Britney Gomez
Dr. Coronado
ENGL 328
30 Oct. 2016
Yes,
Mother Sir
Within
the nineteenth-century, the stigmas regarding the roles of men and women were
written throughout society. Men were to work and provide for the home while
women were to stay home and take care of the children. Within Wilkie Collins
short story Major Namby, Major Namby
challenges the role of womanhood and fatherhood by being a leader in the forefront
of his children’s lives. Major Namby shows concern for the health and wellbeing
of his children and expresses these feelings openly. Through the actions of
Major Namby, his concerns are expressed publicly alongside the love he displays
to his children. Therefore, the repetition of concern expressed by Major Namby is
a performative act which would classify his role as mother, according to Judith
Butler’s theory on “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution.” The
performative gender of Major Namby is determined by his actions towards his children.
Since he repeatedly displays concern for the welfare of his children, Major
Namby’s role signifies the nurturing role of a concern mother and how she would
address concerns for her children; therefore, Major Namby displays the
stereotypical role of a nineteenth-century mother.
To
better understand Judith Butler’s theory on “Performative Acts and Gender
Constitution,” I must first give insight into her theory. Butler states, “but
the more mundane reproduction of gendered identity takes place through the
various ways in which bodies are acted in relationship to the deeply entrenched
or sedimented expectations of gendered existence” (Butler 904). Within Butler’s
argument, the idea arises that an individual is judged and scrutinized by the
actions performed within society. It is with those performance an individual’s
identity arises. Butler’s theory also points to the issue which “is simply that
one way in which this system of compulsory heterosexuality is reproduced and
concealed is through the cultivation of bodies into discrete sexes with
‘natural’ appearances and ‘natural’ heterosexual dispositions…The contention
that sex, gender, and heterosexuality are historical products produced which
have become conjoined and reified as natural” (905). In this statement, Butler
suggests that while writing a character and their actions, most characters fall
within the socially accepted stigmas associated with each gender.
Wilkie Collins’
character, Major Namby, performs roles which are considered “feminine roles”
within the nineteenth-century. He displays “One of the most important functions
of woman as comforter was her role as nurse…Many homes had ‘little sufferers,’
those pale children who wasted away to saintly deaths. And there were enough
other illnesses of youth and age, major and minor, to give the
nineteenth-century American woman nursing experience. The sickroom called for
the exercise of her higher qualities of patience, mercy and gentleness...” (Welter
163). Although Major Nimby does not stay within the confines of his home, he
does display the role of nurse while speaking with his wife, nurse, and nanny. As
Major Namby leaves his home, the scene plays out as:
‘It’s a sou’east.
I won’t have Georgina taken out today.’ (Georgina is one of the first Mrs.
Namby’s family, and they are all weak in the chest.) ‘Where’s Nurse?’
‘Here, Sir.’
‘Nurse I won’t
have Jack allowed to run. Whenever that boy perspires, he catches cold. Hang up
him hoop. If he cries, take him into my dressing-room, and show him the birch
rod. Matilda!’
…
‘Mind the
crossings. Don’t let the children sit down if they are hot. Don’t let them
speak to the other children. Don’t let them get playing with strange dogs. Don’t
let them mess their things. And above all, don’t bring Master Jack back in a
perspiration.’ (Collins 285-6)
Within this scene Major Namby is
displaying the nineteenth-century role of a mother or nurse. He is informing
the women in the home of the children’s illnesses and how to best take care of
them. Typically this role is performed by the mother, nurse, or nanny; however,
Major Namby takes control of the role by displaying concern for his children
and how best to ensure their safety and wellbeing.
Wilkie
Collins consistently displays Major Namby as a having a feminine role. He does
so by having Major Namby publicly display his love for his children through
feminine roles. Another scene in which this takes place is when Major Namby is
concerned for his young daughter. He states, “‘Nurse! which of the children was
sick, last time, after eating onion sauce? … Ha, yes!’ we heard him growl to
himself in a kind of shameless domestic soliloquy. ‘Yes, yes, yes – Sophy was
sick, to be sure’” (289). Within this scene, Major Namby is displaying concern
for his daughter by remembering that she is unable to eat a specific portion of
a meal. With this he is able to inform the nurse, nanny, and mother that the
child is not to have something, thus allowing the child to eat and not become
sick. Within this display, Major Namby has repetitively displayed feminine
roles in regards to his children wellbeing.
Another
feminine role which Major Namby displays is his love for his children. Within
the nineteenth-century men were considered to be the “bread winner.” They left
the home to work and make money which would support their family. The women
stayed home with the children showing concern and love for them. According to
Barbara Welter’s “A Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860,” “A true woman naturally
loved her children; to suggest otherwise was monstrous” (171). Major Namby
contradicts this by displaying love and affection to his son. Namby’s actions
are public and display the love and affection he has for his child. He states:
“Ha! ha!
ha-a-a-a! What calves the dog’s got! Pamby! Look at his calves! Aha! Bless his
heart, his legs are the model of his father’s! The Namby build, Matilda! the
Namby build, every inch of him. Kick again, Bill – kick out like made. I say,
ma’am! I beg your pardon, ma’am…Look at him ma’am. If you’re a judge of
children, look at him. There’s a two-year-older for you! Ha! ha! ha-a-a-a! Show
the lady your legs, Bill – kick out for the lady, you dog, kick out!” (290).
Within this scene Major Namby is
displaying the stereotypical feminine role by showing love and adoration for
his children. Namby’s joy and love are displayed publicly and are a repetition
of his daily life.
Throughout
Wilkie Collins’ short story, “Major Namby,” the stereotypical gender roles are skewed.
The women play a very small role within the story while Major Namby displays
many feminine roles including the role of caretaker or nurse. Namby displays
multiple times when he shows concern for his children’s health, when he
discovers the direction of the wind change, and how this will cause them to
have chest pains. Another situation is when he is concerned for the health of
his daughter, Sophy, and how she is unable to eat specific foods or she would
become ill. Thus, within Butler’s theory on “Performative Acts and Gender
Constitution,” Namby’s repetitive care for his children displays the
nineteenth-century women and not the stereotypical Father figure. Therefore,
Major Namby’s role is not the gender in which he was born but the performance
in which he displays, Major Namby refutes the masculine role and is the
feminine caretaker.
Works
Cited
Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution.” Literary Theory: An Anthology, Edited by
Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, Blackwell Publishing, 2004, pp. 900-11.
Collins, Wilkie. “Major Namby.” Short
Stories: A Magazine of Select Fiction, vol. 10, no. 3, 1892, pp. 283-90.
Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of
True Womanhood: 1820-1860.” American Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 2, 1966, pp. 151–74.
