Lifted Burden
Our world is constantly changing; it's not the same as it was yesterday, not the same as it was last week, and nowhere near the same as it was 200 years ago, a time when men and women were crushed by imposed gender expectations. A woman had to be a submissive wife who does housework and be innocent and pure, while a man strong to keep his family safe and able to provide for them alone (Appell, n.d).Â
But “Two Words”, a story published in 1989 by Latin American author Isabel Allende, shows how gender expectations have changed since those times; in the past decades, people have been able to slowly accept the idea that we are not confined to these roles.
To show how "Two Words" conveys this idea, let’s talk about two of its characters: Belisa and the Colonel
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Belisa
Child Belisa. Emaze.(n.d.).taken from https://www.emaze.com/@aiiczqcw/Two-Words-(Feminist-Criticism)
Belisa, the female lead, steers far away from stereotypical female expectations, reflecting the significant progress feminism made in Latin America by the 1980s.Â
For a point of comparison, let’s talk Pride and Prejudice (P&P). In P&P, marriage is a woman's ultimate goal and the only way for her to have a secure future, meaning a woman could never be independent. A woman couldn’t even own property during the time P&P was set. (Austen,2003)
But times have changed, Belisa’s not confined to that goal. She’s more independent, and this is established as early as the first sentence when it’s explained that her family was too poor to name their children, which means “Belisa Crepusculario” wasn’t something given to her, but something she worked for. Starting from her name, she had to work hard for everything she had: her skills and her business. Belisa is also nowhere near submissive (see page 3, where she gets manhandled and “demanded to know the reason for such rough treatment”) nor is she portrayed as completely “pure” (see page 4, where she suddenly wants to “fondle” the Colonel).
So yeah, Belisa was pretty far from a “traditional woman”.
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The Colonel
The Colonel. Craiyon. (n.d.). taken from https://www.craiyon.com/image/uwTEnbLwRL6dGDmKa1PjCA
The Colonel embodies the flexibility that’s been integrated into gender roles.Â
One could argue that the Colonel was just another traditional man, though. He was someone people saw as strong, someone who led and was always at the head, and these were traits expected of a traditional man.
But that wasn’t all that the Colonel was.Â
For example: “....the whole world could see the voracious-puma eyes soften as the woman walked to him and took his hand in hers” (Allende, 1989, p. 7)
While it's subtle, this quote portrays a submissive, emotional side to the Colonel, contrasting the victorian/traditional “dominant, stoic, manly man” idea. (Man up – the Victorian Origins of Toxic Masculinity, 2017)
And that’s the thing. Anyone, male or female, should be able to choose what roles they want to fill regardless of who traditionally held those roles and expectations. They aren't trapped just because they chose a “traditional role”, and this idea is perfectly portrayed by the Colonel.Â
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"Two Words'' is a story with feminism far from its main focus, but that's what makes it great to analyze from this perspective. From stories like these that don't focus on feminism, we get to see what authors consciously and subconsciously expect of different genders. While one author doesn't reflect the thoughts of society as a whole, the works that an author leaves behind still serve as proof that the ideas they had existed, and sometimes, that's enough proof to believe that our world changed, hopefully for the better.
Allende, I. (1989). Two Words. https://lah.elearningontario.ca/CMS/public/exported_courses/ENG1D/exported/ENG1DU06/ENG1DU06/ENG1DU06A03/_teacher/two-words.pdf
Appell, F. (n.d.). Victorian Ideals: The influence of society’s ideals on Victorian relationships. Retrieved June 2, 2024, from https://www.mckendree.edu/academics/scholars/issue18/appell.htm
Austen, J. (2003). Pride and Prejudice (V. Jones, Ed.). Penguin Classics.
Man Up – The Victorian origins of toxic Masculinity. (2017, May 12). https://projects.history.qmul.ac.uk/thehistorian/2017/05/12/man-up-the-victorian-origins-of-toxic-masculinity/Â