2. Journal of Literature
and Art Studies
Volume 4, Number 7, July 2014 (Serial Number 32)
David Publishing Company
www.davidpublishing.com
PublishingDavid
4. Journal of Literature
and Art Studies
Volume 4, Number 7, July 2014 (Serial Number 32)
Contents
Literature Studies
Social Identity in The Tattooed Girl 503
WANG Xiao-dan
Kincaid’s Cultural Values in The Bridges of Madison County 509
LIU Xi, WANG Xiao-yan
The Holy Bitch That Can Be a Witch in The Grass Harp 513
Yasemin Güniz Sertel
The Babysitter: A Feminist Interpretation 521
LIU Ke-dong, LI Shuang-shuang
Art Studies
Richard Jack—Canada’s Battle Painter 527
Lloyd James Bennett
Mysteries and Mysticism in the Arabian Desert 539
Majeed Khan
Drumming the Future: Vietnamese Drumming as a Bridge Between Tradition and
Popular Entertainment 557
Janys Hayes
The Uncanny Kingdom—Perspectives on Classical Music as a (Wholesomely) Disturbing
Experience 567
Emanuele Ferrari
Science of Music in the Education System of Uzbekistan 578
Saida Kasymhodjaeva
Special Research
Art Education Need of Adults and Contribution of Art Education to Their Personalities 582
Asuman Aypek Arslan
Sudden Decline of Flying-Boat Commercial Airlines in 1950s: Its Cause and Implications
for Revival 588
Yoshihide Horiuchi
5.
6. Journal of Literature and Art Studies, ISSN 2159-5836
July 2014, Vol. 4, No. 7, 503-508
Social Identity in The Tattooed Girl∗
WANG Xiao-dan
Harbin Normal University, Harbin, China
The relationship between social class and social identity is that, on one hand, social identity is linked to social class
and class distinction plays the most important role in determining social identity; and on the other hand, social
identity stresses the individual’s subjective feelings and it refers to the perception of the individual. What is
important is the effect of the psychological essence of social identity. In Oates’s The Tattooed Girl (2004), an
individual’s perception of social identity has an impact on his or her behavior that causes conflicts between the
characters. This paper will analyze the issue of social identity in The Tattooed Girl from the following aspects:
How the lower class with a subordinate social identity experiences the personal struggles; How the middle class
with a privileged social identity undergoes spiritual suffering due to the traumatic memory; And how the less
advantaged attempts to break the social identity boundary, and how such efforts lead to tragedy.
Keywords: The Tattooed Girl, social identity, social class, tragedy
Introduction
To explore American society in different historical context has been one of Oates’s major concerns in her
literary writing (Bender, 1987, p. 6). Her examination of American society and her excellent artistry have found
their expression in her early works in which the “stark, violent contemporary realism” is depicted (Johnson, 1998,
p. 305). Similarly, in The Tattooed Girl (2004), Oates yet again puts what she scrutinizes in society into her
fictional recreation along with her fascination with human psychological complexity. However, this novel hardly
stands as a monotonous repetition of her concern. In the text, Oates has dramatized social reality “in terms of the
distribution of power among institutions” (Daly, 1996, p. x). It is the distribution of power that provokes social
conflicts between a privileged social group and a marginalized social group. In other words, Oates’s body of
work lends itself well to the analysis that the social conflicts exposed in the text are in relation to class
stratification. Besides, by applying a third-person omniscient narrator, the text not only offers us a chance to
probe the psychological complexity of the characters, but exhibits the characters’ perception of membership in
certain social class. Their perception of group membership is where social identity originates.
Therefore, in what follows, the author will analyze in detail the issue of social identity in The Tattooed Girl,
and her interpretation of social identity is mainly based on the class distinction of the characters. The Tattooed
Girl depicts the story between the male character Seigl and the female character Alma. Seigl is a celebrated but
∗
Acknowledgments: This paper is part of the result of the research programs the author hosts, Identity and Space: The Case
Study of Spatial Narration in Contemporary American Literature. No. 11C028, Heilongjiang Philosophy and Social Sciences
Project.
WANG Xiao-dan, Ph.D., associate professor, School of Western Languages and Literatures, Harbin Normal University.
DAVID PUBLISHING
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7. SOCIAL IDENTITY IN THE TATTOOED GIRL504
reclusive writer, as well as a professor at a university. The narration starts from the day when Seigl decides to hire
an assistant. After having refused several competent applicants, he reluctantly hires a young assistant Alma with
a tattoo on her face. Ostensibly the purpose of hiring an assistant is to reduce his professional burden while the
hidden purpose is to erase his personal affair stress as Seigl suffers from physical and spiritual pains due to his
declining body and his traumatic memories of the family past. As the tattooed Alma is involved deeper and
deeper in his life, Seigl does not realize that he has brought into an enemy into his life, who eventually leads to
his death.
Consequently, the author will analyze the issue of social identity in The Tattooed Girl from the following
aspects: How the lower class with a subordinate social identity experiences the personal struggles; How the
middle class with a privileged social identity undergoes spiritual suffering due to the traumatic memory; And
how the less advantaged attempts to break the social identity boundary, and how such efforts lead to tragedy.
Personal Struggles and Social Identity
Alma in The Tattooed Girl is such an individual who “attempts to survive in a confusing and dangerous
world”. Oates has explained her characterization of Alma in the novel: “Alma—the girl of the title—is ‘an
American type’. She’s from a background that’s very poor, uneducated, very bigoted” (Farry, 2004, p. 12). Her
social identity as a member of the lower class allots her a marginalized status in the social ladder.
By using a metaphor of flotsam, Oates presents vividly how an individual of a subordinate social identity is
marginalized by the mainstream community dominated by the middle class. Alma is like “debris” on a river bank.
Weak as she is, Alma arouses the “predator’s senses” (Oates, 2004, p. 23). Having been refused by the
“voices” and “faces”, Alma roams the streets and arrives at The Café where the “predator” Dmitri Meatte
works as a waiter.
Oates deepens her references to the marginalization and subordination status of Alma in the social ladder
by detailing the story between Alma and Dmitri. Dmitri is regarded as a “servant” in a subordinate position in
the hierarchy of social identity by his middle-class customer Seigl. However, when Dmitri and Alma are
together, he occupies the dominant position over Alma. When Dmitri notices Alma for the first time, Alma
seems to be “ejected”. It is apparent that Alma is akin to a sex object in Dmitri’s eyes. If we examine Dmitri’s
observation in relation to gender, it is not difficult to find Dmitri the male “objectifies” Alma the female through
his “gaze” as he uses his own gaze to “frame” Alma as “a passive object” who is “devalued” and afflicted with
violence and sadism (Cavallaro, 2001, p. 137). Alma’s socialization as a sex object is the sign of male dominance
over women. To Dmitri, Alma is just a female “mollusk” that is “boneless” and weak, a female “that’s big soft
floppy breasts all over” (Oates, 2004, p. 57), a female that is powerless and is easily surrendered to violence.
Oates makes it clear that it is class stratification that separates Alma from other white women. As a
proletarian, Alma’s subordination is reinforced by the violence inflicted upon her by males of lower class. In
addition, no where does Oates write more strongly about Alma’s marginalized status in the social identity
hierarchy than in the economic and social contrast between Alma and Seigl.
Alma calls herself “an American” (Oates, 2004, p. 142), yet she is not the same “American” as Seigl is.
Seigl is from a well-to-do family. His rich parents died years ago, and they have left a multitude of property to
Seigl including many high-priced houses in some areas. Seigl’s house is located in the “most distinguished old
8. SOCIAL IDENTITY IN THE TATTOOED GIRL 505
residential neighborhood” of the city. It is so spacious that Seigl just uses a few of the furnished rooms “as a
squatter might have done” (Oates, 2004, p. 16). At the same time, both Seigl and his older sister Jet are trust-fund
beneficiaries of the family estate. Born by parents of a “mixed” marriage of Protestant and Jew, Seigl’s full name
is Joshua Moses Seigl, named for “his father’s father who has been a rich importer of leather goods in Munich,
Germany in the 1920s and 1930s” (Oates, 2004, p. 7). His sister Jet has self-named herself “Jet Steadman-Seigl”,
rejecting her baptized name in a Presbyterian church, because her old name lacks “the manic glamour” and must
“be cast off”. Her new name “Steadman” is their mother’s surname which has “signaled inherited money and
social position in the Rochester area since 1880s” (Oates, 2004, p. 7). For the characters in The Tattooed Girl,
their last names serve as a symbol of inheritance, social status, and social identity, or lack of it. In contrast to the
name of “Seigl” that functions as the sign of “inherited money and social position”, Alma does not have a last
name. As for Dmitri, another character of the lower class, his last name is Meatte but there is “no romance or
mystery to Meatte” (Oates, 2004, p. 24). Besides, Seigl has a teaching position at the University of Rochester and
he is celebrated in the academic circles. He is also a “self-sustaining” and “self-sufficient” writer of many popular
and academic books. Seigl enjoys fame, wealth, and prestige. To reinforce the contrast between Seigl and Alma,
Oates lists the books that Seigl’s reads in his bookcase, including Virgil’s Aeneid, Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, Erich
Neumann’s The Origins and History of Consciousness, Karl Jaspers’s Reason and Existence, Carl Jung’s The
Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, Herbert Marcuse’s Eros and Civilization. When Alma reads the
titles of the books that seem to be totally unknown to her, a strong sense of class consciousness strikes her as she
is brought sharply to the awareness of the value system that measures and divides people in the hierarchy of
social class.
History, Memory, and Social Identity
Being interviewed by Moment Magazine, Oates explains that one of the creative inspirations for the book
The Tattooed Girl is her interest in human beings. The novel, as well as its theatre production, focuses on the
dramatic interaction between people with whom she feels an emotional connection. Asked to comment on the
character Seigl in the novel, Oates thinks he is “behaving like a Greek tragic hero” and the novel has “a
background of Greek tragedy” (Farry, 2004, p. 12). In the author’s view, Oates has created the “Greek tragic
hero” as a middle-class man who brings about his destruction through his own actions. In the text, Seigl hires
Alma to be his assistant but he remains unaware that he has brought into his home a girl who hates him. Their
closeness forces Seigl and Alma to make discoveries that cut to the core of their identities. In a sense, the
dramatic interaction between Seigl and Alma is the conflict between people with different social identities.
One day Seigl falls suddenly in Mount Carmel Cemetery, and that is the beginning of his illness. The setting
of cemetery in a symbolic light implies his final death. Seigl is diagnosed of nerves multiple sclerosis, and he is
often dizzy and feels frequently weak in his limbs. Sometimes he has double vision in his eyes. Seigl’s declining
health is in sharp contrast to Alma’s body that is fleshy, white, and healthy. Oates brings to the focus on the
contrast of health between the two characters to imply that the sense of superiority established by the privileged
social identity is destroyed. Seigl feels inferior in front of Alma’s healthy body. He is “swallowing his pride”
(Oates, 2004, p. 146) when he needs Alma’s help to climb the slippery steps into his house.
To reinforce the connection between social identity and health, Oates depicts how Seigl feels amazed when
9. SOCIAL IDENTITY IN THE TATTOOED GIRL506
he is well overnight all of a sudden. Doctor Friedman tries some new medications and treatment that are less
powerful than the previous tests. There is no steroid in the new medications. These medications and treatment
deal with his central nervous system disorders and diseases. After taking the medications, Seigl regains his
strength and he can easily move his legs. The temporary recovery makes Seigl feel ecstatic, so he wants to “sob
with relief” and wants to “laugh aloud” (Oates, 2004, p. 164). As a result, Seigl begins to care about his
appearance. He shaves his whiskers, which makes him appear less exhausted and depressed in a naked and
exposed face. His heavy cheeks, jowls, and chin are “red-smarting and swollen” (Oates, 2004, p. 163), and he
looks refreshing. Seigl casts aside his fear and despair and regards his fear as “a ruse”, “a hoax”, and “a cheat”
(Oates, 2004, p. 166). He is a little shameful of overacting on his falling in the cemetery, and his fear and worries
are “injurious to his pride” (Oates, 2004, p. 166). This pride, in fact, is the sense of superiority as a member of
middle class with a dominant social identity.
When he is ill and weak, Seigl thinks by nature he is a “philosopher”, because “philosophers hate history”.
To be a philosopher is “to wish to believe that the human mind transcends the contingencies of time” (Oates,
2004, p. 49), and philosophy is “of the timeless spirit”, an art of space, rather than an art of time. In contrast,
history is not of the timeless spirit, but “solidly of the earth” (Oates, 2004, p. 49). When Seigl recovers from his
nerve disease, he thinks he is a “writer” again. History is not frightful any more and in his new novel, history is
made spatial but not linear. Seigl will write about human beings who are no loner “opaque but transparent as
jellyfish” in his new novel. Besides, Seigl plans to depict the souls that are “visible as quivering upright flames
inside the skins and intricate skeletal structures of their bodies” (Oates, 2004, p. 171).
Owing to his recovery, Seigl reclaims his social identity as a prestigious professor and a celebrated writer.
He is glad to participate in many book fairs invitation in many countries. He attends a symposium lecturing on a
“fashionably esoteric” topic “The (Re)Discovery of the Body: Ancient and Modern Visions” (Oates, 2004, p. 263).
He also brings himself to make a decision to visit Munich and Dachu someday. Seigl has never been to Munich
and Dachu “out of a dread of vertigo” caused by his fear of history, and only when he recovers from illness, can
he have the courage to recall his “origin” (Oates, 2004, p. 264). To recall his origin is to face the past and history.
Seigl realizes if Karl Seigl had not been sent away by his desperate parents in 1939 and had not be taken in by
relatives in New York City, “how could not Joshua Seigl coming into existence twenty-five years later” (Oates,
2004, p. 264). Seigl admits that the refutation of personal history is the denial of self. However, Seigl’s health is
worsening after the temporary recovery. A “Greek tragic hero” as he is, death seems to be inevitable. Oates
describes Seigl’s academic activities of book fairs and new plans of writing as his “posthumous” life.
Seigl’s role in The Tattooed Girl is remarkably complex. Oates portrays him as a man who is unable to
cover up his physical and emotional pains. As a member of the middle class, Seigl does not suffer materially
from struggling for survival, however, he undergoes spiritual suffering due to his traumatic memory of the
family past. Besides, his spiritual suffering is reinforced because his declining health destroys his sense of
superiority brought out by his privileged social identity.
“The Shadows” of Death and Social Identity Conflict
As the author of The Shadows, Seigl scarcely speaks of the theme of his novel. While the applicant Essler
explains that he thinks the novel remains to him the most haunting because it is elliptical and poetic. Essler
10. SOCIAL IDENTITY IN THE TATTOOED GIRL 507
believes in the novel the writer has created “the shadows of things” but not the things themselves. Readers are
forced to imagine what the writer does not reveal and they become collaborators “in shadows” (Oates, 2004, p. 10).
Seigl is surprised at Essler’s explanation because it is so close to what he has intended in the novel. In a sense,
Seigl has written so poetically about others’ death in his work The Shadows, the title of which serves as a
prophecy of his own tragedy of death in the end of The Tattooed Girl.
In The Tattooed Girl, Oates employs the love-hate relationship between the middle-class employer and the
economically and socially disadvantaged assistant so as to suggest that tragedy is caused by the conflicts
between different social classes. Moreover, Oates creatively presents how the subordinate social class makes a
utopian effort to break social identity boundary, which brings out the deaths of both characters.
Doctors diagnose Seigl as having a genetic fault and his nerve disease is hereditary. But this is not enough to
account for Seigl’s death. Seigl dies of class hatred simmered behind Alma’s silence. Oates depicts Alma as an
assistant who hates secretly her employer, though her employer is not exploitative and treats her courteously and
generously. Alma hates Seigl because he is rich and has money but does not spend it. In the drawer Alma finds
many checks worth thousands of dollars but Seigl never endorses and cashes them because he has never known
about them. Alma hates Seigl because he does not know what he owned. “Like a blind man his eyes were turned
inward; like a deaf man he heard only the sound of his own voice inside his head” (Oates, 2004, p. 152). Seigl’s
indifference to what he owns irritates Alma because she grows up in poverty.
Alma does not think Seigl has done “any actual work”. He seems not to have any teaching work as Alma
supposes a university professor should do. Since Alma lives in Seigl’s house, she has the chance to observe the
life style of the middle class. She finds Seigl’s groceries are delivered and trees are trimmed after a windstorm.
Snow is shoveled for him and the “chipped and cracked” plates are not cherished though they are expensive china.
Seigl does not use his washing machine and drier and he sends out his laundry every week to Mount Carmel
Laundry & Dry Cleaners, including his undershirts, shorts, pajamas, towels, and sheets, and all are sent back
ironed. The laundry charges Seigl about as much as Alma makes in a week. Alma is shocked at the luxurious
middle-class life style and she attributes it to a Jewish tradition of “spoiling the men” (Oates, 2004, p. 152).
Moreover, not only the middle-class life style that astonishes the member form lower class is depicted, but
the contrast in education is highlighted to account for Alma’s sense of inferiority about her social identity. Alma
has dropped out of her middle school and receives little education. Though Seigl has explained it, Alma can not
understand why the mails address “Dr. Joshua Seigl” because she thinks he is not “medical doctor” (Oates,
2004, p. 152). Alma does not have a reading habit and she regards Seigl’s “manuscripts” as “hot shit” (Oates,
2004, p. 149) and his study room is like “a graveyard” in damp weather (Oates, 2004, p. 154). At Seigl’s birthday
party, Alma finds that her employer has so many friends, some of whom are proposing a toast to Seigl with wine
glass “like people on TV”. The toast they propose is of a mystery for Alma because she does not know people can
speak words fluently in this way. She guesses that these people have “prepared” the toast and they are “reading”
their words. Their eloquence makes Alma feel “so stupid” because her very tongue is “fat and sluggish in her
mouth”. The language they speak is surely English, but it seems “foreign” to Alma (Oates, 2004, p. 212). When
Seigl concentrates on his translation of Virgil and enjoys reciting the poetry, Alma thinks he is showing his pride
as if he does not know “anybody else exists”, and she is disgusted “seeing a man like that unaware of another
human being in his house” (Oates, 2004, p. 156). Alma feels her rage building up inside her when Seigl
11. SOCIAL IDENTITY IN THE TATTOOED GIRL508
considerately tells her to take an evening off. Alma thinks Seigl is speaking in an ironic tone because in fact there
is not “a life of Alma Busch’s”, not a place “where people await her” (Oates, 2004, p. 183). The
misunderstanding is not a personal matter, but an issue of difference social classes.
In fact, Oates has implied the difficulty in subverting the rigid hierarchy of social identities. Seigl has a
strong awareness of social distinction though he treats people of low class gently and generously. When Seigl has
dinner with Sondra in the Café, he wonders how Dmitri can “humble himself in the role of waiter” and “servant”
and how he can work “with a smile” in the “demeaning role” (Oates, 2004, p. 52). In addition, when Seigl feels
he is sexually charged, Seigl has no interest in his assistant Alma. What Oates wants to express here is that
Alma’s love is unrequited. Alma is greatly disillusioned with the rigidity of social identity especially when she
peers through the door way into the dining room that is occupied by people of middle class. Seigl sits at the head
of the table and Professor Sondra Blumenthal is seated to his right. The dining room can be likened to a class
society with clear-cut boundaries of social identity. Oates’s decision to place the two characters in a position of
authority over the lower class is significant: Alma’s dream of love and marriage is crushed by her social position.
The lower group’s aspiration for the dissolution of social boundaries and fluidity of identities is nothing but
utopian idealism. When Alma’s dream is crushed, her accumulated hatred turns into destructive power reaching
the breaking point. In the end of the story, the deaths of the two characters tend to show the incompatible
conflicts among social classes.
Conclusion
Centering on the issue of social identity, The Tattooed Girl reveals its thematic concern with social class
conflict. In the text, Oates has describes how the lower class with a subordinate social identity experiences the
personal struggles, how the middle class with a privileged social identity undergoes spiritual suffering due to the
traumatic memory of history, and how the subordinate social class makes a utopian effort to break social identity
boundary, which brings out the deaths of the characters.
References
Bender, T. (1987). Joyce Carol Oates: Artist in residence. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Daly, B. (1996). Lavish self-divisions: The novels of Joyce Carol Oates. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Fiedler, L. (1966). Love and death in the American novel (rev. ed.). New York: Stein and Day.
Cavallaro, D. (2001). Critical and cultural theory: Thematic variations. London: The Athlone Press.
Creighton, J. (1979). Joyce Carol Oates. New York: Twayne.
Friedman, E. (1980). Joyce Carol Oates. New York: Ungar.
Farry, E. (2004). P. S. Section. “Behind the scenes of The Tattooed Girl”. The Tattooed Girl (pp. 10-13). London: Harper Perennial.
Johnson, G. (1998). Invisible writer: A biography of Joyce Carol Oates. New York: The Penguin Group.
Oates, J. C. (2004). The tattooed girl. London: Harper Perennial.
Turner, J. (1999). Some current issues in research on social identity and self-categorization theories. In N. Ellemers (Ed.), Social
identity (pp. 6-34). Oxford: Blackwell.
12. Journal of Literature and Art Studies, ISSN 2159-5836
July 2014, Vol. 4, No. 7, 509-512
Kincaid’s Cultural Values in The Bridges of Madison County∗
LIU Xi, WANG Xiao-yan
Changchun University, Changchun, China
Robert James Waller (1939-2014) does not catch readers’ attention until his popular novel The Bridges of Madison
County (1996) wins him great admirations since its publication in 1992 which brings him instant success. The story
explores the dilemma between responsibility of family and fulfillment of desires. Set in America in the 1960s, the
novel is woven by the romantic story of the two middle-aged man and woman after they countered and gathered
together for four days. Though simple in plot, it really deserves detailed interpretation and appreciation. This paper
will mainly discuss Kincaid’s cultural values reflected not only in the romance between his lover and him, but also
in his attitudes towards women’s rights.
Keywords: cultural values, self-establishment, woman’s rights, the other
Introduction
The Bridges of Madison County (1996) brings Robert James Waller a great achievement in literary creation.
Time contributors have provided insights into his writing skills and comment that Waller knows the secret of
romance novels and he writes the way people feel and think when they are first in love. In Washington Post, the
reviewer praises Waller’s writing highly by “Waller is an amazing storyteller”.
The Bridges of Madison County is the story of Robert Kincaid, the photographer and free mind seeking for
the covered bridges of Madison County, and Francesca Johnson, the farm wife waiting for fulfillment of a
girlhood dream. The story shows readers what it is to love and be loved so intensely that life is never the same
again and four-day love is as long as a life span. They encountered on a summer day in US in the 1960s. Then,
they were together for four days in which it seemed all worldly responsibilities and duties faded away, and
what they could sense was their sincere love. For many times, Robert asked Francesca to follow him to
anywhere they wanted, however, driven by a sense of family responsibilities, Francesca turned down his
proposal and chose to stay where she was. Four days later they separated, since then Francesca did not hear
from him until he died. The plot of the story may be viewed as a cliché, nevertheless, some depictions to
Kincaid draw out the deep thoughts of him. With detailed examples in the story, Kincaid shows his views
towards cultural values, such as the way of his self-establishment, the way to seek for his identity, and his
attitudes toward females.
∗
Acknowledgements: This paper is a part of the results of the research program the authors have participated “The study of
counter-elite essentiality in American Post-modernism novels” [2013] No.265.
LIU Xi, master, lecturer, School of Foreign Languages, Changchun University.
WANG Xiao-yan, master, associate professor, School of Foreign Languages, Changchun University.
DAVID PUBLISHING
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13. KINCAID’S CULTURAL VALUES IN THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY510
Acceptance of His Identity as a Cowboy
An individual’s notion of cultural values can be reflected by what he behaves and says, as behaviors and
words are voice of the mind. In The Bridges of Madison County, Robert Kincaid expresses his standpoints to
various social phenomenon, in the meanwhile, he establishes his inner self as well. There is no denying that what
he did made him stand firm on the ground taken by a counter-elite and a cowboy, and a potential supporter of
feminist movements.
Robert Kincaid claimed that he was one of the last cowboys repeatedly because in this way he segregated
himself from elites and most of the masses. As he pointed out that not all the people were the same. That is,
though elites and the masses belong to different camps, not all the masses take the same side as counter-elites.
Some populace still lives an agreeable life in a community characterized by mechanical elites. In this sense,
Robert Kincaid was a warrior who insulated the tradition from being ruined.
I’m one of the last cowboys.… The course of modern times is the preponderance of male hormones in places where
they can do long-term damage. Even if we’re no talking about wars between nations or assaults on nature, there’s still that
aggressiveness that keeps us apart from each other and the problems we need to be working on. We have to somehow
sublimate those male hormones, or at least get them under control. (Waller, 1996, p. 121)
Robert Kincaid interpreted the reason why he gives himself the appellation “a cowboy”. The contradiction
between traditional value and modern civilization could not be mediated as Kincaid said that dominating tribes
never resembled possessing missiles. Undoubtedly, tribes and warriors represent tradition while missiles
symbolize civilization. Men are always driven by the desire of conquest to achieve the goals of domination.
However, it is the male hormones, according to Kincaid, which impels modern men, especially elites, to govern
the world and the masses in the world. Such a spiritual domination can do long-term damage to man’s ideology so
that the masses lose the competence of thinking. Kincaid realizes the terrible damage to modern civilized men
and he determines to be a cowboy who adheres to traditional cultural values, such as pioneer spirit and individual
liberty, which attach to a person’s character. The essence of being a counter-elite is his oath to be a cowboy.
Refusal of His Identity as a “Civilized Man”
Raymond Williams traced the association of civilization with the general spirit of the Enlightenment, with
its emphasis on secular and progressive human self-development as well as its associated sense of modernity.
Civilization comes to stand for a whole modern social process, including an increase in knowledge and physical
comfort, the decline of superstition, the rise of forward-moving nations, the growth of freedom, but also “loss of
independence, the creation of artificial wants, monotony, narrow mechanical understanding, inequality and
hopeless poverty” (Williams, 1997, p. 35).
In a community dominated by civilization, those who enhance the development of the society are elites
rather than the masses though the members of the populace can never be counted with an exact number. It seems
that there is no certain connection between the power and the number. As a matter of fact, the power has become
the weapon that is held in the hands of the minority—the elites. Undoubtedly, as a mainstream in a civilized
society, elites occupy the most significant positions almost in the field like politics, culture, science, industry and
so on. “There is no denying that elites boost the sustainability of civilization, however, they are also infected by
the deficiency of civilization” (Williams, 1997, p. 68). As Williams points out, though civilization has
14. KINCAID’S CULTURAL VALUES IN THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY 511
advantages, its disadvantages, such as, monotony, narrow mechanical understanding and inequality, are apparent
as well. As the mainstream of civilized society, elites are terribly influenced by the epidemic so that they get
involved in narrow-minded mechanical thinking and understanding. Not all the masses can identity such
deficiencies of elites. Even in their minds, being an elite and a member in a high circle is a persistent goal in their
lives. Nevertheless, Robert Kincaid is an exception. He takes the ground of a counter-elite firmly even if he is
viewed as an obsolete.
Francisca did not detect the inner identity of Kincaid the moment she first took a serious look at him. “She
could smell him, clean and soaped and warm. A good, fundamental smell of a civilized man who seemed, in some
part of himself, aboriginal” (Waller, 1996, p. 118).
“In the eyes of Francesca, he might present an image of a mixture of civilization and originality” (WANG,
2000, p. 39). In fact, it shows that though Kincaid emitted the smell of a civilized man apparently, actually he
kept his aboriginality from his youthhood till old age. He revolted against the organized world—the American
society and civilized man—elites for he thought that a society would lose its energy if rules and laws were
organized mechanically. In this aspect, civilization and civilized men have become the barriers for the
development of a clear-minded man with strong inner self like Kincaid. To some extent, his refusal to be a
“civilized man” shows his standpoint to be counter-elite explicitly.
His Attitudes Toward Female Reflected in the Story
In The Bridges of Madison County, Robert Kincaid expresses his comprehension to the issue of woman’
right from the angle of a counter-elite which insulates him from taking the same ground as those elites with
mechanical understanding.
Robert Kincaid got together with Francisca Johnson in mid-60s in America when women’s liberation was
prevailing. In order to dispose of the identity as new kind of women, the new feminists rejected the traditional
man-imposed roles. In the 1960s America, there were “significant changes for women in regards to basic rights,
domestic issues and their abilities to get equal job equal pay” (Barker, 2004, p. 38). Although women still only
earned less than men made, they were still the caretakers in the families. It is a long way for women to alter the
traditional attitudes of old American value.
In this story what Francisca experienced set us a typical example of an oppressed woman. Francisca was
longing for a bathroom for herself, and she asked permission from her husband, Richard, for long when the
children were growing up. Each time she demanded for something she was mercilessly rejected. That was one of
the few demands on which she had stood firms. She stuck to her dream for she liked long hot baths in the
evening, and she was not going to deal with teenagers tromping around in her private spaces. “Richard used the
other bath, said he felt uncomfortable with all the feminine things in hers. ‘Too fussy,’ were his words” (Waller,
1996, p. 132).
Richard was the representative of those who ignored the rights of women. In such a marriage, Francisca
could not find out the happiness that she was pursuing since her youthhood in Italy. Francisca’s obsession in life
was a reflection of women’s terrible situation in 1960s. In the meanwhile, almost all the elites who were inflected
by civilization held the same standpoint as Robert. In other words, women’s rights were awfully neglected and
their dignities were excessively overridden.
15. KINCAID’S CULTURAL VALUES IN THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY512
However, Kincaid was an exception in gender discrimination because his notion of cultural value was
determined by his essence—the side of counter-elite. He showed his respect to Francisca and praised her from
inner heart sincerely. When Francisca put on her new dress, he discovered her beauty and eulogized her with full
heart. He said that she was big-time elegant. His admiration made her revel in it and bathe in it. Maybe it was the
first time for Francisca to be noticed and praised by men. At that time, when men in Madison county could not
understand what their women really wanted or despised women’s needs to “have their own rooms”—a symbol of
awakening awareness of women, Kincaid could understand the real intentions of Francisca very well. He
respected her choice to stay with her family rather than imposing his own idea upon her. In town, what he thought
and behaved was totally unfit to the atmosphere of patriarchal domination. Sincere respect to Francisca, total
understanding to her and full support to her decision are combined to suggest that Robert had a high potential to
be a real supporter of feminist movements in US in the 1960s.
Conclusion
Though the author does not center on the cultural values of Kincaid while Waller is knitting the legendary
love story which swings the whole world, readers can still catch the clues reflecting Kincaid’s cultural values in
some episodes. The 1960’s America was not the same as what it was in 1860s because a century passed by,
however, nobody could deny the similarity between them: a desire for rights. The former was woman’s rights and
the later was man’s rights. In Madison County in 1960s, an opportunity was available to show Kincaid’s attitudes
towards woman’s rights, and to show that he was a supporter for feminist movement. For another, the author sets
the story upon such a background deliberately. After World War I and II, America underwent the explosive
growth of economy throughout most of 20th century. Rising incomes and the spread of affordable mass-produced
goods have allowed a life of growing material abundance. Nevertheless, the material abundance led to some
social and physiological problem. In other words, with this material abundance came an increasing tendency of
spiritual bewilderment among elites, who characterized by artificial wants, monotony, and narrow mechanical
understanding. It was the elites who made the industrialized American an “organized” society without energy. It
was Robert Kincaid who threw off the disguise of elites and probed to the meaning of life. The nature of the last
cowboy as the last warrior was to protect the traditional values from being dilapidated by the civilized men. The
resolution of Kincaid to tick to the old values such as individual freedom and pioneer spirit gave the inspiration to
the spiritual exploration of modern people.
References
Barker, C. (2004). The SAGE dictionary of cultural studies. New York: Sage Publications Ltd..
Bennett, T. (2005). New keywords: A revised vocabulary of culture and society. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd..
Collins, R. (2004). The American cowboy. Boston: The Lyons Press.
de Beauvoir, S. (1972). The second sex. New York: Penguin Press.
Frow, J. (1995). Cultural studies and cultural value. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Payne, M. (1996). A dictionary of cultural and critical theory. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd..
Waller, R. J. (1996). The Bridges of Madison county. Beijing: Foreign Language Express.
WANG, X. Y. (2000). A Reader’s Guide to The Bridges of Madison County. Beijing: World Knowledge Press.
Williams, R. (1997). Marxism and literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
YU, W. X. (2002). Cultural study: An introduction. Beijing: People Press.
16. Journal of Literature and Art Studies, ISSN 2159-5836
July 2014, Vol. 4, No. 7, 513-520
The Holy Bitch That Can Be a Witch in The Grass Harp
Yasemin Güniz Sertel
Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
This paper comprises an analysis of the modernist American writer Truman Capote’s novel The Grass Harp (1951)
from a feminist perspective. While the novel treats the ostracizing of four people by the oppressive mindset of a
patriarchal society, the female character Dolly Talbo who leads the banished group to live in a tree house becomes
the embodiment of a Goddess image introduced by the New Age Spiritualities and Neopaganism. Creating a new
culture for women as an alternative to the patriarchal system, in which concepts such as love, herbalism, and magic
are sanctioned as sacred, and offering this culture as an opportunity to all human beings, Dolly Talbo can be
perceived as a contemporary holy witch who becomes an occult and undermining threat to the patriarchal order.
Keywords: Witchcraft, Neopaganism, New Age Spirituality, feminism, patriarchal system
Introduction
New Age Spiritualities and Neopaganism appear as alternative belief systems to the patriarchal
orthodoxies which have rejected female authenticity and thus become oppressive systems for women. With its
emphasis on the consecration of female spirituality, and its celebration of an independent and liberated Goddess
image, Witchcraft can be regarded as a form of New Age Spirituality. Though seeming to involve in a
separatism of its own by rejecting the patriarchal system and its inhibitions, it does offer women a new vision
of life and a new understanding of love. The main female character Dolly Talbo in the modernist American
writer Truman Capote’s novel The Grass Harp (1951) can be said to epitomize a holy witch of the Witchcraft
tradition. In her passive resistance to the patriarchal society as the leader of an ostracized group, her association
with the concepts of herbalism, chanting, love and love of life which are among the significant concepts of
Witchcraft, present her as the Goddess image of the contemporary witches of the Wicca/Witchcraft tradition.
New Age Spiritualities as Alternative Belief Systems to the Patriarchal Orthodoxies
Truman Capote’s novel The Grass Harp can be qualified as one of the most sensational and also the
rebellious—though in a quite passive tone—novels of the late modernist American fiction. The novel narrated
from the perspective of an orphaned teenager boy Collin Fenwick who is left to live with his aunts Dolly and
Verena Talbo in a small Southern American town, focuses on the decision of Dolly, known as a shy
introspective herbalist, to leave the Talbo house with Collin and their help Catherine as a reaction to her sister
Verena who, as the richest and the most successful businesswoman of the town, wants to mass produce Dolly’s
medicines with the help of a physician. Having nowhere to go, the group retreats to a tree house in a China tree
located in the River Woods area, the setting where Dolly gathers her secret herbs. Temporarily accompanied by
Yasemin Güniz Sertel, assistant professor, Faculty of Letters, Istanbul University.
DAVID PUBLISHING
D
17. THE HOLY BITCH THAT CAN BE A WITCH IN THE GRASS HARP
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two more characters, the company becomes a group of outcasts who learn to listen to their inner voices and
redefine the concept of love yet mutually criticizing and criticized by the townspeople. While criticizing the
norms and values of a changing society and culture, the community of seclusion also presents the pathetic
experience of human life in cases of alienation and the search of communication and mutual love. As a matter
of fact, as Malcolm Bradbury suggests, these dilemmas also reflect the grotesque mood of the American novels
written in the 1940s and 1950s:
Set mostly not in the urban but the rural world, in the decline of the South … often among children, neglected women,
or the physically damaged or disabled, this fiction touched with the “tragic sense of life” that marked the times—was less
concerned with sociological report than with the exploration of human loneliness and the eternal problem of evil. Broken
communication and the failed love are prevailing conditions. Loneliness can lead to pure existential exposure, or perhaps
to a saving religious awareness, in which knowledge of human evil becomes a step towards truth. (Bradbury, 1992, pp.
162-163)
While this—especially regional—late modernist fiction reflects a vision of disorder, fracture, and lack of
communication, these experiences have come to underlie the widely shared moods of many writers in their
endeavors of adaptation into the distinct historical and cultural transformations experienced all over Western
societies. The roots of this “cultural revolution in Western societies … were essentially anti-establishment,
and cultural mores based in conservative social values were derided and attacked” (Russell & Alexander, 2007,
p. 194). In parallelism with modernism’s “attempts to offer alternative modes of representation” (Childs, 2000,
p. 3) to the accepted perspectives of the period, the dissatisfaction with and the desire to deconstruct the
deeply-rooted traditional norms, values and authorities can be seen in many fields. Hence, the vision of this
period depicts “a renewed Romanticism based upon feelings” in which “notable manifestations were
environmentalism; feminism; sexual liberation; drugs; electronic entertainment; gay, lesbian and transsexual
liberation; occult fiction and films; crystals and tarots” (Russell & Alexander, 2007, p. 194). In tune with these
changes, the power of traditional patriarchal religions also weakens since “orthodoxies of all
kinds—especially religious ones—were mocked and reviled” (Russell & Alexander, 2007, p. 194). As a result,
the changing perceptions about religious systems and basic institutions resulted in the development of
alternative approaches towards a new understanding of life and existence. Feminist and woman-centered
movements which emphasize the revaluation of female existence and which give voice to the long-repressed
female experience comprise a significant aspect of these alternative approaches towards the deep-rooted
patriarchal system.
Among these woman-based movements Wicca, Witchcraft and Neopaganism as alternative New Age
Spiritualitiescan be given as examples to depict “vision of women standing together against the forces of
repression” (Savage, 2000, p. 106). In their rebellious and revolutionary attitudes these woman-centered
movements emphasize the necessity of offering alternative systems to the traditional male-biased religions
which have long devalued female existence since “the maleness of God marginalizes or excludes the value and
importance of femaleness” (Peach, 1998, p. 368). Therefore, “women’s spirituality” which appears “as a form
of religious separatism” encourages and celebrates the power of female independency and liberation (Russell &
Alexander, 2007, p.174). And the unity and existence of women in these communities are also perceived as a
holy paradise in which the female “consciousness of immanence” is opposed to “patriarchal consciousness of
estrangement” (Salomonson, 2002, p. 70). In this holy paradise structure, the dissatisfaction with the
male-based God image is replaced by an authentic Goddess image referred to as witch.
18. THE HOLY BITCH THAT CAN BE A WITCH IN THE GRASS HARP
515
Dolly Talbo as a Witch in The Grass Harp
Although not openly labeled as witch, Dolly’s presentation in The Grass Harp as a worthy herbalist
relying on her inner resources within her authentic female identity reminds the reader of the contemporary
representation of the powerful witch or Wicca. The alternative life-style at the China tree realized in Dolly’s
guidance is perceived as a significant threat to the order of the small Southern town in which the basic
institutions and social life are shaped by normative patriarchal religious forces. During their challenging visit to
the tree house, a group of town authorities embodied in the identities of the Sheriff, the Judge and the Reverend
refer to this threat against the order of the town—and in particular to the religious order—in these words:
I say shame on you. How can you have come so far from God as to sit up in a tree like a drunken Indian—sucking
cigarettes like a common … floozy. You may imagine you are getting away with something. But let me tell you there will
be a retribution—not in heaven, right here on earth. (Capote, 1951, pp. 36 -39)
Besides foregrounding the dissatisfaction with the religious order threatening the ostracized group, these
sentences uttered by Reverend Buster also depict the fear that the strange community on the China tree guided
by Dolly might be a threat to the long-established order of the society. However, such an approach to the social
outcasts becomes the proof of the widespread belief that “in contemporary fantasy, witches … were endowed
with an almost unlimited power to destabilize society, destroying its morality and forcing this world in a
reversal of the divine order of things” (Schulte, 2009, p. 257). Indeed Dolly becomes a threat for that society
with her different and uncommon image defined by the help Catherine as “a spirit, a pagan” who should not be
“calculated by the eye alone” but who, as strange “acceptors of life” grant a different meaning to life, hence
being “always in trouble” (Capote, 1951, p. 47). As a matter of fact, Neopaganism is accepted as an alternative
religion which covers various New Age traditions under its umbrella among which feature concepts like witch,
witchcraft and Wicca. Although this new tradition is perceived as a threat by conventional and conservative
perspectives, it foregrounds the independent and creative human being who is “driven by an inner vision and
light that is often hard to explain” (Telesco, 2005, p. 21). It is also significant that in Neopaganism “witches are
attempting to retrieve the positive aspects of pagan religion and to weave them into a new, modern synthesis”
in which “the positive values inherent in this attempt” foreground “individual creativity”, intuition and inner
vision (Russell & Alexander, 2007, p.196). This inner vision which is granted to the Goddess image in the
Wicca tradition is also explained as a “secret” or “an inner knowledge that literally cannot be expressed in
words” and defined as “That-Which-Cannot-Be-Told” (Starhawk, 1998, p. 394). These secrets shared by witches
are accepted as sacred and become for them a “direct expression of the life force” (Starhawk, 1998, p. 399).
In The Grass Harp, this secret life energy is explained as “the energy [they] spend” as “a great piece of luck
provided [they] know how to use it” which helps them “to find out who [they] truly are” (Capote, 1951, p. 48).
Dolly’s secret energy guides her to find her true self in the rejection of all socially imposed roles and
expectations. “You’d best look again: I am myself” (Capote, 1951, p. 103) says Dolly to her materialistic sister
Verena who is ready to manipulate her power and energy.
As a matter of fact, this secret energy was granted to Dolly when she was yet a small girl by a gypsy
woman who with her two friends was trespassing. Highly delighted by their physical appearances and
behaviors, Dolly helps the women since one of them was in labor. In return for her kindness one of the gypsies
grants Dolly the gift of knowledge and energy she will be endowed with for the rest of her life:
19. THE HOLY BITCH THAT CAN BE A WITCH IN THE GRASS HARP
516
Then one of the old women took my hand and said: Now I am going to give you a gift by teaching you a rhyme. It
was a rhyme about evergreen bark, dragonfly fern—and all the other things we come here in the woods to find: Boil till
dark and pure if you want a dropsy cure. In the morning they were gone; I looked for them in the fields and on the road;
there was nothing left of them but the rhyme in my head. (Capote, 1951, p. 16)
Thus, from her early girlhood, Dolly, endowed with the inspiration and guidance of this gift, has been able
to establish a connection with the natural and spiritual worlds, which furnishes her with a higher consciousness:
About all natural things Dolly was sophisticated; she had the subterranean intelligence of a bee that knows where to
find the sweetest flower: she could tell you of a storm a day in advance, predict the fruit of a fig tree, lead you to
mushrooms and wild honey, a hidden nest of guinea hen eggs. She looked around her, and felt what she saw. (Capote,
1951, pp. 12-13)
Rituals of Witchcraft in The Grass Harp
As a matter of fact, this higher consciousness of Dolly can be illustrated as the “OOBES” in other words
“Out-of-Body-Experiences” in the tradition of neopagan witchcraft; a personal intuitive experience in which
the “awareness” of a witch is accepted as “all-encompassing”. Therefore, witches “see not only what is in front
but also what is behind, above, below and on the sides—all at the same time” (Buckland, 2002, p. 88).
Dolly who combines “OOBES” with her inner intuition experiences a perfect harmony and communication
with nature as well. Although nature is generally associated with emotional femininity and culture with rational
patriarchy, nature in itself is acknowledged as “the temple of God” (Bercovitch, 1975, p. 152) even in the most
patriarchal Puritan societies. However, nature gains a further significance for the New Age Spiritualities in
which the witch is identified with the Goddess of nature. This relationship is explained by Starhawk (1998) as
such:
Our relationship to the earth and the species that share it has also been conditioned by our religious models … The
model of the Goddess, who is immanent in nature, fosters respect for the sacredness of all living things. Witchcraft can be
seen as a religion of ecology. Its goal is harmony with nature, so that life may not just survive, but thrive. (p. 397)
In The Grass Harp, Dolly’s harmony and communication with nature compose a significant aspect of her
feminine identity. It is Dolly who comprehends the messages emanating from natural life which revitalize her
OOBES in nature:
It was her habit, even when it rained, to loiter along an ordinary path as though she were dallying in a garden, her eyes
primed for the sight of precious medicine flavorings, a spring of penny royal, sweetmary and mint, useful herbs whose
odor scented her clothes. She saw everything first, and it was her one real vanity to prefer that she, rather than you, point
out certain discoveries: a birdtrack bracelet, an eave of icicles—she was always calling come see the cat-shaped cloud, the
ship in the stars, the face of frost. (Capote, 1951, pp. 85-86)
However, Dolly’s close relationship and communication with nature take us to a significant step in
witchcraft rituals which is known as herbalism. Herbalism requires an understanding of the language of plants
and herbs to be employed in the production of the magical energy used in healing. This concept of herbalism is
explained as a significantly positive traditional ritual to be accomplished by all witches endowed with
supernatural power. This concept has its roots not only in contemporary New Age Spiritualities but in all
traditional witchcraft practices:
Traditionally witches have a general knowledge of herbs and their healing powers … It could be important that
Witches once again be the Wise Ones of Herbal Medicine … Herbal medicine goes back thousands of years. It derives
20. THE HOLY BITCH THAT CAN BE A WITCH IN THE GRASS HARP
517
from Wo/Man’s needs for health and strength; cures for ills and the mending of wounds … Throughout the ages
mysterious healing powers have been attributed to certain wild plants, flowers and herbs. So-called “Nature Doctors”
(witches) of the past were familiar with these natural remedies. (Buckland, 2002, p. 135)
Herbalism has become the most important aim of Dolly’s life with which she prepares her “dropsy cure”.
Gathering wild herbs and preparing her secret concoction with them become a witchcraft ritual which should be
accomplished in silence and secrecy. The little narrator explains Dolly’s mysterious activities during these
rituals in the following way:
We separated into the woods, each carrying a grain sack to be filled with herbs, leaves, strange roots. Noone, not even
Catherine, knew altogether what went into the medicine, for it was a secret Dolly kept to herself and we were never
allowed to look at the gatherings in her own sack: she held tight to it, as though inside she had captive a blue-haired child,
a bewitched prince … I was there the other day, and came across an old iron tub lying overturned in the weeds like a black
fallen meteor: Dolly—Dolly, hovering over the tub dropping our grainsack gatherings into boiling water and stirring,
stirring with a sawed-off broomstick the brown as tobacco spit brew. She did the mixing of the medicine alone while
Catherine and I stood watching like apprentices to a witch. (Capote, 1951, pp. 15-17)
At this point, it is also worth noting that “sometimes doctors rediscover these ancient remedies and hail
them as the outcome of modern research and science” (Buckland, 2002, p. 135). As a matter of fact, this is what
Verena intends to do with the help of the physician Dr Morris Ritz. By mass-producing Dolly’s dropsy potion
she hopes to establish new business relationships. However, it is this intention of Verena that causes Dolly to
leave her town and settle in the tree house. Instead of sharing her secret formula that links her to the magical
world of witchcraft, Dolly decides to cut off her links with her social world.
Dolly’s relationship with nature and the supernatural world is not limited to herbalism and her association
with wild plants. The setting of the novel as well as the settlement of the outcast community at the China tree
house is not a coincidence, but a deliberate choice. While the tree image suggests to the reader the outcast
group’s identification with the heart of nature and natural elements that detach them from the patriarchal culture
and its inhibitions, norms and rules, it has further connotations associated with the mysteries and rituals within
the witchcraft tradition. While the neopagans and witches believe in the sacred teachings of the tree, they also
associate the sacred trees with a deity and being in the service of that deity:
It is common knowledge that our European ancestors once worshipped or highly venerated trees. Some trees were
believed to house various deities and spirits. Throughout Europe sacred groves were established and dedicated to various
gods and goddesses … Tree branches were considered magical. Trees were once intimately connected to specific deities
represented by a sacred tree. To carry a sacred branch was to declare oneself as intermediary of the deity or to be in some
type of service to a specific god or goddess. The latter implied that one was also under the protection of his or her deity.
(Grimassi, 2008, pp. 27-28)
In The Grass Harp, the China tree becomes a refuge and a place of belonging for Dolly and her small
community, on whose branches they have been protected from the attacks and inhibitions of the patriarchal
society. Besides being a site of protection and safety, the tree also becomes a holy guide to the mysteries of
magical information since in ancient lore too it was believed that “trees stood as both doorways to hidden
realms and as guardians to the entrance; their roots granted access to the Underworld as a pathway, just as
the branches allowed spiritual access to the Overworld” (Grimassi, 2008, p. 28). The unusual China tree in
The Grass Harp with its double trunk prepares a home for Dolly and her associates among its strong
branches:
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518
Just entering the woods there was a double-trunked China tree, really two trees, but their branches were so embraced
that you could step from one into the other; in fact they were bridged by a tree-house: spacious, sturdy, a model of a tree
house, it was like a raft floating in the sea of leaves. (Capote, 1951, p. 14)
It is this tree with its home-like branches that not only welcomes and embraces the witchcraft group but
also becomes their “HOME” being associated with the “Holy Order of Mother Earth” concept in witchcraft
philosophy (Telesco, 2005, p. 166). Therefore, their refuge tree home also becomes functional in bringing the
holy harmony and order of the earth cycle to their existences.
Another significant ritual of the witchcraft tradition is the chants and music. As Russell and Alexander
mention “neopagan witchcraft provide a great deal of room for poetry, dance, music” (Russell & Alexander,
2007, p. 196). On the one hand music for witches is perceived as a method of motivation for “building up the
power within your body” (Buckland, 2002, p. 159). On the other hand, it should not be in a categorized form in
order to bring about the inspiration for the stimulation of energy in the body. Therefore, within the song or the
chant “there are no set words, no ready-made chants” since the chant “must suit the individual” (Buckland,
2002, p. 160). In The Grass Harp, the ritualistic chant takes the spiritualist community into the heart of nature
for it becomes the voice and song of the grass singing and articulating the mood, life stories and mysteries of
the inhabitants of the area:
Below the hill grows a field of high Indian grass that changes color with the seasons: go to see it in the fall, late
September, when it has one red as sunset, when scarlet shadows like firelight breeze over it and the autumn winds strum on
its dry leaves sighing human music a harp of voices. (Capote, 1951, p. 5)
However, the real voice, message and meaning of the chant is only heard by the witch goddess Dolly who
is the only one to comprehend the stories and mysteries of many people in the chant of the grass while the
rhythm stimulates the power in her body. “Do you hear?” she asks, “that is the grass harp, always telling a story
—it knows the stories of all people on the hill, of all the people who ever lived, and when we are dead it will
tell ours, too” (Capote, 1951, p. 5). In a sense, it is with this stimulated power given by the chant of nature that
she communicates with the living and the dead. And it is with this chant that she will transmit her mysteries and
stories to those others who are also able to hear the natural voice of the chant.
Meaning of Love and Life in The Grass Harp
In the tradition of witchcraft, the sacredness of life and the love of this sacred life are important
concepts emphasized by the Goddess witch. Since witchcraft is accepted as “a religion of ecology”, in this
system the Goddess as a part of nature “fosters respect for the sacredness of all living things” (Starhawk,
1998, pp. 397-399). After accepting and then digesting the sacred conception of life, witches are expected to
embrace all living organisms with an unconditional love. Since “love for life in all forms is the basic ethic of
witchcraft”, witches as contemporary Goddesses should “honor and respect all living things and serve the life
force” (Starhawk, 1998, p. 398). As a matter of fact, in The Grass Harp the concept of love and love of life
are declared in an all-inclusive manner:
We are speaking of love. A leaf, a handful of seed—begin with these, learn a little what it is to love. First, a leaf, a fall
of rain, then someone to receive what a leaf has taught you, what a fall of rain has ripened. No easy process, understand; it
could take a lifetime, it has mine … I only know how true it is: that love is a chain of love, as nature is a chain of life.
(Capote, 1951, p. 53)
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519
Dolly has experienced these sacred emotions throughout her life. As she openly remarks, “I’ve been in
love all my life” and “I have loved everything” (Capote, 1951, p. 53).
Although as a New Age Spirituality, witchcraft is a woman’s movement and thus can be perceived as a
feminist agent, in its all-inclusive attitude, the witchcraft tradition “does not exclude the males” who
nonetheless are accepted as “mini-rulers of narrow universes” (Starhawk, 1998, pp. 396-397). In The Grass
Harp, Judge Charles Cool who at first visits the outcast group in the China tree and who falls in love with
Dolly after comprehending her holy existence and genuine love for life, becomes a whole-hearted member of
this rebellious group. Although never actualized, his marriage proposal is accepted by Dolly who embraces
love of all kinds.
One of the significant lessons that Dolly teaches to her suitor Judge Cool is the concept of justice. In
witchcraft, justice is not “administered by some external authority, based on a written code or set of rules
imposed from without” (Starhawk, 1998, p. 398). Having been illuminated by this new awareness and
consciousness, Judge Cool questions his life-long career and role as a judge in the society. At last he
experiences a realization that “justice is an inner sense that each act brings about consequences that must be
faced responsibly” (Starhawk, 1998, p. 398). In the novel, this new realization is manifested by his
self-questioning in such an attitude: “I sometimes imagine all those whom I’ve called guilty have passed the
real guilt on to me: It’s partly that that makes me want once before I die to be right on the right side” (Capote,
1951, p. 48). As Dolly responds, “You on the right side now” (Capote, 1951, p. 48). And this new side he is on
becomes a proof of his transformation from a judge serving to the working mechanism of the patriarchal
society to his new existence in an alternative society as a new embodiment of justice embracing the rights of all
human beings.
Although Dolly is not openly addressed as a witch in The Grass Harp, her position as an outsider in a
small Southern town of America while adapting an all-inclusive attitude towards life, practicing the teachings
of the witchcraft tradition in her applications of the rituals of herbalism, chanting and love and her passive way
of challenging the patriarchal society proves her to become a perfect model for the contemporary witches in
Neopagan traditions and New Age Spiritualities.
Conclusion
The American writer Truman Capote’s modernist novel The Grass Harp introduces an alternative belief
system and life style to the patriarchal authorities in the presentation of the protagonist Dolly Talbo’s authentic
and autonomous female identity. Although she is depicted as a shy, introspective character throughout the
novel, her passive rebellion and resistance to the patriarchal system while practicing the rituals of female
spirituality in connection with contemporary witchcraft make her a suitable candidate for the Goddess image of
the New Age Spiritualities. Her close relationship with nature and her association with herbalism, chanting,
love and love of life become further proofs of her holy witch image suitable to the liberated feminine identity.
References
Bercovitch, S. (1975). The Puritan origins of the American self. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Bradbury, M. (1992). The modern American novel. New York: Penguin Books.
Buckland, R. (2002). Buckland’s complete book of Witchcraft. Minnesota: Llewllyn Publications.
Capote, T. (1951). The grass harp. New York: The New American Library.
Childs, P. (2000). Modernism. London and New York: Routledge.
23. THE HOLY BITCH THAT CAN BE A WITCH IN THE GRASS HARP
520
Grimassi, R. (2008). Witchcraft—A mystery tradition. Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewllyn Publications.
Peach, L. J. (1998). Women in culture—A women’s studies anthology. Malden, Massachusetts: Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Russell, J., & Alexander, B. (2007). A new history of Witchcraft—Sorceres, Heretics & Pagans. London: Thames & Hudson.
Salomonson, J. (2002). Enchanted Feminism—Ritual gender and divinity among the reclaiming Witches of San Francisco.
London & New York: Routledge.
Savage, C. (2000). Witch—The wild ride from wicked to Wicca. Vancouver, Toronto, New York: Douglas & Mclntyre Publishing
Group.
Schulte, R. (2009). Man as witch—Male witches in central Europe. Hampshire: Polgrave Macmillan.
Starhawk. (1998). Witchcraft as Goddess religion. In L. J. Peach (Ed.), Women in culture—A women’s studies anthology (pp.
396-400). Malden, Massachusetts, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Telesco, P. (2005). Which witch is which? A conscise guide to Wiccan and Neo Pagan Paths and Traditions. Franklin Lakes: The
Career Press.
24. Journal of Literature and Art Studies, ISSN 2159-5836
July 2014, Vol. 4, No. 7, 521-526
The Babysitter: A Feminist Interpretation
LIU Ke-dong, LI Shuang-shuang
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Sexual violence, a prevalent problem in the spousal relationship, is closely related to the issue of female
consciousness. In The Babysitter, Coover (1989) tells of a teenage girl babysitting two kids and a baby and of two
of her male peers and the children’s father altogether exploring their obsession towards her and, moreover, traces
the evaluation and devaluation of women to the presentation of TV exploring its influence on his heroines, namely
Mrs. Tucker and the babysitter serving as victims of the patriarchal society. Through a close engagement with the
sexual objectification theory, this paper analyzes in detail men’s aggressive oppressions upon women as well as
women’s compromise and rebellion towards the sexual violence, and investigates that the awakening of female
independent consciousness is a key factor in effectively helping women achieve the gender equality between sexes.
Keywords: Robert Coover, The Babysitter, objectification
Introduction
Robert Coover, a representative post-modern writer of “fabulation” and “metafiction” who harbors sincere
fondness for weaving visual arts into his written works. When he was teaching at Brown University, Coover
started doing experimental writing on electronic fiction, during which time The Babysitter (1989) emerges. The
story is divided into 108 segments that are not arranged in chronological order. Generally, it is an account of
events taking place in three separate places from 7:40 to 10:00 at night. With everything pointing to uncertainty
or indeterminacy to the end of the story, “most of what happened before happens again with new variations”
(Evenson, 2003, p. 92). The reader can be certain only that the babysitter arrives at the Tuckers’ home, and that
the Tuckers leave their home for a party, and Jack and Mark play pinball at a drugstore. The rest of the story
amounts to an indefinite number of situations based on these givens. Generally speaking, the meta-fictional story
tells of a teenaged girl babysitting two kids and a baby for a couple during one night, and of two of her male peers
and the children’s father exploring their delusional and realistic obsessions towards her.
Within the framework of feminism, which challenges the patriarchal society, struggling for recognition of
the claims of women for legal, political, familial, etc. rights equal to those possessed by men, this paper explores
the concern of American contemporary life including the lust both in the real and imagined events of the modern
man, the self-image of women viewing themselves through the lens of external observers, and the sexual violence
repressing the growth of female independent consciousness or the opposite.
LIU Ke-dong, Ph.D., professor of English, School of Foreign Languages, Harbin Institute of Technology.
LI Shuang-shuang, master degree, School of Foreign Languages, Harbin Institute of Technology.
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25. THE BABYSITTER: A FEMINIST INTERPRETATION522
Mr. Tucker, Mark, and Jack: Objectifying Sex
The concept of “sexual objectification” and, particularly, the objectification of women is an important idea
in feminist theory derived from feminism. Sexual objectification is defined as:
The act of disregarding the personal and intellectual abilities and capabilities of a female, and reducing a woman’s
worth or role in society to that of an instrument for the sexual pleasure that she can produce in the mind of another. (Barry,
1994, p. 247)
In patriarchal societies men tend to treat women as their sexual objects, from whom they get pleasure. The
male figures including Mr. Tucker, Jack, and Mark following this trend, exhibit their sexual desire towards the
babysitter, and their infatuation objectifies the social evaluation of women.
Attention has been focused on the female body as a source of sexual attraction. Mr. Tucker indulges himself
in the fantasy of the babysitter’s bare body throughout the night. As soon as the babysitter shows up, Mr. Tucker
constantly imagines about the babysitter’s “soft wet breasts”, “pale and ripply tummy”, and “light brown public
hair”, for he has happened to see her naked body in the tub before. On the drive to the party, Mr. Tucker’s mind is
partly on the girl who seems to be “arching her back, jutting her pert breasts, twitching her thighs” (Coover, 1989,
p. 185). He recalls his long past, those days when he is young and energetic; most importantly, he is satisfied with
his wife’s fine body which now turns fatty and has to be tightened by girdles to keep it good-looking. Sitting
along with his wife in the car, he could not stop thinking about the babysitter’s “bare thighs, no girdles, nothing
up there but a flimsy pair of panties and soft adolescent flesh” (Coover, 1989, p. 187).
The continuous imagining about female body can trigger men’s libido and lead to their sexual advances. At
the party, overdrunk, Mr. Tucker’s mind wanders between his fantasy and the reality, constantly imagining the
babysitter’s naked body and their entanglements in the bathroom. He dreams that “she huddles in his arms like a
child. Lovingly, paternally, knowledgeably, he wraps her nakedness” (Coover, 1989, p. 192), imagines that “he
squeezes her close between his thighs, pulls her back toward him, one hand sliding down her tummy between her
legs” (Coover, 1989, p. 196) and fantasizes that his innocent wife runs into his affair with the babysitter. Lost in
his fantasy, Mr. Tucker could not help speaking out some filthy words in public. “I dream of Jeannie with the
light brown public hair!” (Coover, 1989, p. 191). Mr. Tucker adores the body of the babysitter, which results in
his secretly returning home and raping her.
Jack is the babysitter’s boyfriend and longs for a more intimate relationship with her. Like Mr. Tucker, he
adores the “soft” and “fragrant” body of the babysitter. Jack’s attitude towards his girlfriend is a bit different from
the others. Generally speaking, Jack shows respect for the babysitter and their relationship is relatively based on
the unstable equilibrium. He has been to Tuckers’ house while the babysitter is babysitting, but only “make[s] out
a little” (Coover, 1989, p. 184). His stare implicates his sexual desire towards the babysitter but he consciously
avoids going too far, for he would try his best to “care for her and would protect her, would shield her, if need be,
with his own body” (Coover, 1989, p. 185). In spite of this, Jack agrees to rape his girlfriend along with his friend
Mark after balancing his resistance and obedience to his sexual impulse. The dramatic transition is when Jack
saves the babysitter from being raped by Mark and Mr. Tucker.
Mark is Jack’s friend who is the one accompanying Jack in the drugstore during that night. He is the son of
the party holder and a member of a middle-class family, obviously showing no interest in the party his father
26. THE BABYSITTER: A FEMINIST INTERPRETATION 523
holds. Wondering what to do in his spare time, Mark proposes to rape the babysitter with Jack. Finally he
manages to persuade Jack to carry out their evil plan.
All the male characters, Jack, Mark as well as Mr. Tucker even the little Jimmy who is the son of Mr. Tucker
explore sexual advances towards the female body, which is meant to be the babysitter’s. Their objectifying sex
dehumanizes women and reflects the reality that women turn out to be considered as composites of attractive
parts rather than complete, multi-dimensional people that can be appreciated intellectually.
Mrs. Tucker: In Self-objectification
Objectification theory posits that “women are typically acculturated to internalize an observer’s perspective
as a primary view of their physical selves” (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997, p. 173). The reason why women
habitually monitor their bodies results from the fact that they are more identified and associated with their bodies
and to a great extent they are valued for how they look. In order to win social acceptability, women are under
constant pressure to correct their bodies and appearances, making them sensually pleasing to men regardless of
those experimental consequences associated such as body shame, appearance anxiety, depression, disordered
eating. Mrs. Tucker, namely Dolly, being female in a culture that pervasively objectifies the female body, serves
as a victim of patriarchal society in objectifying herself.
Women who experience body dissatisfaction would try to alter the appearance of their bodies. Mrs. Tucker
is a middle-aged housewife, the selfless mother of three children and meanwhile the sacred slaver of her husband.
Influenced by her husband’s preference of female body image, Mrs. Tucker is consistently checking or
rearranging her appearance to ensure that they are presentable. In order to comply with her husband’s sexual
expectations, Mrs. Tucker engages in actions which intends to change the appearance of her body by using the
garters to shape it. On the drive to the party, Mrs. Tucker seems to “adjust a garter”, “readjust a garter” and “pull
a stocking tight, biting deeper with the garters” while her husband “stumbles” to answer the question she
proposes: “What do you think of our babysitter?” (Coover, 1989, p. 186). Obviously, she cares about what she
looks like in her husband’s eyes, which accounts for her covering out-shaped body regardless of the pain from
wearing the girdle and its detrimental outcome to her physical health. “And fat. Not just tight, her girdle actually
hurts. Somewhere recently she’s read about women getting heart attacks or cancer or something from too-tight
girdles” (Coover, 1989, p. 186).
Apart from physical pain, women experience mental depression as well, feeling ashamed of their
unsatisfying bodies. Body shame is “a byproduct of the concept of an idealized body type adopted by most
Western cultures that depicts a thin, model-type figure” (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997, p. 174). During the break
at the party, Dolly takes advantage of the retreat to ease her girdle down a while and gets her a few good deep
breaths. Unfortunately, she fails to get herself back into the girdle. Therefore, there is a game about “Get Dolly
Tucker Back in Her Girdle Again”. Humiliated by exposing part of her body in public and acting like a clown
playing at the show, Mrs. Tucker develops a sense of body shame and anxiety from which a feeling of
helplessness is created in relation to correcting her physical appearance and helplessness in being able to control
the way in which others perceive their appearance. Hearing about other guests’ salting away their mothers in the
rest room, Mrs. Tucker develops a picture of her being carted off to a rest home in a wheelbarrow and wonders if
her husband would actually do that to her. “Harry, you won’t let them take me to a rest home, will you,
27. THE BABYSITTER: A FEMINIST INTERPRETATION524
Harry?”(Coover, 1989, p. 205). It can be seen from here that Mrs. Tucker emotionally depends on her husband
and begs for his staying with her.
Mrs. Tucker, being female in a culture in which man has been accustomed to repressing women, making
them ashamed and leading them to “be their own enemies, to mobilize their immense strength against themselves,
to be the executants of their virile needs” (Cixous, 1976, p. 878), tends to compromise with the oppressive
ideology in valuing herself in accordance with the evaluation of her husband, Mr. Tucker. In the quest to achieve
idealized beauty, Mrs. Tucker shapes her fatty body with girdles to please her husband regardless of physical and
mental health risks. The subservience to her husband is attributed to her failure to achieve independence in
personality.
The Babysitter: Against Sexual Victimization
More direct consequences of objectification to women are related to sexual victimization or violence. Rape
is regarded as one of those traumatic experiences. Brownmiller (1975) argues in his book Against Our Will that
rape is nothing more or less than “a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state
of fear” (p. 15). The babysitter, a financially self-reliant and mentally open-minded teenage girl, is another
female character in the short story victimized more or less by the sexual violence of male characters, including
her boyfriend Jack, Jack’s friend Mark and Mr. Tucker, in the process of being raped. Serving as a traditional
concept of renegade, the babysitter strives for the recognition of women’s basic rights in struggling against those
corporal oppressions.
Economic independence helps develope female independent consciousness. The babysitter plays an active
role in her relationship with her boyfriend Jack. Thanks to the job of babysitting, she does not have to live on Jack,
which earns her the equality in their relationship. The couple tends to negotiate with each other in terms of their
different opinions on one single issue. When Jack plans to see her in Tucker’s house, he calls her on the phone to
ask for permission. The babysitter refuses to let Jack and Mark come over after telling them they can.
In her sexual relationship with Jack and Mark, the babysitter never submits to their sexual satisfaction. There
exists the possibility that Jack and Mark intend to rape the babysitter together. It proves that she tries her best to
fight against them rather than being compliant to their sexual desire. “‘Stop it!’ she screams. ‘Please, stop!’ She’s
on her hands and knees, trying to get up, but they’re too strong for her” (Coover, 1989, p. 196). The babysitter
rejects them by crying out and fighting back which shows her struggle against sexual abuse in the
male-dominated society.
When it comes to her relationship with Mr. Tucker, there exist two contradictory endings of his rape of the
babysitter given by Robert Coover: either the death of the babysitter or the obfuscation of Mr. Tucker, both of
which exhibit the babysitter’s rebellious attitude towards the sexual assault. The babysitter is bathing in the tub
when Mr. Tucker faithfully breaks into the bathroom. Shocked, the girl grabs for a towel to cover her naked body
out of self-protection. Having imagined his sexual advance with the babysitter to be pleasing, Mr. Tucker realizes
that “that’s not how it’s supposed to happen” (Coover, 1989, p. 203). As a result, he yanks away the towel and
tries to command the girl: “Lift your legs up, honey. Put them around my back” (Coover, 1989, p. 201). Instead,
the babysitter screams, trying to get rid of him. Regardless of the struggle of the babysitter, Mr. Tucker persists to
rape the poor girl by “embracing her savagely”, “clutching roughly at her backside”; and “pushing something
28. THE BABYSITTER: A FEMINIST INTERPRETATION 525
between her legs, hurting her” (Coover,1989, p. 203). The babysitter is slammed by “something cold and hard in
the back” (Coover, 1989, p. 203) cracking her skull, and in consequence she seems to be sinking into the tub
filled with water. Another scene juxtaposed simultaneously is that Mr. Tucker happens to “slip on the bathroom
tiles, and crash to his ass, whacking his head on the way down” (Coover, 1989, p. 203), which lead to his
passing out.
In the historical view,
The roles and privileges accorded to women are inferior to those assigned to men, and as much, sexism plays a
central role in the continuing oppression of women, reducing women to being nothing more than objects to be won, prizes
to be shown off, and playthings to be abused. (Swami et al., 2010, p. 366)
The babysitter plays a prominent role in consciously controlling her sexuality and subverting femininity
which is socially constructed and internalized as gentleness, tolerance, compassion and deference, endeavoring
to fight against sexual victimization oppressed by patriarchal males. She represents one of those who have
developed female independent consciousness and endeavored to escape from the internalized role of women
formed by historical circumstances, aspiring to full membership in the human space.
Conclusion
Objectification theory provides an important framework for understanding women’s living conditions in a
sociocultural context that sexually objectifies the female body and equates a woman’s value with her body’s
appearance. The American culture is one that is measured on a patriarchal scale where the exploitative and
oppressive relationship between sexes prevails, in which women are required to act out their sex roles in the
repressive relations of subordination.
In juxtaposing fragments of Jack’s saving the babysitter from being raped by Mark; Jack and Mark’s raping
the babysitter; Mr. Tucker’s imagining himself seducing and making love with the babysitter; his catching Jack
making love to the babysitter then raping her himself; catching the boys raping the babysitter and sending Jack
home without clothing to the reader, Coover manages to articulate the subjection of women in the patriarchal
society, either shaping themselves for the sake of others or being offended by men. In The Babysitter, on the one
hand, women’s role of subordination can be seen from the flat character Mrs. Tucker, a middle-class housewife
whose existence is out of practicality. The unequal division of labor by the mainstream culture leaves her into the
role of “the babysitter” and housekeeper bothered by daily trivial stuffs. She feels ashamed of her body’s
appearance based on her husband’s evaluation of beauty, thus trying to shape it regardless of the physical pain.
On the other hand, women’s role of resistance can be seen from the babysitter. Faced with the sexual violence
from Jack, Mark or Mr. Tucker, the babysitter strives to struggle against the force of the patriarchal society. Their
difference lies on the fact that Mrs. Tucker yields to the prejudiced devaluation while the babysitter defends
herself from the sexual victimization. Women have to develop the independent consciousness to construct a
unique female discourse and culture.
29. THE BABYSITTER: A FEMINIST INTERPRETATION526
References
Barry, K. (1994). Female sexual slavery. New York: NYU Press.
Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against our will: Men, women, and rape. New York: Ballantine Books.
Cixous, H., Cohen, K., & Cohen, P. ( 1976). The laugh of the Medusa. Signs, 1(4), 875-893.
Coover, R. (1989). The babysitter. New York: Oxford University Press.
Evenson, B. (2003). Understanding Robert Coover. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T. A. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental
health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21(2), 173-206.
Kavka, M. (2001). Introduction. In E. Bronfen, & M. Kavka (Eds.), Feminist consequences: Theory for the new century (pp.
ix–xxvi). New York: Columbia University Press.
Mary, V. B. (1982). “Femininity,” “Masculinity,” and “Androgyny”: A modern philosophical discussion. Washington: Rowman
and Littlefield.
Smolak, L. (1996). National eating disorders association/next door neighbors puppet guide book. International Journal of Eating
Disorders, 18(3), 209-219.
Swami, V., Coles, R., Wilson, E., Salem, N., Wyrozumska, K., and Furnham, A. (2010). Oppressive beliefs at play: Associations
among beauty ideals and practices and individual differences in sexism, objectification of others, and media exposure.
Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34(3), 365-379.
30. Journal of Literature and Art Studies, ISSN 2159-5836
July 2014, Vol. 4, No. 7, 527-538
Richard Jack—Canada’s Battle Painter
Lloyd James Bennett
Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, Canada
As a study in art history critical theory, this paper looks at the appreciation and usage of art amongst interest groups
at the time of the Great War and the subsequent legacy of the work of Canada’s resident war artist Richard Jack.
The Canadian War Museum’s recent web page described Jack’s standing officer in The Second Battle of Ypres 22
April to 25 May 1915 as one who “exemplifies the courage and resolve of the inexperienced Canadians in their first
major battle”. This comment showed a marked contrast to the contemporary art critic Richard Cork who described
the first of the Canadian war memorials paintings as “a cliché-ridden bandaged officer … shamelessly catering to
public sentiment”. Given these disparate positions, the author attempts to explain the gulf between these points of
view and subsequently make the case that art has a broad application that might make us cautious of viewing a
given work without due consideration of the context of its making and future merits.
Keywords: war, art, painting, criticism, history, First World War, Canada, Jack
Introduction
As Canada emerged as a new nation into the 20th century it remained open to chronicling its history and
accomplishments. The opportunity for the Dominion to show its mettle and allegiance to the British Empire came
in the summer of 1914 when war was declared on Germany. Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden notified
Britain that Canada would come in supporting the war effort with an expeditionary force. After a shaky start with
accommodation at the camps in the south of England, the Canadian troops fell in with the British regiments and
distinguished themselves at Ypres in the spring of 1915 where the Germans first used gas in the First World War.
Canadian expatriate Max Aitken, acting as eye-witness to the Front, recorded the attack and sent dispatches to
Ottawa and had his newspaper friends in London repeat the slogan of Field Marshal John French that Canada had
“saved the situation”. After his return to London, Aitken used his Daily Express newspaper office to begin a
record of Canada in the war. This branched out to include a collection of commissioned works of art. The first
war artist to paint for Canada would be Richard Jack, who was made an honorary major, and asked to record the
Canadians at war for the historical record of the Dominion.
Canada’s Battle Painter
Richard Jack was born at Sunderland in 1866 and studied art at the York School of Art and the South
Kensington Art School; he was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Academy in 1914 and a Royal
Academician in 1920. While the academy records show that he did paint historical pictures, his most productive
Lloyd James Bennett, associate professor, Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Thompson Rivers University.
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31. RICHARD JACK—CANADA’S BATTLE PAINTER528
genre was the portrait: Between 1893 and the First World War he painted mostly portraits. A break from this
came in 1916 when he exhibited a scene of soldiers on leave at Victoria Station returning to the Front. The picture
was well reviewed in newspaper articles. At this time Jack had shown no interest or inclination to become a
military painter but events in the spring of 1915 would alter the destiny of this academy artist (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Richard Jack’s painting the “Second Battle of Ypres”, National Archives of Canada PA 4879.
On 22 April 1915 the Germans floated asphyxiating gas towards the Allied lines in the Ypres salient (see
Figure 2). This action led the French colonial Turcos and Zouaves troops to break lines and flee in a panic of
terror back into the village of Vlamertinghe. As the assault by the Germans wore on the Canadian third Brigade
under Brigadier-General Robert Turner was able to hold the enemy with a hinged defence (Aitken, 1916, pp.
49-52). As this was the first time gas had been used in the war it brought a good deal of interest in the London
newspapers. Field Marshal French was quoted in numerous articles on how the Canadians “saved the situation”
(The Times, 1915; Observer, 1915) and forever marked the Ypres fight as a historic battle.
Figure 2. Map of the Ypres gas attack reproduced in Canada in Flanders.
One outcome of the heightened interest in the war was to have the Veno Drug Company of Manchester
commission a painting of the battle from Royal Academy artist W. B. Wollen for the purpose of making coloured
32. RICHARD JACK—CANADA’S BATTLE PAINTER 529
lithographs for sale in the public market (see Figure 3) (Tippett, 1982, p. 33). British fine art firms had a tradition
of making reproductions of significant military events and the Ypres gas attack moved this battle into the
legendary status of the lithographic print. Wollen surprisingly did not show the gas but a following attack in early
May on the Princess Patricia’s at Frezenberg. Max Aitken, Canadian eyewitness at the Front, had written of this
defence by the “Pats” under Lieut. Niven:
At 9 o’clock the shelling decreased in intensity; but it was the lull before the storm, for the enemy immediately
attempted a second infantry advance. This attack was received with undiminished resolution. A storm of machine-gun and
rifle fire checked the assailants, who were forced, after a few indecisive moments, to retire and take cover. The Battalion
accounted for large numbers of the enemy in the course of this attack, but it suffered seriously itself (Aitken, 1916, p.
155).
Figure 3. Canadians at Ypres, W. B. Wollen, 1916, coloured engraving after
painting by W. B.Wollen, Museum of the Regiments, Calgary.
The artist had been given specific instructions as to the subject of the painting and perhaps the patron wished
to honour the core of the Canadian military forces by having the first battle picture represent the Princess
Patricia’s. Canada had entered a historical context by having military pictures painted of their war exploits but
there was still more to be done as the expected “gas attack picture” had yet to be painted.
Aitken seized upon the idea of using academic battle pictures for his 1916 publication Canada in Flanders.
One illustrator R. Caton Woodville had made a painting of the Canadian “recovering the guns” during the Ypres
fighting and Aitken used the work in his war book. This began the involvement of the Officer in Charge (Aitken’s
next government title) to use London artists to record Canadian battles in the war. After the Veno commission
Aitken moved to acquire Richard Jack making him an honorary major in December 1916. Jack was given a
six-month commission to paint another canvas of the Ypres fighting and went to the Front to acquire material for
the painting. Paul Konody, who became the art adviser to the Canadians, described the degree of research Jack
put into the monumental work:
Though, naturally, not actually present at the fighting, Major Jack had carefully investigated and sketched the whole
ground, and has spent some time with the units which took part in the engagement, collecting from officers and men all
the details and facts needed for absolute accuracy. Some of the men who had been through the battle actually posed for
the picture, whilst machine-guns and all manner of military accoutrements were temporarily placed at the artist’s disposal,
whose studio assumed something of the appearance of a battlefield. (Konody, 1918b, p. 26)
