In John Irving’s novel, The World According to Garp, one social and political aspect that the author addresses is the never-ending battle over gender roles. From right at the start of the story, it is apparent that Irving is showing the main character, Jenny Fields’ attempt to prove society wrong, and show that she is an individual capable of anything, and not merely a subordinate woman.
The first concept of the story that was gender based was Jenny’s profession. She was a nurse. A job primarily for woman, and often overlooked by males. In the medical world, there is the constant assumption that all males are doctors, and all women are nurses. This is of course false. As Irving makes it clear, Jenny’s job is not simply to stand around and aid a male doctor. She is her own individual person, and has both a job and life full of hardships. When Jenny attends a movie and is confronted by a solider in the theater, who tries to touch her inappropriately, she defends herself with a medical scalpel that she carries around for that very reason; self-defense. When the police arrive at the scene to assist the bleeding man, everyone immediately suspects Jenny of wrongdoing. “ ‘A girl alone has to protect herself,’ Jenny said. ‘What could be more proper?’ But one of her brothers asked her if she could prove that she had not had previous relations with the man. ‘Confidentially,’ whispered the other one, ‘have you been dating this guy long?’”(Page 10). This goes to show just how contorted societies view on a subject like this is. Jenny was being attacked and protecting herself, and immediately, everyone including her own family suspect her of being promiscuous due to the fact that she was a woman, and woman were not supposed to be the aggressors. What would have been more socially acceptable it seems were if Jenny were to have let the soldier continue to assault her and not say a word. The fact that Irving uses a soldier as the attacker is significant because that represents a male-dominated job, which is supposed to represent the essence of what this country is about. In a way he did.
When Jenny finally checks what is in the packages that her mother is sending her, she realizes that she was far off, and they were actually douche bags. “Jenny knew that her mother, though she meant well, assumed that Jenny’s sexual activity was considerable and irresponsible.”(Page 12-13). This just strengthens the fact that Jenny’s role according to her family and others around her was to simply be a woman. “In this dirty-minded world, she thought, you are either somebody’s wife, or somebody’s whore—or fast on your way to becoming one or the other.”(Page 13). This goes to show how society at the time portrayed woman. It seems as if sex controlled everything. In one-way or another, everything branched back to the female being associated with sex. Prostitutes, housewives or even just everyday nurses such as Jenny; everything in their lives in one-way or another could be linked to sex. There was a constant social pressure on Jenny to find a man to settle down with and have a marriage. When Jenny suggested that she was fine all by herself, people started to thing that there was something wrong with her. Having a husband is a very life-altering task, and not one that should simply happen just for the sake of happening.
When Jenny becomes pregnant from the soldier in the hospital, Garp, it shows just how she feels about the gender roles present in society. By becoming impregnated from a dying soldier, she would receive a child, give him happiness, and more importantly to her, not have to worry about being attached to a man through marriage. She of course hides this fact from society when she becomes pregnant, because it is far from socially acceptable to do such a thing. Once the baby, fittingly named Garp, is born, Jenny is forced to take on the role of both a mother and father figure for the boy, since she is all that he has in this world. This is another way of Irving showing how Jenny feels about society and gender roles. She only wants what is best for her son. She does not care what she has to do, as it becomes clear that how the public perceives her does not matter to her. There are some times however, where a woman such as herself cannot do everything. Jenny being the kind-hearted person she is, had a difficult time disciplining Garp for climbing onto the roof at night, and risking his life. “Dean Bodger became one of the few people at the Steering School to endear himself to Jenny. He beckoned her aside and confided to her that, if she thought it useful, he would be glad to reprimand the boy—if Jenny thought that coming from Bodger, it would make a more lasting impression than any reprimand she could deliver.”(Page 51). This shows that males typically can be more disciplinarians than females, and Jenny’s child did at times need that in order to grow up properly.
Jenny Fields blocks out the reoccurring sexism and gender based biases in order to provide the best possible life for both her and her son. Society wants to make it so women become merely an object, or an accessory of a male. Jenny shows the world that this is not the case for her, and she lives the life she wants to live it, breaking all the social gender barriers in order to do what she thinks is right. She refuses to be controlled by others, and develops a life of freedom, both unique and more importantly, her own.
No comments:
Post a Comment