Among Kate Walbert’s many novels and articles, the theme of gendered power imbalance is continuously weaved. Having only read His Favorites, in which this imbalance is carried to the extreme through sexual abuse and toxic masculine behavior, I wanted to further explore the feminist author’s other popular works. Her website boasts her novels have appeared on “Best Books of the Year” lists, and A Short History of Women and Our Kind were finalists for the LA Times Book Prize and National Book Award, respectively. Walbert is also a contributor to the New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Best American Short Stories and The O. Henry Prize stories.
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Besides being notable finalists, Walbert’s two novels Our Kind and A Short History of Women share another similarity: both are written from multiple characters’ perspectives. A Short History of Women follows five generations of women responding to “The Woman Question” (Walbert, “A Short History”). One New York Times article boldly claims the novel’s sentiment that women are unimportant “holds no less currency in 21st-century America than it did in late Victorian England” (Cohen, 2009). Through the stories of women from different generations, it seems the novel asks how far we’ve really come. The collective tales reveal a commonality with their struggles and experiences with gender roles and gendered power imbalances.
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Similarly, Our Kind, set in 70’s America, follow different women who grew up and married in the 40’s and 50’s (Eagan). Each section briefly and sharply portrays events in an unconventional, interstitial format. Rather than describing the events themselves, the before and after details are given. Even though it is primarily a novel about the passing of time, the final story reveals a feminist theme:
'She has never had any choice,'' Walbert writes of Viv; ''it has been laid out for her, encoded in her cells like the pattern on the bone china handed down and handed down, again. Life as it will be for women: first the husband . . . and then the children” (Eagan)
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Referring to marriage interfering with Viv’s college education, Walbert ends the novel with what one critic calls the familiar theme of “thwarted female ambition” (Eagan). Thus, the women’s unique, collective perspectives give readers a similar message about gender roles and power.
This recurring theme shows up in Walbert’s non-fiction pieces as well. In her adequately-titled article on female politician Jeannette Rankin, the first woman in congress, she writes how Rankin beat Colonel E. Jacob Crull in a Republican primary election in Montana (Walbert, “Has Anything Changed”). Rankin’s victory over Crull headlined as “Beaten by a Woman,” and he was so ashamed and heartbroken that he committed suicide. Reading her article, I was reminded of His Favorites, when Master Aiken tells his male students to “Arise and conquer!” over the smart girl (Walbert, His Favorites 64). And similar to Jo’s experiences, Rankin is held to a public double standard, where the press and society judge her by her appearance more than anything else (Walbert, “Has Anything Changed”).
All of these literary pieces share in common the “othering” of women, which Walbert discusses in an interview with Roxanne Coady. As long as women remain the “other” compared to men, they will be inferior in some way. As discussed in the interview, this phenomenon sneaks into our language when we have separate categories for “writers” and “women writers,” for example (Just the Right Book). The same applies to the linguistic debate over Rankin’s title, since the default “congressman” is already taken (Walbert, “Has Anything Changed”)
This recurring theme shows up in Walbert’s non-fiction pieces as well. In her adequately-titled article on female politician Jeannette Rankin, the first woman in congress, she writes how Rankin beat Colonel E. Jacob Crull in a Republican primary election in Montana (Walbert, “Has Anything Changed”). Rankin’s victory over Crull headlined as “Beaten by a Woman,” and he was so ashamed and heartbroken that he committed suicide. Reading her article, I was reminded of His Favorites, when Master Aiken tells his male students to “Arise and conquer!” over the smart girl (Walbert, His Favorites 64). And similar to Jo’s experiences, Rankin is held to a public double standard, where the press and society judge her by her appearance more than anything else (Walbert, “Has Anything Changed”).
All of these literary pieces share in common the “othering” of women, which Walbert discusses in an interview with Roxanne Coady. As long as women remain the “other” compared to men, they will be inferior in some way. As discussed in the interview, this phenomenon sneaks into our language when we have separate categories for “writers” and “women writers,” for example (Just the Right Book). The same applies to the linguistic debate over Rankin’s title, since the default “congressman” is already taken (Walbert, “Has Anything Changed”)
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Her contemporary literature is widely relevant today, applying to both feminist literary theory and the recent #MeToo movement. By writing multiple characters’ viewpoints in a single work, Walbert sends readers a message. Like Red Clocks, the effect of this collective narrative style reveals a pattern of gender inequality or missed opportunities in the shadow of male dominance. Her article on Jeannette Rankin even brings to mind Hilary Clinton’s campaign and the argument that her women supporters voted for her solely based on her sex or gender (or vice versa). Walbert’s literature simultaneously reminds us how far we’ve come since the early 20th century while also posing its own “woman question,” asking how far we’ve really come in the face of these recent political events.
Works Cited
Cohen, Leah Hager. “Feminine Mystique.” New York Times. 12 June 2009, www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/books/review/Cohen-t.html.
Eagan, Jennifer. “Reader, We Married Them.” New York Times, 4 April 2004, www.nytimes.com/2004/04/04/books/reader-we-married-them.html.
Just the Right Book Podcast. “Past #MeToo: Constraints & Imbalances That Shape Women's Lives.” Youtube, 4 Oct. 2018. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XgNTwNlZSA.
Walbert, Kate. “A Short History of Women.” Kate Walbert, 2019, www.katewalbert.com/A-Short-History-of-Women.
Walbert, Kate. “About the Author.” Kate Walbert, 2019, www.katewalbert.com/About.
Walbert, Kate. “Has Anything Changed for Female Politicians?” The New Yorker, 16 Aug 2016, www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/has-anything-changed-for-female-politicians.
Walbert, Kate. His Favorites. Scribner, 2018.
Utell, Janine. “The Woman Question.” The Modernist Journals Project. www.modjourn.org/render.php?view=mjp_object&id=mjp.2005.00.088.
Eagan, Jennifer. “Reader, We Married Them.” New York Times, 4 April 2004, www.nytimes.com/2004/04/04/books/reader-we-married-them.html.
Just the Right Book Podcast. “Past #MeToo: Constraints & Imbalances That Shape Women's Lives.” Youtube, 4 Oct. 2018. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XgNTwNlZSA.
Walbert, Kate. “A Short History of Women.” Kate Walbert, 2019, www.katewalbert.com/A-Short-History-of-Women.
Walbert, Kate. “About the Author.” Kate Walbert, 2019, www.katewalbert.com/About.
Walbert, Kate. “Has Anything Changed for Female Politicians?” The New Yorker, 16 Aug 2016, www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/has-anything-changed-for-female-politicians.
Walbert, Kate. His Favorites. Scribner, 2018.
Utell, Janine. “The Woman Question.” The Modernist Journals Project. www.modjourn.org/render.php?view=mjp_object&id=mjp.2005.00.088.