Gail Godwin's A Sorrowful Woman

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Until recently, women played very specific and limited roles in life. They were limited to housewife, cook, maid, nurse, and a few other “feministic” jobs and couldn’t break out of this set social norm because it has always been this way. But what happens when a woman does break the pattern, when she has had enough and cracks, or when the roles in the household become swapped?
“A Sorrowful Woman” is a short story written by Gail Godwin in 1971. The story focuses primarily on the mother/wife of a family of three who becomes overwhelmed with her roles and duties in life and as a result she withdraws from her family and home life, and eventually from the world, communicating only through notes passed under the door threshold to her room written …show more content…

We learn the husband plays both parts of the typical household in this time period: “He got up hours early, did the shopping, cooked the breakfast, took the boy to nursery school. ‘We will manage,’ he said, ‘until you’re better, however long that is.’ He did his work, collected the boy from the school, came home and made the supper, washed the dishes, got the child to bed. He managed everything.” He managed everything. Even for today’s standards, this is an impressive feat for a single parent, a father in particular because of the view that society has on fathers. To modern society, fathers aren’t meant to be the caretakers and cleaners of the house, they aren’t meant to take care of children full-time. They’re supposed to go to work and bring home money; they are bread winners. The husband is also very loving and patient, showing support to his wife throughout the entirety of the story. He was perceptive of her wants and needs but he understood, “Perhaps the best thing is for you to follow it through… I want to be big enough to contain whatever you must do.” Even when he was discouraged, he tried his best to care for and console his wife by providing all her care and needs and understanding.
Something to focus on in “A Sorrowful Woman” is the conflict between the mother and her son. For many people having a healthy child is one of the greatest blessings anyone can get. Even the woman recognizes this: “I am the luckiest woman,” she says while crying, which is ironic because she does not seem to feel so due to her weariness from doing things for her husband and

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