One of the more interesting aspects of this story, for me, is the connection Porter draws between women and pacifism, as well as men and nationalism. In the sections leading up to her disease, Miranda's thoughts repeatedly iterate her reservations about the American war effort, and her revulsion towards war itself. Miranda's job in the press exposes her to the details of war-mongering and propaganda first hand, which she views with internal disgust but external complacency, out of a fear, which is mentioned several times, of the consequences of open objection to the war. Miranda encounters liberty-bonds salesmen who feed on xenophobia and war-fever to make money, threatening peoples jobs and making monetary support of violence a condition of good-citizenship. She does her supposed "woman-on-the-home-front" duties, stopping by at soldier's hospitals and going to military dances, but always with a certain uneasiness as to the value/morality of what she is doing, which is only shared with female acquaintances. Towney and a volunteer red-cross nurse express reservations similar to Miranda's in private, but, like Miranda, practice public complacency and support. These objections are indeed only private, but they are living in a nation caught in a patriotic/nationalist fervor, wherein disagreement quickly becomes treason and silent objection can become imprisonment.
On the other hand, the men in the story, even those in no way connected to the war effort (chuck/bill), are never shown by Porter to hold any sort of reservation about the basic necessity of war, even in as much as they might mock the propaganda and machinations behind it. Adam, who is portrayed in a very sympathetic light, is shown to at least hold some disdain for war, when prompted by Miranda, but never openly questions its existence or need. Chuck, who cannot go to war, expresses a similar comic disdain but still says it is right that soldier's "perish where they fall." The only male, and in fact the only character, that seems to be not at all concerned with the war is the playwright who comes to challenge Miranda at her office.
Anyways, I'm losing hold of what my point is so I'll just stop here. If anyone would like to contribute please do
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I thought that the world that Porter creates in this short story reminded me of a very paranoid aniti-communist era. Everyone is being watched and is watching everyone else. There is an overwhelming pressure to be patriotic. Even as individuals stuggle to make ends meet, they are forced to help by knitting sweaters, donating, and going to see sick/injured soldiers. It seems that all of this effort is superficial, not to mention useless. The context of the war has completely taken Miranda's life off the path she wished to take. Everything has been overshadowed by it.
I thought it was interesting that Porter never said "America" or any other country name in this story. To me, this was indicative of how Miranda (through Porter) felt about our nation. I think this goes along with your pacifism theory, Daniel. If Porter wanted Miranda to be patriotic, she would have been peppering her story with "Yay for America" sentimentality. She doesn't even say "American Red Cross" it is just "Red Cross." Since this story is set in a time when propaganda was widely used (Liberty Bonds), I think it is really important that America isn't even mentioned. There are even certain aspects of this story that could have taken place in other countries, such as her and Adam's late night runs to dives. The only way we know it is America is because they are selling Liberty Bonds, and I don't think they did that in any other country.
I agree with Michelle the fact that Porter deliberate leaves out America is odd she only alludes to it when she talks about New York and the Liberty Bonds and I do think this was a way to show that the patriotism in this story is not exactly voluntary. I think the Liberty Bonds salesman stresses this point because he will not leave her be even though she describes her financial position and he still continues on and makes her look like a bad person and even make the newspaper office seem unpatriotic as well due to her, he tries to place social humiliation upon her. It just surprised me that not only did the salesman relentlessly pressure her into purchasing a Liberty Bond but he tried to make her feel bad about her decision. I think this elaborates on Porter's ideals of the war and the forced patriotism that surrounds wars in general.
Post a Comment