Gail Godwin's A Sorrowful Woman

Who Runs the Woman? Sorrow.

“A Sorrowful Woman” written by Gail Godwin in the 1970s, highlights that not every woman wants to just be a mother and a wife. The sorrowful woman remains nameless because she is the voice of every woman that wishes to be more than a housewife or a stay-at-home mother. This short story is unusual because the woman’s husband, without much help from the woman herself, maintains their home and takes care of their son day and night. Ironically, the woman is able to attend to her depression and her need to escape motherhood and housekeeping before it literally kills her. While attempting to cram in her duties as both mother and wife, she overdoses within a day. The woman’s son already became used to the idea, “she’s already

While speaking to her husband in regards to their son, the woman asked, “... could you get him a clean pair of pajamas out of the laundry. ” The woman cares if her son is clean and maintained, the same way she cares if his stomach is full. In fact, she even made “eight molds of the boy’s favorite custard,” knitted him and his father sweaters and provided them both with “two weeks supply of fresh laundered sheets and shirts and towels.” The woman is a mother and a wife but, she has a reserved way of fulfilling her roles. She does not find it necessary to play motherhood and a housekeeper every day or all day long. Evidently, the woman is still different from a typical mother; she is still dealing with depression that keeps her miserable and isolated from her husband and

She is not able to deal with her son on a regular basis, let alone playfully. This called for a nanny. The husband found the “perfect girl” who was “young and dynamic.” The nanny employed her “thousand energies” by painting the room she was staying in white, “fed the child lunch, read edifying books, raced the boy to the mailbox… cleaned a spot from the mother’s coat, made them all laugh… knitted dresses for herself and played chess with the husband.” The nanny meets the standards of a committed, typical mother and housewife. She is able to do everything the woman is not including, attending to the child and spending quality time with the husband. The only fault of the nanny is allowing the son to become playful with his mother. When the boy “approached her, smiling mysteriously… he placed his cupped hands in hers and left a live dry thing that spat brown juice in her palm and leaped away.” This innocent gesture was enough to have the nanny fired and the sorrowful woman miserable,