In ‘The withered Arm’ Rhoda is an outcast from society as a milkmaid in this text says. “Tis hard for she,’ signifying the thin worn milkmaid aforeside. ‘O no,’ said the second. ‘He ha’n’t spoke to Rhoda for years.’” This is showing how Rhoda was thrown out of society for conceiving a child with a farmer who was seen as a middle class citizen, this was seen as wrong because of the class differentiation, the lower class thought of the middle and highest classes as snobbish and rich. “‘I am ashamed of you! It will ruin me! A miserable boor! A churl! A clown! It will degrade me in the eyes of all the gentlemen in England!’” This is Randolph from ‘The Son’s Veto’ saying this to his own mother just because she wants to get remarried, it shows how snobbish the upper class was, and as his mother was raised in a lower class then Randolph dislikes her because she embarrasses him. “He was reducing their compass to a few thousand wealthy and titled people, the mere veneer of a thousand million or so of others who did not interest him at all.” This is also showing how much of a snob Randolph is cutting off everyone who he doesn’t think is important enough to be acknowledged.
Woman’s rights in those times were very limited and based totally on what men thought/wanted such as a woman could not have a proper job or earn a living such as Sophy in ‘The Son’s Veto.’ After Sophy’s husband died all she got as a living was a certain amount left by the parson which she got an amount of each month. “She was left with no control over anything that had been her husband’s beyond her modest personal income.” She was only allowed to live in the house the ownership of the house was left to the young boy, Randolph, this means he has ownership of a accommodation at a young age, again showing how men were seen as being much more important than they are now. Men also thought of there women as a catch and thought they had to be beautiful and a good house keeper, they showed them as trophies. “The well-to-do Farmer Lodge came nearly last; and his young wife, who accompanied him, walked up the aisle with the shyness natural to a modest woman” The Farmer did this so that everyone in the church saw his new wife and saw how lucky he was to have a woman as beautiful as her. “It whewed and whistled so load when it rubbed against the pews that the lady coloured up more than ever.” This shows how else the farmer made the people in the church look by making noises so everyone notices, this made farmer Lodge happy. “Mr Lodge, he seemed pleased” This pleased Farmer Lodge a lot because every one saw them together. Phyllis was controlled by her father. “The daughter’s seclusion was great” She was kept inside her garden by her father and there was no-one living near by so she was isolated this also connects to some of his other stories, there was Rhoda in ‘The Withered Arm’ isolated away from society except for at her job at the farm, and there was Sophy in ‘The Son’s Veto’ who was isolated inside her house, limited by her wheel chair and her son disliked her because of her upbringing.
People thought that if someone conceived a child without being married, that they are a horrid person. An example of this is Rhoda in ‘The Withered Arm’ as she conceived a child from having relations with Farmer Lodge years before the story was set as we saw while reading it. “He ha’n’t spoke to Rhoda Brook for years.” I mentioned this quote earlier but it’s for the same reasons, it shows haw they hated that woman for something she couldn’t help, because they had no contraception in those days so how could they have prevented it.
The social, cultural and historical pressures put on women in those times where immense they nearly couldn’t do anything with out a husband or father; I think these ways of treating women where very unfair but they thought a lot differently then where as I have been brought up in a community based around women.
