex tern als” and “ spoke w ith her eyes aloft as if addressing so m eth ing ou tsid e o f them b o th ” (1112). Sim ilarly, K a te C h o p in ’s h ero ine E d n a P ontellier “ had a way o f tu rn in g h er eyes upon an object and ho ld in g them there as if lost in some inward m aze o f contem plation or th o u g h t” (995).
T h e n o to rio u s in attcn tiv en ess to w h a t is go ing on a ro u n d is well exem plified even by the very m ode o f n a rra tio n .4 F o r these w om en, w hose perceptive capacities are so seriously questio ned , m o re o ften th a n n o t becom e the centers o f consciousness and the description o f th eir fictive w orlds hinges on their senses. T herefo re in o rd e r to have som e idea o f the degree to w hich, say, Lily B art is consciously present in her su rro u n d in g s, it m ay be enough to assess the verisim ilitude o f The H ouse o f M irth as a realistic nov el.5 A nd there is no d o u b t th a t it is the sensory aspect o f reality th a t is starkly m issing in the novel. T here are no d escrip tio n s o f N ew Y o rk because Lily herself hardly know s w hat it looks like. As for o th e r externals, they are limited to a few rem arks in regard to the h e ro in e ’s a ttire and fo r the sam e reason - Lily’s ow n p erception rarely extends beyond w hat she is w earing. T o be sure, this charge is n o t raised ag ain st the bo o k itself. T h e deficiency is sim ply necessary fo r the consistency o f L ily’s character. A ny keenness o f o bservation on her p a rt would inevitably im ply certain m eaningful relationship betw een Lily and h er physical e n vironm ent. A nd such capacity, in tu rn , would soo ner o r la te r tra n sla te into som e kind o f p ersonal integrity - a prem ise she d em o n strab ly lacks.
In o rd e r to u n d ersta n d fully the im plications o f the prob lem on e should p erh ap s also look a t one episode in C h o p in ’s “T h e A w ak en in g ” w hich is all th e m o re illustrative o f the present thesis as it affirm s the positive consequences o f a reverse situ atio n . In C h ap ter X X IV E d n a ’s h u sb an d goes
3 M ary E. W ilkins Freeman, “Old W om an M agoun,” in: Gilbert, G ubar, op. cit., p. 1106. A ll references in the text will be to this edition.
4 This idea is related to what is discussed by Julia Bader in her essay “The D issolvin g V ision. Realism in Jewett, Freem an, and G ilm an,” in: Eric J. Sundquist, ed., American
RealLim. N ew E ssays (Baltimore: H opkins University Press, 1982). A nalyzing the fiction o f
Sarah Orne Jewett and M ary W ilkins Freeman, she writes: “Through the techniques o f realism, its sober accountability, its com m on-sensical dailiness, Jewett and Freem an explore the possibilities for their fem ale characters. They create worlds where w om en are neither rewarded for their obedience to traditional expectations and conventional roles nor offered rom antic love as a mirror for seeing themselves. On the contrary, the fem ale selves that emerge in these works are given strength and particularity by the realistic settings that reflect them. T hey acquire pow er and autonom y precisely by controlling som e aspect o f this setting.” (178)
s Here the m eaning o f the word realism is limited to the function o f m imetic representation alone.
to New Y o rk , thus leaving the house for the first tim e entirely u n d er her co m m an d . N ever before has she had a b etter chance to exercise h er pow er o r to have her sense o f responsibility tested. It is th en a rare m o m en t in E d n a ’s life in which the capacities and energies o f her a d u lth o o d are at last sum m oned and provided with an ad e q u ate outlet. Significantly, a t this p o in t her inner and o u ter selves becom e m eaningfully in teg rated. All o f a sudden she becom es very sensitive and responsive to w hat is going on aro u n d her:
She walked all through the house, from one room to another, as if inspecting it for the first time. She tried the various chairs and lounges, as if she had never sat and reclined upon them before. And she perambulated around the outside o f the house, investigating, looking to see if window s and shutters were secure and in order. (1061)
T h e text ab o u n d s w ith details signifying E d n a ’s em erging sensitivity to m ateria l reality. She begins to discover things th a t previously w ould have stood no chance o f catching her atten tio n : “T h e g arden w alks w ere d am p . . . it smelled so good and looked so p retty in the a fte rn o o n sunlight . . . the cook . . . served a delicious repast - a luscious ten d erlo in broiled a point. T h e wine tasted good; the m a rro n glace seemed to be ju s t w h at she w anted. It was so pleasant, to o , to dine in a co m fo rtab le peignoir" (1061). T his frag m en t o f E d n a ’s life, how ever, is n o tab le m ain ly for its singularity. E d n a w ould soon fa th o m the superficiality o f th e freedom granted by h er h u sb a n d ’s physical absence and h er su b sequ ent alienation becom es even m o re intense.
U sually the wom en are absorbed in self-sustaining dream s th a t need little, if any, stim ulus from the outside w orld. E ver since child ho od they have been engrossed in illusions which, despite their m a tu ra tio n , have n o t lost th eir pow er. N orm ally, as it is in the case o f m en, this in fan t fan tasy is grad ually ad ap ted fo r the grow ing dem ands o f the society th a t invites th eir active p artic ip a tio n in its affairs. E ventually, th eir inner vision begins to a p p ro x im a te o u ter reality. T h e heroines o f W h a rto n and som e o th er fem ale w riters, by co n tra st, often exist in a vacuum . T h ere seems to be no conn ectio n betw een their beings an d their surro un ding s; or, even if there is one, it certainly lacks immediacy and consequentialness. W om en’s em otional developm ent, unchecked an d h a p h a zard , brings them to a critical p o in t w hen their conception o f the w orld and their ow n p ositio n in it does n o t reflect the actual co nditions (physical, financial and political) in w hich they are enm eshed.
Such fem ale infantilism is exemplified by Lily B art, the p ro ta g o n ist oi
The H ouse o f M irth .6 She lives perm anently in a w orld ol fan tasy where 6 See Joan L id o ff essay “A nother Sleeping Beauty. Narcissism in The House o f M irth," in: Sundquist, op. cit.
she h as absolute pow er, inexhaustible w ealth, eternal y o u th and beauty. H er reality, “ the house o f m irth ,” is the territo ry o f E den, entirely free from w ork and m ortality . Since her childhood she has n o t ceased to believe th a t all her desires are naturally congruous with the laws o f her surroundings. She sees little difference betw een her wish and its a u to m atic satisfaction. F o r Lily the effects do n o t necessitate the causes. As she has never exerted any influence upon her environm ent, she considers herself absolutely sovereign.
Lily does n o t shrink from applying her childish fantasies to financial dealings. T h e language she em ploys with regard to m oney m ak es it evident th a t she unconsciously expects the tricks o f m agic to be effectual in the m ateria l w orld as well. A t som e point, for instance, she is distu rb ed th a t “ she c a n n o t conjure back the vanished three h un dred d o llars” [italics added] (27). W hen she asks T re n o r to help her get aw ay from a financial im passe, her th o u g h ts once again betray the to tal inadequacy o f her u n d ersta n d in g as to the h arsh m echanism s o f the financial w orld:
Through a general blur her hopes dilated like lamps in a fog. She understood only that her m odest investm ents were to be m ysteriously multiplied without risk to herself; and the assurance that this miracle would take place within a short lim e, that there would be n o tedious interval for suspense and reaction, relieved her. (85)
M a n y heroines o f tu rn -o f-th e-cen tu ry lite ratu re feature sim ilar dualities. C h arity R oyall, the p ro tag o n ist o f W h a rto n ’s Sum m er “ was [not untypically] blind and insensible to m any things . . . bu t to all th a t was light and air, perfum e and color, every d ro p o f blood in her re sp o n d ed .” 7 In o th e r w ords, she disregards reality as it is, b u t is attentiv e to w h at is pleasing. E d n a P ontellier, to o , “ even as a child . . . had lived her ow n sm all life all w ithin herself. A t a very early period she had appreh end ed instinctively th e d u al life - the o u tw ard existence w hich conform s, the inw ard existence which q u e stio n s” (1005).
G e rtru d e Stein contributes to the gallery o f Sleeping B eauties w ith her n ovelette “M e la n c th a ” (which is th e m ajo r story o f her early collection
Three Lives [1909]),8 the only p roblem being th a t unlike W h a rto n ’s or
C h o p in ’s a rt, the fiction o f Stein is highly experim ental and ab stra c t. T here is little th a t can be said a b o u t the heroine o f this w ork w ith assurance; the qualities featured by her, the ones th a t are m ost relev ant to this essay, are n o t so m u ch depicted by Stein as they are fully em bodied in th e form o f h er w ork. C onsequently, since the story o p erates on the a b s tra c t level
7 Edith W harton, “Sum m er” , in: Elizabeth M cM aham , Susan D ay, R obert F unk , eds.,
Nine Short Novels b y American Women (N ew York: St. M artin’s Press, 1933), p. 269. All
references in the text will be to this edition.
8 Gertrude Stein, “ M elanctha” , in: Three Lives (N ew York: Vintage B ooks, 1936). All references in the text will be to this edition.
o f m en tal processes, M elan c th a’s absent-m indedness an d her incap acity for reflection m ak e her alm ost disapp ear. W hile th e ch a rac te rs w ith w hom M elan cth a is con trasted gradually em erge as q u ite tan gible p ersons, she herself rem ains a m ere presence, a potentiality or a craving. C o m p ared with her lover, Jeff C am pbell, M elan ctha has no m em ory on which she could build her self-image. W ith her eyes fixed on “ a free and w hirling fu tu re ” (98), she is in a co n stan t process o f becom ing (it is n o t development th o u g h , for this w ould im ply a sort o f accum ulative progress). She never stops to acquire palpable attrib u tes; therefore, she never really exists:
M elanctha had not found it easy with herself to make her wants and w hat she had, agree. M elanctha was always losing what she had in wanting all the things she saw. . . . She was always full with mystery and subtle m ovem ents and denials and vague distrusts and com plicated disillusions . . . M elanctha wondered olten how it w as she did not kill herself when she was so blue. (89)
C uriously enough, th o u g h “ all her life [M elanctha] was very keen in her sense for real experience . . . she knew she was n o t getting w hat she w a n te d ” (97). T h e tru e n atu re o f her experience is accurately rendered in a passage describing her fascination with ra ilro a d yard s - a place of incessant action, w here h u m an sense o f causing, co n tro llin g and possessing is co n stan tly confirm ed. M elan cth a likes to w atch the yards fo r h o u rs, but her involvem ent clearly does n o t get beyond th a t o f an audience d u rin g a th eatrical spectacle. It is com p ared to the feeling oi “ a lazy m a n ” whom the scene fills w ith “ a sense o f a strong m ovin g po w er,” w ho “ need n o t w ork and yet he has it very deeply;” it parallels the involvem ent of “ a child w atching th ro u g h a hole in the fence.” F inally, it is im plied th a t M elan cth a belongs to one o f those w ho “ like to feel em o tio n w ith o u t the tro u b le o f having any suffering” (98).9
9 D on ald Sutherland in his book G ertrude Stein: A Biography o f her W ork (W estport, Con.: G reenw ood, 1976) offers the historical background o i Stein’s Three Lives. Her argument helps explain why the use o f female consciousness in fiction at the turn ol century became so widespread and, as it will be argued, it points to what lies at the heart o f this essay. “M elanctha,” he contends, as well as the other tw o stories o f the collection, can be seem as deriving from the tradition o f realism at its best, that is, realism o f Flaubert and James, in his historical analysis Sutherland goes back very far. While classicism , as he poin ts out, is founded on the equivalence o f the inner life to the outer events, rom anticism breaks this unity and explores what heretofore has been disregarded - the irrational and often alienated self. G ustave Flaubert and Henry James, then, are the ones w ho try to return to the classical objectivity, yet they arc unwilling to sacrifice the achievements o f the rom antics. In M adam e
Bovary, The P ortrait o f a L a d y, or, for that matter, Cervantes’ Don Q uixote, the outer reality
and the inner life coexist, they are “ synchronized or made contrapuntal (Sutherland 24). 1 he events are misrepresented for they are reflected by consciousness which is often subjected to self-dram atization and aestheticism . The resulting grotesque was held by these authors to be the m ost im portant quality o f the full reality. N o t to put too fine a point on it, it seems
T h e breach in the fem ale psyche, how ever, is any th in g b u t fixed. R ath er th a n being an u nfluctuating , solid duality, it repeatedly undergoes painful crises w hich, w orse still, d o no t bring a b o u t any fun d am en tal change. Lily B art, for instance, every now an d then poignantly experiences w hat is for m o st o f the tim e hidden from her - only to equip her illusions with b etter safeguards. D istressful as these m o m en ts are, they never lead, on her p art, to m ore radical re-evaluations o f herself or her surroundings. Lily’s incorrigibly false self-im age, instead o f collapsing, com plicates itself an d is obstinately sustained as long as possible.
T h e first o f her insights into tru er p ro p o rtio n s an d m o re accu rate relationships occurred w hen she was nineteen. Lily was th en “ d is tu rb e d ” by the re ap p earan ce o f flowers on the luncheon-table, even th o u g h th eir freshness, as she keenly observed, began to dw indle. T h e gro u n d o f her in d ig n atio n was tw ofold. N o t only did she stub b o rn ly persist in childish igno ran ce as to the dire financial situ atio n o f her fam ily, bu t also she refused to acknow ledge the n a tu ra l process o f the flow ers’ w ithering which sym bolically stands for her ow n m o rtality (notice th e parallel betw een her nam e an d the n am e o f the flow ers in q uestio n -
/i//as-of-the-'
valley). D u rin g this evening she learned th a t her fam ily was ruined; shortly afterw ard s her fa th e r, tired and distressed, dies a m a rty r’s d ea th , d u e to his wife’s as well as his d a u g h te r’s excessive spending. T his episode, w hich w ould seem to m an y ra th e r illum inating, did n o t becom e a tu rn in g -p o in t in L ily’s life. In stead o f m ak in g her redefine her concep tion o f the w orld, it sim ply sank in to oblivion. T h e d ea th o f her father, w ho d istu rb ed h er conscience, was m et w ith “r e lie f ’ (33). A nd even his m em ory, ap p a ren tly so th rea ten in g to h er m en tal equilibrium , was scrupulously erased from h er m ind. “ She seemed alw ays to have seen him th ro u g h a b lu r,” we are to ld , bu t “ now the fog has thickened till he was alm o st ind istingu ishab le” (33).A n o th e r disillusioning m o m en t com es w hen Lily is lured by G us T re n o r in to his tow nhouse. T his scene unequivocally exhibits w h at h ereto fo re has com pletely escaped L ily’s notice, th a t is, the necessary co nn ectio n betw een m oney and sex. D espite its potency, this m o m ent, n o t unlike th e previous one, fails to integ rate the conflicting forces w ithin her m in d. O n the co n tra ry , it sim ply brings them to light - only to m ak e this d u ality m o re p ainfu l. “ She seemed a stran g er to herself, o r ra th e r there were tw o selves in her, the one she had alw ays k now n, an d a new a b h o rre n t being to w hich it found itself c h a in e d ” (148).
that at this historical m om ent, with such understanding o f what constitutes the full reality, the use o f wom en as protagonists appeared to Flaubert, James and their follow ers possibly m ore fruitful than the use o f men. It is females, alienated and estranged, that helped them bring out the incoherence between inner and outer reality - a quality which, incidentally, is to certain degree universal — which such a remarkable force. In short, w om en ’s consciousness, when set beside that o f men, seemed an artistic tool o f greater possibilities.
P aradoxically, those revealing m om ents only hasten the com ing o f the cata stro p h e. O nce the heroine catches a glimpse o f w hat she has h ereto fo re been blind to, she clings to her private vision even m ore eagerly. A nd when th is can n o lo n g er be su stain ed , w hen it begins to c rash u n d e r th e accum ulated b u rden o f irony and failure, her in ternal life d isin tegrates com pletely.
Lily B art, fo r exam ple, a t the end o f her life a t last achieves an ab so lu te lucidity o f vision w hich is sym bolically represented in a chro nic insom nia. “ Sleep” , the n a rra to r tells us, “ was w h a t she w an ted ;” ironically, in a sense she has alw ays been in a deep sleep. O ne c a n n o t help feeling th a t if only this u tter w akefulness had com e earlier, it w ould p ro b a b ly have saved her life; now she sim ply resorts to narcotics th a t g ra n t h er “ b rief b a th s o f o b liv io n ” and in the end alm ost half-willingly dies o f an overdose.
O th er heroines end up sim ilarly. A s their m inds begin to crum ble, th eir visions dissolve. C h arity R oyal in W h a rto n ’s novel Sum m er, afte r h er visit to the M o u n ta in “ lost the exact sense o f th in g s . . . She h ad only a confused sensation o f slipping dow n a sm oo th irresistible cu rren t; and she a b a n d o n ed herself to the feeling as a refuge from th e to rm e n t o f th o u g h t” (375). T h o u g h she does n o t die physically, h er u tte r passivity is ta n ta m o u n t to psychological d eath . In The Aw akening M rs. P ontellier, as if o u t o f the blue, co m m its suicide. T h e fact th a t she do es this so unexpectedly is paradoxically even m o re telling. H er ap p a re n t level-headed beh av io u r right before the tragedy occurs w ould suggest th a t th e breach betw een her physical, social self and her em otio nal life h as been com pleted.
T h e epilogue o f F re e m a n ’s story “ Old W o m an M a g o u n ” follow s suit, too. Lily as well as her g ra n d m o th e r, both en trap p ed in th eir im ag in ary w orlds, g ravitate to w ard final alienation. T he old w om an , in o rd e r to p ro tect Lily from sexual initiation, encourages h er to eat p oison ou s berries. H e r g ra n d d a u g h te r sym bolically goes blind befo re dying. B ut a new vision is p u t in place o f th a t th reaten ed one as th e g ra n d m o th e r encourages her to see a w orld where “ it is always light and the com m on est things shin e” (1118), in w hich Lily will never cease to be a sexless child. T his w orld alm ost all to o unequivocally resem bles th a t o f Lily B art o r C h arity . T h e old w om an, o n the o th e r h an d , refuses to recognize L ily’s d ea th a n d goes m ad.
In all these texts the dichoto m y betw een the h ero in es’ feelings and th e o utside w orld results from the fact th a t society does n o t p ro ffer any satisfactory form ulas for their adulthood. T here are no legitim ate m echanism s th ro u g h w hich they could achieve m a tu rity in the sense o f tailo rin g th eir expectations to the conditions im posed by their surro u n d in g s. R a th e r th an stim ulating their em otional and intellectual grow th, th e en viron m ent im pedes it. T h e w o m en ’s developm ent, w hich in the case o f m en w ould have led
to ever m o re p ro fo u n d perso nal integrity, is sim ply diverted and induces estrangem ent. W hile their interactio n s w ith the o u te r w orld dw indle, th eir inner selves becom e bleak territo ries full o f d an g ero u s repressions and fru stratio n s. T h e stories, th o u g h originally n o t intended to be p red o m in an tly political, have now becom e essential to fem inists’ cause. A nd the tragic lives o f Sleeping B eauties still rem ain central to their plea fo r social change.
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Ś P IĄ C E KRÓLEW NY: BOHA TERK I W Y BR A N Y C H U T W O R Ó W PO W IE ŚC IO PISA R E K A M ERY KA ŃSK IC H
P odstaw ą tego artykułu jest obserwacja, iż w iele bohaterek am erykańskiej literatury kobiecej przełom u X IX i X X w. łączy jedna w spólna cecha. O tóż sprawiają one wrażenie zaabsorbow anych w yłącznie sobą, nieobecnych w św iecie, w który są przecież fizycznie i politycznie uwikłane i który w końcu doprow adza je d o tragedii. W oparciu o wybrane utw ory Edith W harton, K ate Chopin, Gertrudy Stein i M ary W ilkins Freem an analizuję objaw y tej alienacji, następnie pokazuję procesy jej pow staw ania i funkcjonow ania. Postacie kobiece w tych książkach przypom inają Śpiące K rólewny, na pozór tylko trochę zadum ane, tak naprawdę zaś stale, niebezpiecznie balansujące na granicy pom iędzy faktem a fantazją typow ą jeszcze dla wieku dziecięcego. Ich wyobrażenia o świecie nie przystają d o rzeczywistości, gdyż wcześniej nie miały żadnej szansy weryfikowania ich poprzez własną aktyw ność i d o świadczenie. Prawda dociera d o nich zbyt nagle, by m ogła um ożliw ić stop niow y proces adaptacji i zbyt późn o, by dało się w yciągnąć z niej jakieś konstruktywne wnioski. Jest za to lak szokująca, że nieuchronnie prowadzi d o stanów schizofrenicznych, a niejednokrotnie nawet d o sam obójstw. L osy tych kobiet, odciętych od naturalnych, dostępnych tylko m ężczyznom procesów dojrzewania, doskonale ilustrują więc m echanizmy, przeciw którym w ystąpił ruch feministyczny.
