The Widow's Might by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Book Review

In The Widow’s Might by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, we have zeroed in on the themes of independence, struggle, control, freedom, determination, and duty. These were narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator. The author makes use of different themes to build the plot of the story. 

Firstly, let us look at the theme of freedom which is displayed through Mrs McPherson’s loss of her husband. As most people would be devastated and levitating in grief of losing their loved one; that was not as close to Mrs McPherson’s case. Rather than being sad about her husband’s death, she felt a sense of freedom, she felt she was longer obliged to anyone. She now had the freedom of choice, to live her life as she chose. For instance, after her husband’s unfortunate death, she discloses “Now I’m free". Likewise, she felt free from her children evident when she expressed “I have no children” and continues to say “I have done my duty by them, and they did their duty by me” she claims that for 30years she considered her husband and children’s wishes now it was time to consider her own.  At the time the story was written (1911) it would have been deemed inappropriate by society for a married woman to think of herself and neglect what would have been considered her social obligations. As the story progresses, she informs her children that she is indeed “A Real Person with some interests of her own and half a lifetime yet.” - implying that she too can have passions of her own and has quite a while to explore them as she pleases. Furthermore, she claims she has always wanted to go to New Zealand and to Australia—and Tasmania and so much more and she now could. She points out that she has one thousand in the savings, to bring her back from anywhere on earth. If that is not freedom l don’t know what is. Last but CERTAINLY not least she proclaims ‘ l’ve got $5000 to play with, and l’m going to play.” 

When it comes to independence. Since Mr McPherson’s illness and eventual death. Mrs McPherson has become more independent in her life. Although she was catering and caring for her husband, she managed to be self-supportive through administering her own profession; what she liked to call her little ‘rancho-sanitarium’ to make her own profits. However, her own children envisioned her as weak and incapable of individualism; when it came to splitting their father’s earnings the children had already decided on a course of action without considering how she would have felt about it. They believed she could neither take care of herself nor make up her own mind when it came to her own life. Nevertheless, Mrs McPherson had other plans, she had no intention of obliging to her children’s plans- of returning home- but to be a resilient and self-sustaining woman who shall now have ‘thirty years of her own’.  

The theme of struggle is illustrated By Perkins Gilman through several events. The first is where Ellen mentions how the illness destroyed their father. 

 “A long illness eats up everything’’ said Ellen and sighed. 

Perkins Gilman uses personification to describe the magnitude of the illness. The spouses also found it a struggle to attend the funeral because of the unhealthy past of the family. The children unwilling had attended the funeral as they were obliged to. Struggle is also shown when the children battled with each other to take care of their mother. They found her a burden and they unwillingly decided to take her.  

Struggle is also shown through the daughters’ inability to understand their mother’s view and aspirations. This is shown when Ellen shows some concern and she says, ‘we know how badly you feel, and you are nervous and tired, but I told you this morning when we came, that we expected to take you back with us. You know you’ve been packing-’  

James has also experienced his fair share of struggle. In the story we have seen hints indirectly referring to James some-what dysfunctional relationship. At the beginning of the story, in the first sentence we notice our first hint. “She could not leave the children – that is what he said.” This statement gives us the idea that James was lying about the reason his wife could not attend the funeral and because the idea that he lied was noticed we immediately thought their relationship was strange. In the second and third sentence of the paragraph Maude (James’ wife) gave the idea that she did not care much about her husband or his family but herself. The idea that she was a more independent working woman was also shown because she seemed to have control compared to the other women during their time and this shows where James main struggles could have come from.

Because during their time the man in the relationship had to be more dominant and be the provider this could have caused James to feel insecure or be treated less for not meeting these standards. This could have also been the reason his mother and Maude did not exactly get along. This idea is confirmed when in the story, it says, “Mother must be provided for properly,’ her son declared. ‘How much ought it to cost- a year- for clothes.’ ‘You know what your wife’s cost?’ suggested Adelaide, with a flicker of a smile about her lips. ‘Oh, no,’ said Ellen. ‘That’s no criterion! Maude is in society, you see. Mother wouldn’t dream of having so much.” In addition, the idea that his wife was shallow or spoilt was seen when it was mentioned in the third sentence of the paragraph that she had rather go on a trip than attend her husband father’s funeral. His following issue was his wife did not really see eye to eye with his mother. This statement is confirmed in paragraph 12 and 13 where the two sisters suggest their mother stay with James but indirectly reminds them of a circumstance which is then proved to be a disagreement when it says, “I don’t doubt Maude will be glad to have you,’ James rather hesitatingly offered. ‘I do. I doubt it very much. No thank you, my dear.” It is, however shown that James is willing to do his duty but is being affected by his wife’s control. This is shown when it says, “Perhaps if she stayed with me, you could – help some,” suggested Ellen. “Of course, of course, l could do that,” he agreed with evident relief. 

The theme of duty has been witnessed through-out the entire short story as it is shown to be practised by each of the members mentioned in the story. Each character in the story knows they have a duty to one another, and each seems prepared to honour this duty.  

The theme of duty has been so often mentioned and shown because it has replaced the spirit of love among the family members. This is mainly shown by the statement, “I did my duty by them, and they did their duty by me.” Though Mrs McPherson’s life was a burden she remained in her marriage and raised her children. In the short story it is implied or mention when speaking about the relations between each other that everyone played their role and did what was according for the family to be or seem functional. In many cases the children express taking care of their mother as a duty not a pleasure. The children do so as well as in returning a favour to their mother for taking care of them. Their duty was to honour and grief their father even though they were not an affectionate family. Their father is also spoken about as a man who did what he needed to do for his children as duty but not because of love. The duties of the typical families during their time were also seen throughout the story. This was shown when Maude was expected to stay behind and take care of her children and Ellen and Adelaide’s husbands felt they needed to stay behind and work to fend for their families. They were clearly a family that believed in duty. Other events where duty was shown was when their mother did as her husband requested on his will by giving James $4000 and the girls each $2000 to total to what he earned. Acts of some sort of non-intentional duty was shown when their mother felt it was necessary to borrow some black for the funeral so she would not hurt her children’s feelings as well as explaining what she had planned for her next life. Act of duty is even shown by the lawyer, Mr Frankland who felt it was necessary to apologize about missing their father funeral or attending it at all. 

All things considered, Mrs McPherson’s resilience in life and her ingenuity have ensured that she can live the rest of her life as a free and independent woman. Reliant on nobody but herself. Something that many women at the time would have struggled to achieve due to the societal norms that existed. Rather than being a grieving widow. Mrs McPherson has found a new lease of life.