So since we know the plot already, we can focus on other things more acutely this time. I was looking at how different the structure is. We begin with the narrator's words in something like a quasi second person narration. Madame Blanchard is addressed throughout, but she only has two lines of her own dialogue. These must be there for a reason.
Perhaps they show that power relations are not what they seem. The first line is about the narrator pulling too hard on her hair. It is ironic, that Madame Blanchard is the lady of the house, yet within the context of this story, it is the narrator maid that gets all the power. We only have her words to rely on as truth, and she quite literally has Madame Blanchard by the hair.
The second line is "Yes, and then?" which hints that she is so enthralled in the narrator's story to be at the mercy of it. Thus the power structure is inverted: the servant has power not only over Madame Blanchard, but also over us, by being the only vessel through which we are getting information.
3 comments:
That's a very interesting take on this story. I had never really considered the power inherent in the narrative voice here, but it is rather obvious now that you point it out. While the servant is obeying the mistress by performing her duty, that duty is one that naturally puts the maid in a position of trust/power. As you said, the maid has the mistress by the hair; a prone, vulnerable position. On top of that, the maid is given added authority as a storyteller: the mistress becomes enthralled by the story and thus the storyteller. An interesting dynamic you picked up on.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing too. Actually, this story reminds me of a mother telling her child a story, specially a cautionary tale. Do you think that maybe this was on purpose? On both reads, I kind of saw Madame as a child. I don't know, maybe it was just me...
I was really interested to read your post and I like how you read this story. The first time I read this story, I actually thought that having the narrator brush Madame Blanchard's hair was showing a subservient relationship. I usually think if someone is brushing someone else's hair, they are not getting any benefits. It is not really the best job, because you have to stand there and do something for someone else instead of getting any benefits. I am also guessing that Madame Blanchard had to ask the narrator to do her hair too. With this reading, I thought how odd it was that the narrator would be telling a story about how Ninette had to go back to her "owner," if the narrator herself was some sort of servant. On the second read though, I started to see how the narrator actually had significant power over Madame Blanchard's hair. This reading allows me to make sense of all the hair comments, as we were talking about in class, and also it made me see that the narration was also a little bit threatening. I'm not sure I'll ever let someone brush my hair again! :)
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