The role of parenting in Blood Wedding and Miss Julie.

“ They don’t love you. They eat your food, but afterwards they spit.” Because of her parents, Miss Julie has no real place in society, and is an outcast.

Jean is also affected by his parents, in the opposite manner. In the play, Jean and Miss Julie both have dreams. In Jean’s dream, he’s trying to climb up a tree and

“plunder the bird’s nest up there where the gold eggs lie,” 

while Miss Julie dreams that she is on top of a pillar that she has climbed, and can see no way of getting down, and hasn’t the courage to jump. She says that she’ll

“get no peace” 

until she comes down, and that she can’t stay where she is and longs to fall. The meaning of these dreams is quite obvious- while Jean longs to rise up in society, Miss Julie would like nothing better than to fall. It is the status of their parents that makes them so unhappy, and it cannot be changed by them.

In Blood Wedding, hereditary status does not really appear. The theme that comes up most in Blood Wedding is the transfer of morals and ideas of the parents to the children.

In the case of the Bride, this is seen through talk about her mother, a woman who

“didn’t love her husband.”

We see that the daughter may inherit this trait, as she does not seem very excited about her upcoming wedding.

In the case of the Bridegroom, it is his mother’s domination over him and her obsession with revenge on the Felix clan that act as key factors in the story. The minute that the Bride runs away, the Mother says, “blood will flow before this day is over.” 

She does not stop to think of any other solution, because of the involvement of a Felix. She goads her son into seeking violent revenge and fighting her battle, and so causes his death and the death of Leonardo.

Blood Wedding also sees the passing on of strict codes of behaviour from parent to child. Right after the Bridegroom’s wedding, the mother passes on a piece of advice about the Bride that his father taught her-

“if you think she’s getting too starry-eyed or too sour, then caress her just so that it hurts…a bruising hug or a bite, and then a gentle kiss. She won’t take it amiss, and she’ll know exactly who’s who, who gives the orders and who takes them.” 

This shows the unspoken rules of the time, saying that the husband is always in charge, and should always show it through a show of violence and strength. Another aspect of codes of behaviour is familial justice, taking the law into one’s own hands when a rule is broken, like the running away of the Bride with Leonardo. It is the parents that stress these rules and pass them down to their children, so that change and adaptation cannot really occur. These codes of behaviour indirectly caused the deaths of Leonardo and the Bridegroom, and directly caused the banishment of the Bride from society.

These codes of behaviour also appear in Miss Julie, where her mother was very much against the confines of society. Because Miss Julie was born out of wedlock, she is not even equal with the poorest peasant, because, according to the church, illegitimate children are lowest in society. The peasantry relies on religion, as can be seen by Kristen’s actions, so the church wields a lot of power in their minds.

The ideas of Miss Julie’s parents also caused her great trouble. As her mother was a feminist, she was made to do man’s work to show that she could, and to hate men. Her father was traditional, and taught her that this was wrong, and that women should be dominated by men. These conflicting views make Miss Julie very confused, and make her despise herself occasionally, as she alternately hates and bows to Jean.

Jean is influenced by his parents and his upbringing as well, no matter how highly he thinks of himself. He sees his true self at the end of the play, when Miss Julie begs him to command her to kill herself. He says, “it’s this damned lackey sitting on my back! I believe if his lordship came down now and ordered me to cut my throat, I’d do it on the spot.”

While the master was away, he could pretend that he was better than he was, but now that the true authority has returned, he cannot hide from his roots and his position in life.

There is also a mention of parents when Jean lies about the oat bin, saying he’d read it in the paper and it was a story about a chimney-sweep who’d had a paternity order brought against him. This shows a stark contrast to Jean’s previous story about his seven brothers and sisters, and his decision to die for love. We see that family isn’t really important to Jean- he betrays Kristen without a qualm although she is his fiancée, and the only time he ever mentions his parents or family it is to lie and get connections. This gives the impression that he might be ashamed of his family, as they’re not wealthy or well connected, and this might also tie in to the betrayal of Kristen. She was suitable enough until someone naïve with connections and money appeared- Miss Julie.

It is clear that parents and family play very important roles in these two texts, since many of their themes tie into family influence and bias. Blood Wedding sees passing down from generation to generation of a bias against the Felix family, and Miss Julie sees the passing down of a title. Both books show the influence of parents’ morals and ideas being handed down, and the influence of the parents’ actions. Therefore, it can be said that parents influence their offspring through their status, actions, opinions, and through the passing down of codes of etiquette and behaviour.