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The complexity of the relations between the human beings within the society is a rather interesting matter for study. It involves such aspects as the relations between the age groups, racial and ethnic groups, and of course genders. Discrimination according to the sexual belonging is one of the most common types of discrimination in the modern society. In the past, the issue of sexual discrimination, or sexism, was even more crucial, which led to the emergence of the feminist movement. Acquiring more and more supporters around the world, feminist ideas were also considered in literature. The works by such brilliant Canadian authors as Dorothy Livesay and Ethel Wilson are bright examples of literature with the feminist underlying message. Viewed in the light of one of the recent news regarding feminism and women liberation, the works by these authors will help us interpret this piece of news and see all its hidden meanings.
To begin with, it is necessary to specify the new article selected for this research paper. It is the recent article retrieved from the British Columbia newspaper National Post Canada from March 13, 2009. The title of the article reflects clearly its major focus – “The washing machine is the message” is the article about the simple but effective means of women liberation through centuries of human history. The author of the article, Colby Cosh, in a somewhat ironic form, reports about the recent news from the Vatican. The author’s focus is the “op-ed considering the question of what was the greatest practical force for women’s liberation in the 20th century” found in this week’s issue of the Vatican newspaper “The Osservatore Romano” (Cosh, 2009). What attracts the author’s attention is the fact that the newspaper in question is a purely religious edition defending the Catholic views of life and values. Nevertheless, as Colby Cosh argues, the author of the Vatican news article ponders freely on such controversial topics as the right for abortion, women liberation, etc. However, being interested in the topic o0f the article, Cosh carries out his own research so that to comment specifically the points made by the Vatican female author. The latter, arguing about the means of women liberation, assumes that apart from pills, equality or rights, etc. the invention of the washing machine was the most substantial step to give women freedom (Cosh, 2009). Cosh presents a brief account of the development of the modern technology in the context of new freedoms it gave to human beings; he also draws a picture of washing as viewed in the times when no washing machines or cleaning devices existed – the account is really terrible, and after it the washing machine is viewed differently by readers, who absolutely agree that this invention freed women more than political and social movements.
However, the feminist perspective is obvious in the piece of new under analysis, as it can be found in two related aspects. First of all, the female author of the article considered by Cosh is evidently a supporter of the equality of rights for men and women, and her account on the women liberation movement in the 20th century is rather detailed. Secondly, Colby Cosh himself seems to be concerned with the idea of women liberation and feminism: “Feminism, above all, has been the quest to translate the technological gains of the consumer society into an ideal of living.” (Cosh, 2009) As for the first aspect, the appearance of the feminist ideas in the traditionally conservative Vatican mass media is the sign of the changing the public stereotypes. If even in Vatican a woman can openly express her feminist ideas and ponder on their development, the less conservative societies should be more aware of the sexual discrimination and women liberation issues. As for the second aspect of the feminist perspective of this piece of news, it seems to be the logical result of the first one, as a Canadian, i. e. the member of the less conservative society, understands the feminist concerns and tries to make public think of them. Painting a lively picture of the hardships of the household work before the epoch of technological progress, Cosh makes it clear for all his readers that the equality of rights and opportunities for men and women should be developed nowadays.
Further on, having outlined the issue raised in the selected news article, it is possible now to address the works of the above mentioned Canadian feminist writers for help in this news’ interpretation. The first author to address will be Dorothy Livesay (1909 – 1996) who is famous for her being one of the first Canadian women writers to openly touch upon the issues of feminist values and women liberation. Being the poet of a universal direction, i. e. dealing with all social problems of Canada, Dorothy Lively has the major part of her works focused on the women’s innerworld, women psychology and attempts to find freedom from any social limitations based on gender. For example, in her poem “The Three Emilys” Livesay “brings together the three sources of inspiration for her writing – the romantic novelist, Emily Bronte, the imagist-like American poet, Emily Dickenson, and the B. C. painter and writer, Emily Carr.” (Livesay, p. 31) As far as the Emilys mentioned are famous for their being the supporters of the feminist ideals, considering them as her inspirations, Livesay proves the idea of her also being a feminist. Her background as poet and a woman is also confirming this fact, as she grew up in the epoch when the feminist and suffragist movements were on the rise, even though Livesay’s own destination was, as she put it, to have children:
Women were striving to break free from the patriarchal order. But Livesay could not easily dismiss the male-female relationship – it preoccupies much of her writing. As she observes in “The Three Emilys”, historically most female artists were celibate and had no children to raise, but her own instinct was to have a husband and child, an instinct rooted deeply in her passionate heterosexuality (Livesay, p. 32).
Drawing from this, the poems by Livesay are of great help in interpreting and understanding the selected new article. Thus, the very first lines of “The Three Emilys” evidence that Livesay is concerned with the issues of women liberation:
These women crying in my head
Walk alone, uncomforted:
The Emilys, these three
Cry to be set free…(Lively, p. 146)
Considering the sources of her inspiration, Livesay depicts their major purposes in life – becoming free from the oppressive patriarchal social order. However, moving further in her work, Livesay shows that these three women-geniuses are not the ones with whose freedom she is concerned:
And others whom I will not name
Each different, each the same (Lively, p. 146).
Thus, the ideas raised by Livesay in her poem are directly related to the news item presented by Colby Cosh. Washing machine, used as the allegory of the technological progress that liberates women, is a literary device, and such allegories are numerous in the LIvesay’s works. For example, “Bartok and the Geranium” is the poem about gender relations as well. The Bartok is an allegory for a woman who “accepts, extends” any occurrence in her clammy life, “with no commentary” (Lively, p. 146). Geranium is a man’s embodiment that “explodes in space” and “must speed high and higher still” (Lively, p. 146). The washing machine is viewed by Cosh as the phenomenon that allowed women to pursue higher goals and explode, if necessary, in their commitment to work or whatever they can be busy with outside the household.
Further on, the creative work of another Canadian feminist writer, Ethel Wilson (1888 – 1980), is one more assistive means of understanding and interpreting the piece of news from the National Post Canada. Her own life seems to the opposite of the pictures Wislon draws in her novels, however these pictures are evidently directed at the help to the oppressed and discriminated women either experiencing the domestic violence or employment and education discrimination. Ethel Wilson grew up as an orphan brought up in the family of her distant relatives in Canada. Drawing from this, she understood early how hard a woman must try to defend herself against the patriarchal society with its stereotyping. Ethel Wilson worked as a teacher in British Columbia and was happily married to Dr. Wallace Wilson even though their marriage was childless. There were no reasons for Ethel Wilson to support feminism as she never experienced any instances of gender discrimination in her household. She seemed to like the role of a wife who “wrote to pass time while her husband attended meeting or called on the sick” (Wilson, p. 36). Despite these facts, the works by Ethel Wilson are full of support to women discriminated by the society; her works are also the examples of the skillful and involving reading:
While she had no formal education beyond a teacher’s college certificate, she was one of the best-read persons in the country, and her fiction combines bold literary experiment with astute philosophical reasoning and insight (Wilson, p. 36).
The novel to be considered in this paper, “Swamp Angel”, is one of the examples proving this point, as in it Ethel Wilson manages to show skillfully how an ordinary woman can save her life and “resurrect” through rejecting the marriage with a violent husband and committing herself to work.
Thus, “Swamp Angel” is a novel possessing several dimensions for consideration. Besides mythological and religious contexts, it can obviously be viewed in the feminist context as it portrays “an independent woman leaving a loveless, abusive marriage to re-invent herself through work” (Wilson, p. 44). IN more detail, this is the book telling the story of Mrs. Vardoe whose life in marriage was unhappy and dangerous. Deciding her future, Maggie, the book protagonist, sees the only way out for her that would allow her to keep living and, what is the most important, develop as a personality. Already in this aspect, the parallels with the poems by Livesay can be seen as in “The Unquiet Bed” Livesay argues that “the woman I am / is not what you see / I’m not just bones and crockery” (Livesay, p. 153). Similar to Livesay, Ethel Wilson shows that personal identity and self-development mean more for a woman than a calm life of a housewife. In “Swamp Angel”, the main heroine, Maggie Lloyds, leaves her family home and a seemingly stable life to face the challenges of the lonely life with no protection and guarantees of success. Changing dirty dishes for the yellow bowl of a fisherman, Maggie finds happiness not in the wealth but in the freedom of choice and development. Emancipation, as a process of self-actualization, is what makes Maggie’s life happy and complete. As related to the news article under analysis, the washing machine is viewed as a similar sign of emancipation as the yellow bowl used by Maggie. It is not namely the object, either one or another, that makes a woman free but the very fact that after long centuries of household work she can build her career and no one will send “her back home to wash dishes” as Dorothy Livesay would put it.
Thus, although not addressing directly the role of technological progress in feminism and women liberation, the works by Dorothy Livesay and Ethel Wilson are concerned with the same topic – freedom and equality for both men and women. Therefore, “The Three Emilys”, “The Unquiet Bed”, “Bartok and the Geranium”, “Ballad of Me” by Livesay, and “Swamp Angel” by Wilson help us interpret and understand the actual message of the piece of news presented by Cosh in the National Post Canada. Livesay and Wilson consider different types of women – the weak and the strong one respectively, but they conclude that all women should be free as personalities first of all. Lively pictures a woman as the one “tossed off by the world” and left for “treading air to catch up”, while Wilson talks about the woman “used to playing God” (Wilson, p. 65). Nevertheless, both authors demand freedom and respect for women: “move over love / make room for me” (Livesay, p. 153). Obviously, the washing machine considered by Cosh as the biggest advance in the 20th century women liberation is the allegory of the social development that made the requested room for women and their ambitions. Accordingly, the literary works help us understand the women’s psychology as described by women, after which it becomes easier to understand why the washing machine, and not feminist advances and gaining political rights of women, is considered to free women to the greatest extent.
To conclude, the works be Dorothy Livesay and Esthel Wilson are bright examples of the Canadian feminist literature which help us understand and and interpret the piece of news presented by Cosh in his article. The recognition of the washing machine as the greatest advance in 20th century women liberation is the allegory to the space that women received for their personal development and self-perfection. Freedom from the burden of the household work allowed women pursue their own goals and develop their personalities, which, as Lively and Wilson argue, is the most important for women, who do not neglect having families and children but simply demand more personal freedom and respect.
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