In her book Sarah Orne Jewett: Reconstructing Gender, Margaret
Roman argues that one theme colors almost every short story and
novel by the turn-of-the-century American author: each person,
regardless of sex, must break free of the restrictive,
polar-opposite norms of behavior traditionally assigned to men and
women by a patriarchal society. That society, as seen from Jewett's
perspective during the late Victorian era, was one in which a
competitive, active man dominates a passive, emotional woman.
Frequently referring to Jewett's own New England upbringing at the
hands of an unusually progressive father, Roman demonstrates how
the writer, through her personal quest for freedom and through the
various characters she created, strove to eliminate the necessity
for rigid and narrowly defined male-female roles and relationships.
With the details of Jewett's free-spirited life, Roman's book
represents a solid work of literary scholarship, which traces a
gender-dissolving theme throughout Jewett's writing. Whereas
previous critics have focused primarily on her best-known works,
including "A White Heron," Deephaven, A Country Doctor, and The
Country of the Pointed Firs, Roman encompasses within her own
discussion virtually all of the stories found in the nineteen
volumes Jewett published during her lifetime. And although much
recent criticism has centered around Jewett's strong female
characters, Roman is the first to explore in depth Jewett's male
characters and married couples. The book progresses through
distinct phases that roughly correspond to Jewett's psychological
development as a writer. In general, the characters in her early
works exhibit one of two modes of behavior. Youngsters, free as
Jewett was to explore the natural world of woods and field, glimpse
the possibility of escape from the confining standards that society
has set, though some experience turbulent and confusing
adolescences where those norms have become more pressing, more
demanding. At the opposite extreme are those who have mindlessly
accepted the roles in which they have been trapped since
youth-greedy, selfish men, dutiful women who tend emotionally empty
houses, young couples unable to communicate either between
themselves or with others-in short, characters who are too
alienated within their roles to function as whole human beings. On
the other hand, Jewett approaches the men and women of her later
works with a higher degree of optimism, in that each person is free
to live according to the dictates of his or her inherent
personality-each character is able to measure life from within
rather than from without. This group includes the self-confident
men who are not reluctant to present a nurturing side, and the
warm, giving women who are unafraid of displaying a decided inner
strength. As Roman summarizes, "In her writings, Jewett attempts to
shift society's focus from a grasping power over people to the
personal development of each member of society." Ahead of her time
in many ways, Sarah Orne Jewett confronted the Victorian polarized
gender system, presaging the modern view that men and women should
be encouraged to develop along whatever paths are most comfortable
and most natural for them.
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