'The Son's Veto' written By Thomas Hardy and 'Survival' written By John Wyndham. Compare the characters of the two women and write about how far you sympathise with the decision each woman makes.

James Udakis 10P

Wide Reading Essay

‘The Son’s Veto’ written By Thomas Hardy

and ‘Survival’ written By John Wyndham

Compare the characters of the two women and write about how far you sympathise with the decision each woman makes.

All women would do anything for their children, or would they?

In my essay, I am going to compare two stories, ‘The Son’s Veto’ by Thomas Hardy and ‘Survival’ by John Wyndham. I am going to write about how the men treat the women in the different stories. Also I am going to discuss how the characters of the women change during the stories, how I feel about the two women’s different sacrifices and what the author’s attitudes seem to be towards the two women. And finally, I am going to write about how far each woman’s actions are governed by social expectations of women in the two different time periods.

‘The Son’s Veto’ is about a woman who is crippled, is widowed with a son, is not able to re-marry her child-hood sweetheart because her son overrules her decision.

‘Survival’ is about a woman who goes into space when she is pregnant, the people on board the space ship are all going to die (as part of the ship is broken) as a desperate measure she turns to cannibalism so she and her baby survive.

In this paragraph, I am going to discuss and write about how the character of Sophy (The Son’s Veto’) changes throughout the story. At the start of the story she is rather flirtatious and youthful. She is a servant to the vicar, and while serving her master, she twists her foot and could never walk again. It is at this time of the story that her character changes quite severely. She turns into a sad & lonely lady. This is because she marries the vicar, who feels responsible for her fall. She is not used to being an equal person, as she had been a servant for so long. Together the vicar and Sophy have a child and send him to a public school to be well educated. Once her husband dies, she is even lonelier than before. She cannot stand being lonely and wants to marry Sam. When she asks Randolph his permission to remarry he is fine with the idea but does not like her marrying Sam the gardener. The son vetoes Sophy and she accepts this, but not gracefully. She longs to re-marry Sam and in the end she dies of loneliness.

In this paragraph, I am going to talk about how the character of Alice changes throughout the story. At the start of the play Alice appears very shy and timid, well that is what her parents say:

‘Remember how the other children used to call her mouse?’

But at the end of the story she is a completely different person. It makes you wonder how well Alice’s parents know her:

‘I’m a woman with my own life to live’

At the very start of the play, before they go aboard the space shuttle her parents try and talk her out of it and her mother remarks how the other girls at school used to call her ‘mouse’. Her parents would not mind if she was less timid, but I do not think that her parents have the right to try and talk her out of it. Surely when Alice talks to her parents harshly they must realise that she is not how she seems. On the first two pages she does not just speak harshly once, she is quite nasty two or three times:

This is a preview of the whole essay

‘The sharpness of her tone took Mrs Feltham aback for a moment’. When she announces that she is pregnant, the reader is shown more and more that Alice is not a timid girl as it appears at the start of the story. By the end of the story, the reader is left in no doubt that she is not a shy and timid girl, she is in fact a stubborn, ferocious cannibal. She is also very selfish and arrogant. She demands more rations once the first person dies. But when she cannot get her way, she turns to cannibalism to survive, and she will even shoot people to get her way, so she and the baby can survive. She is also self-centred when she points out the tabloids are more interested in her because she is a girl, and it is not thought normal for a woman to go on a space voyage.

Now, I am going to write about how the men in ‘The Son’s Veto’ treat Sophy and how she reacts to the different men. At the start of story, there are two men involved, as Randolph has not been born yet. There is Sam, the gardener and Mr Twycott, Sophy’s master. At the start of the story, Sophy and Sam are seeing each other, and eventually Sam asks Sophy to marry him. This comes as a bit of a shock to Sophy but she accepts. Not because she wants to marry him, she wants a home:

‘Not much. But it would be a home for me.’

It is as though Sophy does not love Sam, and when they have a blazing row, it gives her a chance to leave him and break his heart. And she does just that without looking back.

Another man in the story is Mr Twycott. He is originally Sophy’s master, then he is her husband. Their marriage is not moraly correct:

‘Sophy did not exactly love him, but had a respect for him.’

I think she felt that she could not refuse his offer as he was so far above her in the social class level. Also I do not think that Mr Twycott truly loved her. I think he only asked Sophy to marry him, as he felt responsible for Sophy’s fall. Once they were married, Mr Twycott did not treat Sophy as an equal. He thinks he has committed social suicide by marrying his servant and they move away. Sophy does not want to move to London but she does not stand up to her husband as she feels like his servant still.

The third man in the story is Randolph, Sophy’s son. Quite frankly he is a posh, selfish snob. At the very start of the story he is correcting her on the grammar she uses:

‘Has dear mother- not have!’

He gets so worked up by this grammatical mistake, he is scolding his mother. And she does not try retaliate to that:

‘…And did not resent him making it’

I feel this outrageous, as most mothers in this day and age would not tolerate this. She does not stand up to Randolph at all in the story and this is because she thinks her son is of a higher class than she is. And it is this failure to stand up to her son that allows him to veto his mother, as he knows that she will grin and bear it. When she tells Randolph of her plan to marry Sam, he is completely against it. He feels having a stepfather, as a greengrocer will degrade him:

‘It will ruin me!’

He is so upset by the idea, that he makes Sophy swear on the bible that she will not marry Sam. And she agrees! It was this decision that made her so lonely. She was in London, with no friends and no family. And with no husband. This is all too much for her and she dies of loneliness a few years later.

In this paragraph, I am going to write about how the men in ‘Survival’ treat Alice. The captain of the space shuttle thinks she is a child and she will not survive in space:

‘What’s the idea of that kind going to Mars?’

He has a very sexist attitude towards Alice. This story was written in the 1950’s and women were expected to stay at home. Halfway through the story, the captain thinks that Alice is not as shy as she seems:

‘She could not be as meek as she looked’

I think if she was so shy, she would not have gone on the space voyage in the first place. When he is told that Alice is pregnant, he will not make any allowances for her. This leads to tragic consequences as Alice goes on a killing rampage and eats her victims.

The navigating officer has a sexist attitude also towards Alice:

‘She ought to be back home knitting’

Although he has this attitude towards her, he does think there is more to her character:

‘Scared of her own shadow… but with an awful amount of determination’.

She may look shy and timid on the outside but she is so different on the inside.

I am now going to write about the sacrifice each woman makes. First of all, Sophy. She sacrifices her own happiness for her son. Overall, I think Sophy should have married Sam despite Randolph’s objections. Everyone should have the chance to be happy. It was not as if Randolph was at home anyway. He was at boarding school and was soon off to university. If he were at school it would have been different. The worst bit was the fact that Randolph would have let Sophy marry a gentleman. All Randolph thought about was himself and his status. Randolph used his status to abuse Sophy mentally even though she was his mother.

On the other hand, Alice’s sacrifice is completely different. Alice sacrifices something for her child. But she does not sacrifice something personal she sacrifices people. I feel ambivalent towards this sacrifice. Firstly, everyone on the ship is equal and should not be eaten by somebody. But at the same time, everyone-including the baby should have the chance to live. But for all we know, Alice could have eaten the baby after everyone else for her own survival.

In this paragraph, I am going to write about the author’s attitudes towards the two women. First of all Sophy. At the beginning of the story, Hardy feels sorry for Sophy and the situation she is in :

‘Poor thing.’

I also think Hardy portrays her as a victim. This is when she lets herself get bullied by her own son. Hardy thinks Randolph is cruel not letting Sophy be happy. He is not just cruel, he is selfish as he would let her marry a gentleman, but not a green-grocer. And it is not as if Randolph is at home all the time. At the end of the story, Hardy wants the reader to feel sympathetic towards Sophy :

‘She seemed to be pining her heart away.’

This paragraph will be about John Wyndham’s attitude towards Alice. In a lot of stories, the author’s views on the main character are often found within the other characters’ dialogue. In this particular story, there is no obvious text that explains what his views are. At the start of the story, I think that Wyndham is against Alice going on the Space Voyage. It is the way he continues writing about the parents not wanting her to go. It was not the fact they loved her – it was because she was a woman. In 1950, everyone thought that work was just for men, so why should Wyndham feel differently? At the end of the story, I think that Wyndham thinks that Alice is right in her act of cannibalism. If he was against such a serious issue, he would let his feelings be known.

I am going to write about the social expectations of Sophy. She is expected to obey men. This is because women were seen as less important that men – as second class citizens. She obeys Randolph. She sacrifices her own happiness for her son. She also obeys Mr Twycott. When he wants to move, she moves. When he wants to marry her, she marries him. But when it comes to the crunch Sophy obeys Randolph, but not Sam. This is because Randolph is of a higher class than herself and Sam. At the time the story was written, people were not allowed to move between social classes. Sophy lacks confidence and she was bullied by the upper class so she could not find the confidence to marry Sam. Servants were not supposed to marry masters, and Mr Twycott decided to go to London, so they could be small people in a large city. This story is linked to another Thomas Hardy story : ‘Tess of the Durbervilles’ It is similar in respect that people were treated differently according to their gender and social class. Nowadays, there is not as much pre-occupation with gender and social class as in 1891. But there are still ‘posh people’ around and some employers only employ men or women.

In this paragraph, I am going to write about the social expectations of Alice. This particular story was written in the 1950’s and was set in the future. People going to space was considered quite normal, but there was only one woman on the voyage, who was a token female. At that time, everyone thought a woman’s place was at home. They were expected to do all the housework and look after the children while the men went to work. Although nowadays, people think this mentality is wrong, it still exists. For example, most bank cashiers are women. But the bank manager is usually a man. Everyone in the story has a mentality that space is no place for a woman.

‘She should be back home knitting.’

Even now, fifty years later, only a couple of astronauts have been women.

To conclude, the actions of the women are governed by social expectations. They are both expected to stay at home and be obedient to men. But both women break the ‘rules’. Sophy is a servant who marries her master. Alice is expected to stay at home and knit, but she goes on a Space Voyage. The authors of each story feel sympathy towards the two women. Hardy feels sorry for Sophy – he keeps on describing her as: ‘Poor girl’. Hardy thinks Sophy should marry Sam. Wyndham feels that it is wrong for the men to pre-judge Alice. Sophy’s decision is vetoed by her son. She moves to London from the pressure of Mr Twycott. Alice is told that she will not survive in space and she should be at home knitting. The difference is Sophy accepts this lying down but Alice stands up and fights back. Both women in the different stories change. Sophy is originally youthful and flirtatious. When she marries Mr Twycott and when they move to London she is lonely. Finally when Mr Twycott dies, she is lonelier and she longs to be happy again and in the end she dies of loneliness. Alice, however, comes across as shy and timid. When she is on the space voyage she is demanding and stubborn, and finally she turns into an insane cannibal. I feel strongly about the different sacrifices each woman makes. I think Sophy is wrong in sacrificing her own happiness for Randolph as she has a right to be happy again. I think Alice is right and wrong in her sacrifice. Everyone on the voyage is equal so they do not deserve to be sacrificed. But at the same time, the baby has a right to live.