A Mecry Feminist Approach

Brent Loth
English
9/11/11

A Feminist Approach

In A Mercy, Toni Morrison demonstrates how the female characters from the oppressive time of America’s infancy; unfortunately conform to the stereotypical roles that were cast upon them. Through love, mixed with subjugation and degradation, these women fall victim to a necessary dependence on the male figure in the lives. Because they become consumed with piousness and obedience; when disaster strikes, they wander downward into self-destruction without the guidance of male counterparts. This dependence is demonstrated by Rebbecka in her daily life. This is illustrated during the spring, one of her many duties was bathing him. When she concludes his washing, she wraps a cloth around to dry him and he departs. In contrast to her pampering, he does not attend to her. This indicates the subjugation she allows upon herself which she considers duty and is consistent with the highly patriarchal society of the time. After the death of Jacob, Rebbekah cannot develop a new identity as an independent individual. Rebbekah writes, “And a few, like herself, after a mutually loving relationship, became like children when the man was gone” (98). Without that overseeing authority of Jacob, she cannot function the way that she was habituated. Such persistent willingness for submission by women subconsciously dehumanizes them in the minds of the men as well as themselves. This started even before Rebbekah’s marriage when she is shipped oversees by her family to be wed to an unknown husband. Along this journey, as “soon as they were separated from the males (the women were)…. led to a dark space below next to the animal stalls." Such treatment was seen as a norm in a social order dominated by males. The mindset of these women is captured in Lina’s words that “We never shape the world….the world shapes us.” We learn that Lina is not respected by her lover and is instead inflicted with violence and forced to walk through town in a humiliating fashion. Even Florence is represented as property when D’ortages suggests using her equivalency to pay off part of his debt; without showing any emotional attachment. This shows the harsh reality whereby women had very little control over their lives, such that free will was foreign to them. This theme carries through with Florence’s inability to control her unrequited love for the blacksmith. Florence years for support and the author uses shoes as a symbol of her fairy tale notions for a strong man to give her foundation, “When a child, I am never able to abide being barefoot and always beg for shoes.” She refers to the blacksmith in saying “I turn to see a stag…and what I choose, the stag, (or) the wall of flowers. I am a little scare of the looseness. …I don’t want to be free of you because I am live only with you. When I choose to say good morning, the stag bounds away.” Despite her dependence for his affection, she is not rescued. Instead of trying to establish her own sovereignty, she declines her identity and becomes lost like Rebbeka was without her husband. Though Florence appears independent toward the end of this book, she still longs for a man to decide her fate. Women, in this book, have no sense of self empowerment and it ultimately leads to their demise. This is revealed of Florence’s mother who says “to be given dominion over another is a hard thing; to wrest dominion over another is a wrong thing; to give dominion of yourself to another is a wicked thing.” This sums the ultimate flaw in the women in A Mercy. That they submit to the dominance of males because they are lost in the wilderness without male guidance, which is underscored by the wilderness setting of the book.