Feminism in 'Prue' and 'My Heart is Broken'

     Mavis Gallant wrote My Heart is Broken in 1964. In the1960s, American women were limited in almost every aspect, from family life to workplace. They were expected to follow the one and only path: marry in the early 20s, start a family quickly, and devote their lives to homemaking. One woman at the time put it this way, “The female doesn't really expect a lot from life. She's here as someone's keeper — her husband's or her children’s.” 1964, when My Heart is Broken was written, was right after1962 when Betty Friedan sparked the second wave of the American feminist movement through The Feminine Mystique by expressing the frustration of the generation of college-educated housewives who felt trapped.The short story may not be of the modern, active woman who proves the society wrong, but it is a feminist novel in the sense that it captures the passivity of women in this era that the feminist movement saw as a problem.    

     Mrs.Thompson is a woman who has not only conformed to the social atmosphere, but who represents and asserts it. Jeannie, the protagonist, passively succumbs to Mrs.Thompson, and thus to the male-dominant social atmosphere as well. A troubling notion that readers come across in this story is how Mrs.Thompson blames Jeannie for being raped. She is obviously the victim, but somehow she is responsible since she got dressed and went out for a walk on high heels. According to Mrs.Thompson, instead of being dressed and acting like any other girl of her age, she should have cleaned her house. Two stereotypes are reinforced here. First, women’s primary role is to clean houses, and a girl who roaming around freely is condemnable. Secondly, women, or more specifically women’s sex, is something any man can take, almost like an object. Jeannie seems to have no problem with this outrageous notion as she implies that it would have been fine if the rapist had liked her. What is important, she implies, is not her virgin or sexual integrity, but whether she is liked by men. Her obsession of being liked by men illustrates the idea that women are evaluated and judged by their attractiveness to men, failing to judge themselves independent of men.

     The more shocking stance that Mrs.Thompson takes is that she doesn’t want to hear the rapist’s name simply because there is no need. By common sense, a criminal’s presence should be made aware to everyone, but clearly to Mr.Thompson and even to Jeannie as seen by her consent, a rapist is not a criminal. In other words, preventing future rapes is less important than protecting his job. Moreover, she refers to the rapist and asks, “Why should another man be thrown out of work?” Such unreasonable protection is a representative of the kind of ideas fought by the second wave of feminism, which focused on social and cultural inequalities. 

     Compared to Mrs.Thompson and Jeannie who remain submissive to the limited lives set by their environment, the protagonist, Prue, in Prue is more liberal in terms of life based on gender. Her name accurately captures the gap between what is expected of her by the society and the life she is living. The name Prue, representing prudence, dictates her to be careful and rather passive. However, she is bright, vivacious, and especially not prudent regarding sex. But most importantly, her relationship with Gordon is not one-sided. Many readers regard Prue as being mistreated and remaining passive because she doesn't seem to be offended by the fact that Gordon will marry her later since he is currently in love with another woman. However, a feminist literary criticism, I believe, ought to look at how the woman protagonist perceives the situation rather than simply looking at the outcome. If Prue is truly offended but does not express it, the interpretation that Prue is passive would be true. Howeve, Prue is not offended greatly by Gordon. In fact, she jokes about his marriage proposal and regards her relationship with Gordon rather lightly. 

     Does Prue's act of taking cufflinks have anything to do with feminism? Her action can be interpreted in many ways and there is no one answer. But in my perspective, she seems to be trying to control the relationship in her own way. Because she feels ambiguous on the importance of Gordon in her life, she wants to materialize her relationship. This reflects a rather active feminism in contrast to Jeannie in My Heart is Broken, as Prue does not remain passive but takes the courage to steal from her lover to confirm her own emotion. Another feminist viewpoint in the novel is how townspeople react. Compared to 'My Heart is Broken' where women are portrayed as rightfully loyal and submissive to men, the townspeople hope that Prue isn't staying in Toronto just because of Gordon, suggesting that women should not be bound to men. 

30 Things About Myself

30 Things About Myself

1. Basketball
I love basketball. One of my biggest goal of my senior year is to win the state championship. I'm a bit worried because my ankle injury from a year ago still hurts little by little. I skipped the state championship last year because of the injury, and don't want that to repeat again. I sometimes imagine myself placed in a dramatic situation where I am an injured NBA player and have to choose between playing the most important game of my life and saving myself from become disabled.

2. Music
Some people love listening to one song for hours and days. I don't. I always vary my playlist and my range of taste includes ballad, soft rock, rap, dance music, piano, guitar.....My favorite musician so far is Nell. Every song is a poem and the songs always have a strange power of being different in different seasons or places.

3. Mountain Hiking
I have climbed many mountains - big and small, outside and inside Korea. Since young, my dad has taken me to mountains. We didn't talk too much during hiking, but it was our special son-dad time. As I got older, I recognized that hiking with me was an effort dad was making to spend time with me. But honestly, I'm not sure if I truly enjoy hiking myself. A few weeks ago, for the first time in over a year, I went hiking with dad again. Part of me wanted to remain home and get lazy, but rejecting would have hurt his feelings, so I headed to Keumkang mountain for the fourth time in my life. Though hiking doesn't reach out to my heart yet, I feel that it will when I get older.

4. Spaghetti
My favorite food is spaghetti. I like cream spaghetti the most, but I can't eat more than three bites of the greasy dish. It's quite ironic because it's exactly the greasy and rich cream that appeals to my taste. So my strategy in Italian restaurants is persuading other people - especially my parents because they are the easiest - to order cream spaghetti while I order something less greasy, and then savoring just three bites of the creamy stuff.

But nowadays, I just want to eat meat, meat, meat. I don't want to admit that it's my favorite food yet, because it sounds less eclectic. 

5. Magic Hand
What my hand grabs hold of usually disappears. More than 5 ipods and earphones vanished through my touch. My mom exploded in rage when I once lost my family camera. Along with the family camera flew away hundreds of pictures as well. My mom tells me that she seriously wishes that I lose my passport while traveling abroad, so that I learn a painful lesson.

6. Bicycle
Bicycle rivals basketball as my favorite hobby. While basketball is rigorous, energetic, and social, riding a bicycle is more sedate, thought-provoking, and solitary. My normal middle school day had at least one hour of bike riding since I rarely took cars when going to school or hagwons. I don't understand why people prefer sitting in compact, confined vehicles to stare at their smartphones when freedom and health lie just outside the windows.

7. Movies
I love watching movies. One thing that may set me apart is that I'm perfectly fine with and sometimes enjoy going to the theater alone. As I got older, I lost interest in fantasy and action. Now, I'm more into drama and comedy. The most recent movie I saw was Frozen, which I watched in 3D with my sister. It was pleasant, but nothing more.

8. Desire
My desire is to get over with my senior year as fast as possible. I can't wait for the eight month break, waiting for a new chapter in my life while savoring the tediousness of everyday with nothing to do.

9. Chinese
My tie with China started about five years ago. Chinese class isn't my favorite. But recently, I've been thinking that talking fluently in Chinese would be great, and I plan to keep learning the lang in college. I want to befriend many Chinese when I go to college to improve my Chinese. Besides, I heard that many Chinese in American colleges are rich beyond imagination. Of course, this would account very little for my desire to befriend anyone, but again, many are rich beyond imagination. Who knows what palace I will be invited to and what posh I will be served when I visit one of them in China.

10. Games
For a boy, I don't play much games. At one point, I always feel a rush of futility. Maplestory has never failed me with this regard. The game that held my interest for the longest was Crazyarcade. Honestly, I think it's really sophisticated and intellectual, contrary to its cute appearance.

11. Travelling
I love traveling. I've been to US, China, UK, Hong Kong, Japan, Czech, and so on. I wanted to travel around Europe when I was young, but recently I'm more attracted to South America or Africa.

12. Earphone
I like spending money on earphones. When I was young, I preferred earphones with booming bass. But now I prefer open earphones with high resolution. Just like one's music preference expresses something about that person, earphone preference, I believe, speaks about that person as well.

13. pneumothorax
I have three scars around my chest. I got them through three rounds of surgeries last year after suffering from pneumothorax twice. Since young, I have barely stepped into a hospital, so both my parents and I were shocked when the doctor told us that I would need a surgery. Pneumothorax is infamous for recurring, and indeed it recurred two weeks after I recovered from my first round.

14. Han River
I feel most comfortable next to the Han River. I've been there alone and with my friends numerous times, most of the time riding my bike. The wind that rushes against my body both empowers and consoles me. I find the Han River whenever I want to let go of tangled emotions and pressure from my mind.d

15. Winter
Winter is my favorite season. It was spring or autumn before, but it changed.d

16. Love
The word fills me with both excitement and worries - excitement because of obvious reasons, and worries because I'm worried that I would not be able to love anyone for long, especially because I'm capricious. I really don't want this to happen after I'm married, so I often seriously think about the kind of person I want to marry.

17. Moving
Due to my father's job, my family moved more than six times after I was born. I've lived in Busan, Ulsan, Incheon, Yeosu, Seoul Mokdong, Seoul Jamsil, US Virginia, and maybe Mokpo when I was an infant. The experience almost forced me to become active and well-assimilating, so partly, I'm grateful.

18. Soccer
I was a soccer kid back when I was an elementary kid, but I switched to basketball since middle school. Why? Because it's more cool and fun. It's shameful that more Koreans are soccer fanatics than basketball fanatics; I blame them for the poor NBA broadcasting in Korea.

19. Broomstick
Broomstick was my nickname in middle school. I'm often teased for my curly and bushy hair in KMLA - one culprit inside this room, JEFF -, but personally I don't care too much. My hair was indeed a broomstick back in middle school, making my hair now somewhat calm and neat. Whenever I sweated in middle school, the entire tangle of my hair shot upwards to the sky and remained stuck. It was a mystery to all.

20. Malcolm X
I wouldn't call him my idol, but Malcolm X is definitely the public figure who intrigues me most. A man always surrounded by controversies, he devoted his entire life to blacks in America. His charisma, stemming from his powerful stature, oratory skills, and blind pursuit towards his goal, was so great that many whites feared his influence and many opponents refused to debate him in public.

21. Future
Frankly, I don't know what I want to do in the future. I personally think that asking a student what he wants to do in the future is a meaningless question. The reason why 'future' is one of my keyword is because recently, I'm beginning to ponder about what kind of life I want to live. Do I want to make a lot of money? Or do I want to work for a righteous cause?

22. Fashion
Fashion... I know fashion. I like fashionable people. But I don't care much about my own fashion. Maybe I will after I graduate and escape this dormitory that pretty much allows no room for fashion.

23. Allen Iverson
Allen Iverson is my favorite basketball player. He is retired now and probably somewhere playing amateur basketball. But when he was in the NBA, he was phenomenal, revolutionizing the crossover move to overcome his short height and become the scoring leader. My favorite play and definitely a legendary moment in the NBA, is when he crossed up Michael Jordan and made a pull-up jump shot. The entire crowd stood up when it was evident that Iverson was going to go 1 on 1 against Michael Jordan, not only the greatest offensive player, but the greatest defensive player at the time.

24. Brian
My English name is Brian, but I don't like it. Honestly, I don't think I fit into any English name. Moreover, I don't like the idea of English names. For me, a Korean should be called by his or her Korean name. I know some people prefer English names because they are easier for foreigners to pronounce, but I personally find names that are exotic and harder to pronounce more attractive. When I meet a foreigner, I'm excited by the fact that he is different from me. If I ask him his name and get a Korean name in response, my thrill would be shattered. I want a seven syllable name with bunch of Qs and Zs so I struggle every time I try to call him and we laugh as he futilely corrects my pronunciation.

25. Skiing
For me, skiing is a sign that I'm getting old. I loved skiing the first day I learned it, which was about four to five years ago. Even in summer, simply imagining it filled me with excitement and anticipation, but not now. I'm more worried about getting injured.

26. Religion
My mom is Catholic, but the rest of us in the family don't believe in God. When I went to church when I was young, I dozed through most of the preaching, and woke up at the end to make a wish. Feeling somewhat guilty, I always made a promise to God that I would be more devout when my wish was granted. But I failed to keep my promise most of the time even after my wish became true. To think of it, I have never entertained the thought that there is really an omnipotent creature overlooking us. In my personal view, if he exists, God is neither good nor evil. He doesn't help us; he simply watches.

27. Galapagos Islands
I will, definitely, go to the Galapagos Islands at some point in my life. The place was one of my child dreams since it holds so many wonders of nature.

28. Being Korean
When I was young, I wished that I had been born somewhere else like US or Germany so I wouldn't have to suffer from the intense heat of education. But now, I'm proud that I was born Korean. I heard that Koreans are the hardest-working in foreign countries. Yes, we are hard-working and I know work isn't everything about life. But I believe that through such struggle to survive blossoms a stronger intimacy and love between our own race - stronger that what's forged in a cool and easy life.

29. Friends
Friends are definitely one of the most important part of my life. I never realized this until this vacation, I found out how boring and meaningless life is without friends to talk to and share your emotions. I prefer few best friends rather than many shallow friends. Some people say that you can be intimate with all of them, but I disagree.

30. Emotion
Just like my motto 'this too shall pass', I think I'm relatively good at letting go of things that either depress me too much or excite me too much.