Theodora A Fragment Sparknotes

“Theodora: A Fragment” and “An Egyptian Cigarette” are both written by women, about women, but perhaps there is a much larger subject being tackled in both these works – consumerism. “Theodora: A Fragment” is a story written in 1895 by Victoria Cross, which was a common pseudonym for author Annie Sophie Cory. Although “Theodora” was intended to be a chapter from a much larger novel, the story stands alone. While Cross had apparently already finished Six Chapters of Man’s Life in 1894, it was not published in its entirety until 1903 (Rojas 108). Instead of publishing all the chapters at once part of the third chapter of the novel first appeared in Volume IV of The Yellow Book in 1895. According to Ana Raquel Rojas, this chapter or “fragment” from the novel was Cross’ first publication (108-9). Kate Chopin was born in 1850, with

Frank Trentmann makes a highly interesting point about necessity and consumerism (377). He poses the question, if someone is living in suburban north American and needs a car in order to get around, to access food, supplies, education, does this mean they are more of a consumer than someone who lives in an urban city and can forgo purchasing a car? (Trentmann 377). With this point in mind, both females in the stories consume and are commoditized mainly because of want, not necessity. In “An Egyptian Cigarette” the speaker is given the cigarettes from the Architect, who received them in “Cairo by a species of Fakir” (Chopin 252). By no other reason than “you are a cigarette smoker” (Chopin 252), the speaker is given the cigarettes. In “Theodora”, Theodora is a ‘want’ for Cecil, but also represents a ‘want’ for herself, not a man. Because of her marriage clause, she has the freedom to decide whom she wants in terms of companionship, but if she wishes to maintain a privileged lifestyle, she ‘needs’ to find a wealthy partner – a