Treatment of Women

James Baldwin writes in Good Country People “You lucky we pump some white blood into you every once in a while-your women! Here’s what I got for all the black bitches in the world-!” The treatment of women and mothers has shown very little difference from Uncle Tom’s Cabin to the other stories we read pervious. Women are constantly being forced into sexual situations and are often beaten.  In a Street Car Called Desire by Tennessee Williams, ”’STELLA: You lay your hands on me and I’ll-[She backs out of sight. He advances and disappears. There is the sound of a blow. STELLA cries out. BLANCHE screams and runs into the kitchen. The men rush forward and there is grappling and cursing. Something is overturned with a crash.]” It is unbelievable the treatment that women received. How that a woman could be raped or beaten by their husband and although the other men knew to stop the man from beating Stella they do nothing to help make sure Stella will be safe in the future. Uncle Tom’s Cabin expresses the same problem. Women are subjects to their husbands. Outside of the home women have no power and control. In Flannery O’Connor’s story, Going to Meet the Man, “Without the leg she felt entirely dependent on him.” Literally the woman in the story was dependent on the man, because he had just stolen her prostatic leg. Although I think there is another meaning. Men want to take control of women and they did take control of them. The idea that women only had control of the domestic sphere looks like a broken record as I read these stories. The men in these stories want women to be inferior to them. Including Uncle Tom’s Cabin look at Mrs. Bird, Mrs. Shelby, and all the other women, they had no choice, but to listen to their husbands regardless of what they thought. I am glad to see certain anti-discrimination laws and other laws have been put into place to allow women to gain back these rights that men have stripped from them. Although we have come far there is change that is yet to come as the pay gap between men and women.

William, Tennessee. "Street Car Called Desire." American
     Literature. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. Eighth ed. New York: W.
     W. Norton & Company, Inc., n.d. 1116-77. Print. Vol. 2 of The Norton
     Anthology. 2 vols

Baldwin, James. "Good Country People." American
     Literature. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. Eighth ed. New York: W.
     W. Norton & Company, Inc., n.d. 1340-53. Print. Vol. 2 of The Norton
     Anthology. 2 vols

O'Connor, Flannery. "Going to Meet the Man." American
     Literature. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. Eighth ed. New York: W.
     W. Norton & Company, Inc., n.d. 1328-39. Print. Vol. 2 of The Norton
     Anthology. 2 vols

Confessional Mothers

Having a depressed feeling can often be hard to talk about, especially if one is unhappy right after having a baby. It has often been society’s belief that this should be one of the happiest times of your life because you have a new baby, a new life. If one suffers from postpartum depression after having birth if will feel anything but “happiness.” This may cause one to feel as though they are not a good mother and the baby and the family would be better off without you. Anne Sexton, a confessional poet suffered from postpartum depression and many other confessional poets suffered from a range of mental disorders and depression. Confessional Poetry reminded me of Uncle Tom’s Cabin when the women were being forced to separate from their children. Anne Sexton writes in her poem Little Girl, My String Bean, My Lovely Woman, “Oh darling! Born in that sweet birthday suit and having owned it and know it for so long.” Women cherish their children and the deep depression a lot of these poems went into allowed one to visualize that sadness that some of these women felt when they lost their child. Although Anne Sextons poem Sylvia’s Death was not written for losing a child, confessional poetry is known for entering into the idea of death and sadness that other poems do not. I feel as though confessional poetry can allow you to tap into that emotion that is needed for understand Uncle Tom’s Cabin for all of those women and children that had to be separated.

Sexton, Anne. "Little Girl, My String Benan, My Lovely Woman." American
     Literature. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. Eighth ed. New York: W.
     W. Norton & Company, Inc., n.d. 1377-79. Print. Vol. 2 of The Norton
     Anthology. 2 vols