So.. Where's this Prince?

I was going to make this a comment in Zoe's post just below, but it got lengthy enough to merit its own post. I strongly recommend reading that one before this one. Here goes!

As Zoe said, the biggest flaw in the fairy tale part of our Old Woman Magoun presentation was the prince archetype, cause it definitely wasn't really there. We saw the lack of the prince too, and the fact that it's mostly absent is actually an important thing to consider when contemplating the themes of the story. Men are painted in a completely negative light throughout the tale, not just through Magoun's opinions but also by the male character's personalities themselves, as Freeman described them to us. If there was a prince at all (when Lily was first attracted to and comforted by the stranger) he was abruptly and somewhat cynically transformed into a predator hunting for innocent Lily, which further stressed just how bad men are supposed to be. But then at the very end of the story, it's only the biggest male enemy, Nelson Barry himself, who screams for someone to help his dying daughter. So what could Freeman really be saying about gender roles? Assuming she doesn't agree with the evil step-mother that all men are nothing but wolves, what part of the binary is Freeman really mocking, if she is?

While there's never an answer that's more right than the other, it could be argued that Freeman really means to make Magoun the bad guy by the end, maybe even the only bad guy in the whole story. She's judgmental, probably uneducated, and a very masculine woman in her assertiveness, which is usually considered a negative trait during the period the story was set in. She controls Lily, not allowing her to be married and lose her innocence and childlike charm simply because she doesn't trust the men around her. She claims the right to choose whether Lily lives or dies, and carries out her execution. I don't think that Freemen is simply taking a shot at woman instead of men, because that's definitely not the case. Maybe she's just criticizing hypocrites.

Fairytales in Old Woman Magoun

The presentation last week on “Old Woman Magoun” had a slide suggesting that the plot and characters from the story could, in many ways, be compared to a classic fairytale. I found this idea really interesting, so I wanted to elaborate on it a bit. The main similarity that I noticed between “Old Woman Magoun” and fairytales is the use of nature; in many stories, an innocent girl is harmed by the forces of nature. The first to come to mind is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Snow White bites into a poisonous apple and is put to sleep, similarly to how Lily is killed by eating the poisonous berries. Snow White also has the dwarfs as her side-kicks, and I suppose in this short story Lily's side-kick would be her doll.

Of course every fairytale needs some sort of “evil villain”, and you could definitely argue that Nelson Barry fits this character, however I thought Old Woman Magoun fit it better as more of an “evil stepmother”. She tries to maintain a sense of control over Lily, and loses it when Lily goes out into the world (similar to Cinderella, perhaps?). 

One issue I did have with the main argument was the prince. Is there is a prince in “Old Woman Magoun”? It seemed as though the two leading male characters didn’t have good intentions, and I thought of Nelson Barry as more of a “big bad wolf” than a prince.

Mercy Murder?

When discussing "Old Woman Magoun" in class and we asked whether Old Woman Magoun was responsible for Lily's death.  Was Lily's eating of the berries coincidence that happened to go along  Old Woman Magoun's plan, or did Lily's grandmother have a hand in the fateful meal of berries?

Old Woman Magoun did not want Lily to go live with Nelson Barry because she knew it would not have been a good life for her. She wanted Lily to be adopted by the Masons but they refused because Nelson is Lily's father. So what option did Magoun have?

On the way home from the Mason's, Lily eats the berries and then complains of feeling sick but Magoun does nothing. Magoun did not play an active part but she did not stop Lily either. Magoun saw death by poison berries as a better option for Lily than going to live with Nelson who would have given her to Jim Willis who would have been a danger to Lily.  Personally, I do not think that death should automatically be one's second choice for a plan, but Old Women Magoun thought that death was the only other option for Lily when adoption did not work.  Although she definitely would not win grandma of the year Magoun, did what she thought was best for Lily.

However, Magoun's actions can also be seen with a more sinister twist. While walking to the Mason's Lily first asks about the berries and Old Woman Magoun says, "You can't have any now." Old Woman Magoun implies that Lily could have some later which hints that Old Woman Magoun could have already been planning to have Lily die by poison berries if the plan for adoption did not work. Old Woman Magoun becomes increasingly suspicious when she gets very angry when Lily eats sour apples and milk because that was the way Lily's mother died. There is something strange about  Lily's mother's death that also implies that Old Woman Magoun may have played a part in her death This then brings up another question about why Magoun would have done this. Old Woman Magoun saw Lily's death as a way of protecting her from Nelson Barry and this may also be the reason that Magoun killed her daughter. Old Women Magoun always clashed with Nelson Barry and this was probably the case when Lily's mother was young and she wanted to protect her daughter from him. Old Woman Magoun wanted to control them and hold onto their innocence and when she saw that that being threatened she was willing to take drastic measures.

Assume: Makes an ___ Out of "U" and Me

While rereading our short stories in preparation for the upcoming test, I realized a common mistake that I made. I continuously assumed things. I assumed what another was character was thinking, I assumed what one character was going to do to the other, I assumed things that I should have waited to find out from the author. Nelson Barry, a main character from "Old Woman Magoun" by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, loses his daughter in a bet to his friend, Jim Willis. I automatically assumed the worst was to be done to her by Willis. I immediately went to the most negative end of the possibilities spectrum- pedophilia. However, this assumption isn't without merit- Freeman purposefully described the character in a mysterious, almost creepy way that did not accentuate the positive aspects of Jim Willis.

Assumptions, or inferences? Now, assumptions may make a donkey out of you and me, but inferences on the other hand clarify the more secretive hidings of a piece of literature. In Freeman's case, my assumption about Jim Willis's intentions was truly an inference. Freeman didn't state, "Willis is a pedophile." She described him holding Lily's hand, how Lily reacted to his presence around her. Also, Nelson Barry lost his daughter in a bet to Willis... I highly doubt that a young girl won in a bet is getting a full scholarship to school or a brand new horse...But there it is again! The assuming! In all honesty one will never know the truth about what would have happened to Lily and that is the miraculous mystery of literature- it is up to ones' self to decide and decipher what will happen to a little girl and a strange man.

Old Woman Magoun and Andrea Yates

Old Woman Magoun felt backed into a corner as Nelson Barry's 14 year old daughter, Lily, had a possibility of being married off. Magoun's first option was to gain custody of the child by seeing a lawyer, which failed. To save the girl's innocence from a corrupt world, she opts to kill Lily with poisonous berries. While it can be argued that Magoun had Lily's best interests in mind from a reader's standpoint, that argument would not hold up in a court of law. Magoun's decision could also be a warning sign for a mental disorder.

In 2001, Andrea Yates, a mother of 5, decided that she too would save her children from the corruption of the world. Deciding that her children would go to hell if she did not do something, she called her children into the bathroom one by one. Without warning the children, she drowned them one in her bath tub. Old Woman Magoun also neglected to tell Lily of her plan. There is very little difference between these two incidents, as both were aimed to protect the innocence of the children, and both were completely unnecessary extremes. Andrea Yates originally went to prison, but was later transferred to a mental institution. If Magoun is making decisions that are on par with a woman convicted of the murder of 3 children, then she did not make the right decision.

The Fairy Tale Connection

My group did Old Woman Magoun for our short story project, and though we didn't have much time to explain it in class, our spice is worth noting.

While researching the project, we found a very interesting blogpost online, which you can read here: http://culturexchange1.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/freemans-old-woman-magoun/
In summary, this blogger suggested we reread the story donning the lens of a fairy tale perspective, and compare each character to a major archetype in fantasy stories.

The Princess: In this comparison, quite obviously the princess is Lily Barry. She is young, innocent, beautiful, and the men around her want to claim her as her own. She is named for a flower, signifying her innocence, and reminding us of such simple names as Aurora and Snow. She can be compared to Little Red Riding Hood as she goes off on a mission for her grandmother, Snow White when the sour apple is the alleged cause of her death, and even Sleeping Beauty when her father comes and finds her close to death and cold as ice.

The Wolf: All the men in the story are painted in a very negative light, mostly by Magoun herself. In particular, Nelson Barry and Jim Willis are described thusly. As little Red Riding Hood walks, she is stopped by a charming  and cunning man who in the end scares her. This is Jim Willis. Later we find he wants to marry her, to steal her away from her life as much as the wolf who wanted to eat her (though I must say I'd much rather be married than eaten). And even when she arrives at the store, Nelson Barry is antagonized, also conspiring to steal Lily, and overall an unwelcome presence.

The Fairy Godmother/The Witch: Old Woman Magoun plays a very dynamic role in Lily's life, as well as in her death, it seems. Let's start with the good stuff. Magoun has always cared for Lily, and gives her everything she needs. She took her into her home when her mother dies (who's death Magoun may have also caused, but I'll get to that later), and treats her like a little princess. However, perhaps she takes this too far. The witch comes in when we think about just how much Magoun is controlling the princess's life, and arguable forcing Lily to stay innocent by not much exposing her to the world around her, specifically the world of men. Here, she's the evil "mother", and Lily is Rapunzel. She also allegedly poisoned Lily in the end, with an apple, much like how Snow White was killed by her evil step-mother.

The Prince: This one plays a much more minor role in the short story, but it's there none the less. When Willis first approaches Lily on her way to the general store, he's charming, handsome, and Lily trusts him, even falls in love with him right away. This may be the first man she's interacted with without Magoun around, much like how Sleeping Beauty and Snow White found their princes. Quickly he morphs into the Big Bad Wolf, but at first, he really is her Prince Charming.

So why does any of this matter? Sure it's cool, but why should you care? Well I'll tell you. Next time you get the chance to really mull over Old Woman Magoun and her tale, consider how often the Witch shows up, then how often the Fairy Godmother shows up. Then consider how much of the Wolf you see more than the Prince. These are interesting points to connect back to our binary work with Benjamin, the FEMALE/male vs. MALE/female, and to consider which genders are painted most negatively. It's an interesting idea to include when trying to piece together what Mary Wilkins Freeman is really trying to say about gender roles, and how they play out when paired with a princess for them to try and corrupt.

Challenging the Parent

"Old Woman Magoun" by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and "Barn Burning" by William Faulkner both represent the binary relationship of a parent dominating a child. Jessica Benjamin stated that in a binary relationship, one person must dominate and one must be submissive. The PARENT/child binary is quite common although not usually to the level taken in these two stories.

In "Old Woman Magoun," Old Women Magoun dominates her granddaughter Lily. She is very controlling and has kept Lily an innocent child, so much so, that Lily carries a rag doll with her everywhere, even at age fourteen. Old Women Magoun has kept Lily submissive by limiting her contact to the outside world, and Lily has submitted, unknowingly, because she was kept naive.

Abner and Colonel's binary relationship has different reasons for submission. Abner, Colonel's father, likes to be in control  and has a natural aggression. It is through fear that Abner exerts his dominance over Colonel and fear through which Colonel submits. Colonel also feels loyalty to his family, which was always encouraged by his father,  and that allows him to be submissive.

Lily and Colonel both agree to be submissive in the beginning of the story. Colonel  knowingly submits to his father out of fear and loyalty whereas Lily unknowingly submits because of her ignorance. Colonel, however, challenges the binary in the end when he runs away from his father. Lily does not have a chance to think about her relationship with her grandmother because she ends up dying at the end of the story. The actions of the two children therefore show that in order to challenge the binary one must know that they have submitted. That is why challenge was possible for Colonel but not for Lily.

The Idealization of Female Innocence: Then vs. Now

Female innocence, it appears, has a timeless appeal in our society. In 1905, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman wrote a short story entitled “Old Woman Magoun,” which featured the character of a fourteen-year-old girl named Lily whose physical appearance and demeanor seem to match those of a much younger child. Aside from looking much younger than she is, Lily also carries around a ragdoll and communicates with adults in a childish manner, sounding oblivious toward almost every remotely mature topic mentioned. In one instance, a strange man much older than Lily approaches her while she is walking alone and proceeds to speak to her as if she were a small child, referring to her as “little one” and “my dear” and speaking in what the author describes as a “caressing” and “soft” manner (211). The man is genuinely surprised when he discovers that Lily is as old as fourteen and questions why she still plays with her doll. Freeman leaves the conversation between the two at that, and it is not until later in the story that we discover that the man is interested in marrying Lily.

From this point on, the story has a creepy undertone. As readers, we recall the exchange between the man and Lily and reflect on its twisted and seemingly perverted nature in hindsight. The ubiquitous demonstrations of Lily’s innocence coupled with the knowledge that a much older man desires her leaves us readers feeling disturbed and uneasy.

While we might cringe at the thought of a grown man desiring an overly-innocent young girl when we read about it in a story written over a century ago, we tend to overlook that fact that female innocence is still widely idealized and desired in our society today. Take the fashion and beauty industries, for example: two industries which often, either intentionally or unintentionally, use the appeal of sex to sell their products. Many of the female models used in both industries are extremely young and sometimes childish-looking, yet the industries often place them in provocative and sometimes inappropriate outfits, looks, and poses in order to use them in advertisements to sell their products. In 2011, French Vogue used a ten-year-old model, Thylane Blondeau, in multiple spreads, displaying her in scandalous outfits and positions. This case may be an extreme, but when we take a critical look at the fashion and beauty industries as a whole, it is clear that female innocence is abused and often sexualized in order to sell products. Thus, the same type of disturbing phenomenon portrayed in “Old Woman Magoun” over a century ago is still present in our society today, and to a greater extent.

Dolls and Isolation

Mary Wilkins Freeman’s short story, “Old Woman Magoun”, tells the tale of an older woman raising her granddaughter, Lily, into a life of isolation. Throughout the story, Lily carries around a doll even though she is close to fourteen years old, and I think this helps prove her innocence/isolation. 

Someone made the point that Lily’s relationship with her doll is similar to Old Woman Magoun’s relationship with Lily, and I think that this is a very interesting argument that greatly contributes to the story. When Lily is sent to the store for the first time to pick up some salt, she runs into Jim Willis, an older man that she trusts only minutes after meeting him. Willis is surprised when he learns of Lily’s age, and she reacts by “pull[ing] her little hand away from his, and he let it go with no remonstrance. She clasped both her arms around her rag doll, in order that her hand should not be free for him to grasp again.” (Wilkins, 211). In this scene, it seems as though Lily uses her doll as a type of anchor to keep her from interacting with the “real world”; in other words, the rag doll keeps her in her state of isolation.

Similarly, Old Woman Magoun uses Lily to keep herself in place. She refuses to allow Nelson Barry, Lily’s father, to adopt his daughter, and does everything she can to keep Lily where she is in her state of innocence. When Lily dies, Old Woman Magoun decides to keep to the doll, and she carries it around wherever she goes. The doll, in many ways, took Lily’s place, and became Magoun’s new anchor: “Old Woman Magoun continued to live as she had done before. She supported herself by the produce of her tiny farm…but people said she was a trifle touched, since every time she went over the log bridge…, she carried with her, as one might have carried an infant, Lily’s old rag doll.” (Wilkins, 224). In this case, Magoun doesn’t have an infant to carry, so the ragdoll becomes the new Lily.

Protagonist Presentation

So, this occurred to me today at the end of class when the question was put on the board asking how Colette's "The Secret Woman," and Freeman's "Old Woman Magoun" related. The other story we have discussed so far is Cheever's "The Swimmer,"and even though it has a far less feminist message than the other two, it got me wondering about how the protagonists send messages.

In "Old Woman Magoun," the feminist message is epitomized in the protagonist and namesake of the story, Old Woman Magoun. She is a force to be reckoned with and refuses to submit to anyone; she is only dominated by Nelson Barry and even still his will is not completed. The story itself contains many elements, including but not limited to Benjamin-esque binaries, parent-figure and child relationships, definitions of maturity and growth, and gender roles, but despite these different themes the most apparent one is brought about by Old Woman Magoun herself. Her presence shifts the focus to her role as a woman in society and at a personal level, and sparks critical thinking about the other characters in the novel in relation to her.

"The Secret Woman," on the other hand, is from a man's perspective, following a costumed husband whose name we never learn. Despite the ambiguity of his physical character, the man's perspective of what's going on around him really brings out the prominent focus of the story, which is the sexual expression of women, particularly his wife. The last paragraph best describes his transforming feelings, and even if the reader had gone the whole story reading into the themes of mystery, betrayal, deceit and anonymity, which are all important in their own right, the main character's thoughts and perceptions brings out one of the central topics of the story.

"The Swimmer" is fairly different as it only really follows one character, Neddy, and his journey, but the way Neddy perceives things and chooses to delude himself makes the focus of the story about his mental state and the lapse of unknown time, rather than just the social interactions, drinking, or strange choice of swimming in pools. Again, although there are many important themes, Neddy forces into attention a main theme of the story.

So, essentially, regardless of the varying themes and topics throughout the short stories, each story possesses a main character who brings to the readers' attention a central focus of the story. We have yet to read a story without one or two primary characters, and I'd be interested to see what that would look like.