SARAH PENN'S MOTIVATIONS IN DEFYING NORM IN WILKINS' THE REVOLT OF

MOTHER: A FEMINIST CRITICISM

Iffa Rohma Hidayah

15211144008

Abstract
This study is an analysis of short story The Revolt of Mother by Mary E. Wilkins, an American
author. It intends to find out Sarah Penn's, the protagonist of the story, motivations in defying
patriarchal society's norm which implies her struggle in voicing feminism. This study is a
qualitative study, and is conducted using Feminism theory. The result of this study show two
important points. First, there are three Sarah Penn's motivations which are portrayed through her
speeches: she has been suffering for forty years from waiting his husband to honor his promise to
build her a new house, her attempts to prevent his husband from building another barn are not
succeed, and she has the right to decide what is best for her family. Second, the remains
motivation is portrayed through Sarah Penn's action which indicates her desire for a better life
for her children.
Keywords: feminism, patriarchal ideology, norm, women, motivations, challenge, family,
mother

INTRODUCTION ideology which oppresses communal

For a long time women have been
living under the shadow of patriarchal
ideology where men are in control of all
aspects in human life such as social,
economic and political system. This
ideology of patriarchy unconsciously affects
women's presence not only in family, but in
society as well. This condition is being
described as oppression of women, a term
which is commonly used by female writers
and thinkers and by feminists. This term
explains the domination of patriarchal
obligation, yet it is not seen as oppressive as
it is (Lerner, 1989:239).
Among those who have been living
under the control of patriarchal ideology,
few are capable to free themselves in order
to be able to voice their own thoughts.
Feminist movement then begins to rise in
the late of nineteenth century. According to
Gill Plain (2007:103), feminism is a kind of
women's resistance to patriarchal ideology
oppression. As a result of this, women who
voice feminism and resist to follow the norm
that patriarchal society creates will be ideology accepted in her neighborhood as
accused to commit deviation. They will be reflected in the story.
regarded as insane, lawless, and rebellious
Method
people (Wilkins, 1981).
In this study, feminism approach is
Mary E. Wilkins was an American
used as the main theory to analyze the
writer who was born on October 31, 1852 in
attitudes and behaviors that imply the
Randolph, Massachusetts. After studying at
motivations in defying norm of the
Mount Holyoke College for a year (1870-
patriarchal society in Wilkins' short story
1871), she began writing verse and children
The Revolt of Mother. In collecting and
stories. In 1883, Boston newspaper
reporting the information, qualitative
published her very first adult story.
method is employed. The main data in this
Most of Wilkins' works are focused
study are sentences and utterances taken
on New Englanders' life in villages and
from the story. Not only the primary source,
countryside. She masterfully uses humor and
but the secondary sources such as journals,
irony present characters having to react in
books, theses, and electronic data retrieved
various ways against their situations (e.g.
from internet are used as well.
poverty, restrictive circumstances). One of
her most remembered work is a collection of DISCUSSION
stories A New England Nun and Other A. The Summary of
Stories (1981). Wilkins' The Revolt of
The Revolt of Mother, a short story Mother
included in A New England Nun and Other
Sarah Penn was once promised by
Stories, carries a feminist voice with it.
her husband, Adoniram Penn, a new house
Wilkins presents the irony situation in a
after they got married. After forty years,
family which forces the wife, Sarah Penn, to
Adoniram, who only cared about his cattle
struggle for what she deserves and stand
and horses rather than his family, built a new
against his husband's decision. She resists
barn which was bigger than the old one
the idea of the right behaviour of a wife
instead of building a new house. Knowing
according to her society. This study, then,
that their daughter, Nanny Penn, was about
intends to investigate Sarah Penn's
to get married, she tried to change her
motivations in defying the patriarchal
husband's mind, but failed. When Adoniram
was away, she decided to move to the new
barn with the help of her children. What she
did raised some judgments which accused
her to be insane and rebellious. She did not
take that by heart, for she believed that was
the best decision for her family and no one
could change her mind. When her husband
finally returned home, he could hardly
believe what he saw, but accepted it at last.
B. Sarah Penn's Motivations in
Defying the Norm of Patriarchal
Society Represented in The Revolt
of Mother
The literary element used to analyze
the object of the study is characterization.
Wilkins mainly uses Sarah Penn's speeches
and actions to portray her motivation in
defying the norm of patriarchal society in
her neighborhood. Sarah Penn is described
as a devoted and obedient wife and a very
good mother. Furthermore, she is not the
kind of woman who, by nature, has the
intention to challenge the norm of her
society by standing against his husband's
decision. There are some motivations which
bring her to defy the existing norm. The
further explanations about the portrayal of
Sarah Penn's motivations are presented in
these following descriptions.
1. Speech
In this short story, Wilkins illustrates
Sarah Penn’s motivations in various ways.
One of them is through Sarah Penn's
speeches when she has conversation with his
husband. Three of her motivations in
defying the norm which are illustrated by
her own speeches are presented in these
following statements:
a. She has been suffering for forty
years from waiting his husband to
honor his promise to build her a
new house.
"Now, father,” said she, “I want to
know if you think you're doin' right
an' accordin' to what you profess.
Here, when we was married, forty
year ago, you promised me faithful
that we should have a new house
built in that lot over in the field
before the year was out. You said
you had money enough, an' you
wouldn't ask me to live in no such
place as this. It is forty year now,
an' you've been makin' more
money, an' I've been savin' of it for
you ever since, an' you ain't built
no house yet. You've built sheds an'
cow-houses an' one new barn, an'
now you're goin' to build another.
Father, I want to know if you think
it's right. You're lodgin' your dumb
beasts better than you are your
own flesh an' blood. I want to
know if you think it's right.”
(Wilkins, 1891)
“You can't say nothin' without ownin'
it ain't right, father. An' there's
 another thing — I ain't
complained; I've got along forty
year, an' I s'pose I should forty
more, if it wa'n't for that — if we
don't have another house.”
(Wilkins, 1981)
In those statements, Sarah Penn
reminds his husband about his promise to
build her a new house. These speeches are a
signal that she has been longing for him to
honor his promise, and that she has been
suffering in the waiting. This is the basic
motivation of her act in defying the norm of
patriarchal society.
b. Her attempts to prevent his
husband from building another
barn are not succeed.
"You see this room here, father;
you look at it well. You see there
ain't no carpet on the floor, an' you
see the paper is all dirty, an'
droppin' off the walls. We ain't
had no new paper on it for ten
year, an' then I put it on myself,
an' it didn't cost but ninepence a
roll. You see this room, father; it's
all the one I've had to work in an'
eat in an' sit in sence we was
married. There ain't another woman
in the whole town whose husband
ain't got half the means you have but
what's got better. It's all the room
Nanny's got to have her company in;
an' there ain't one of her mates but
what's got better, an' their fathers not
so able as hers is. It's all the room
she'll have to be married in. What
would you have thought, father, if
we had had our weddin' in a room no
better than this? I was married in my
mother's parlor, with a carpet on the
floor, an' stuffed furniture, an' a
mahogany card-table. An' this is all
the room my daughter will have to
be married in. Look here, father!”
Sarah Penn went across the room as
though it were a tragic stage. She
flung open a door and disclosed a
tiny bedroom, only large enough for
a bed and bureau, with a path
between. “There, father,” said she
— “there's all the room I've had to
sleep in forty year. All my children
were born there — the two that
died, an' the two that's livin'. I was
sick with a fever there.”
She stepped to another door and
opened it. It led into the small, ill-
lighted pantry. “Here,” said she, “is
all the buttery I've got — every
place I've got for my dishes, to set
away my victuals in, an' to keep
my milk-pans in. Father, I've been
takin' care of the milk of six cows
in this place, an' now you're goin'
to build a new barn, an' keep more
cows, an' give me more to do in it.”
She threw open another door. A
narrow crooked flight of stairs
wound upward from it. “There,
father,” said she, “I want you to
look at the stairs that go up to
them two unfinished chambers
that are all the places our son an'
daughter have had to sleep in all
their lives. There ain't a prettier
girl in town nor a more ladylike
one than Nanny, an' that's the
place she has to sleep in. It ain't so
good as your horse's stall; it ain't
 so warm an' tight.” (Wilkins, from her bearing. “I don't doubt you
1891) mean well, Mr. Hersey,” said she,
“but there are things people hadn't
“Father, won't you think it over, ought to interfere with. I've been a
an' have a house built there
instead of a barn?” member of the church for over forty
“I ain't got nothin' to say.” year. I've got my own mind an' my
(Wilkins, 1891) own feet, an' I'm goin' to think my
own thoughts an' go my own ways,
In those statements, Sarah Penn tries
an' nobody but the Lord is goin' to
to change her husband decision to build dictate to me unless I've a mind to
another barn by mentioning the bad have him. Won't you come in an' set
down? How is Mis' Hersey?”
condition of their house. Compared to the
other barn they have, their house is worse Those statements show that Sarah

and is not proper to be lived in. She also Penn believes that what she does is the right

mentions the fact that Nanny is about to get decision for her and her family. She says

married, but it is impossible to have a that no one can make her change her mind

wedding in a house with such condition. She no matter accuses pointed at her. She has the

hopes that if it is for their daughter's sake, he right to do anything she thinks right without

would change his mind, but he is not. any dictate from anyone except God.

c. She has the right to decide what is 2. Action

best for her family.
Another way used by Wilkins to
“There ain't no use talkin', Mr. illustrate Sarah Penn's motivations is
Hersey,” said she. “I've thought it
through her action. Wilkins uses Sarah
all over an' over, an' I believe I'm
doin' what's right. I've made it the Penn's action scene to illustrate her
subject of prayer, an' it's betwixt me motivation and her act of defying the norm
an' the Lord an' Adoniram. There
as well. These following narrations are some
ain't no call for nobody else to worry
about it.” examples of Sarah Penn's action which
illustrate her motivation and her act of
“I think it's right jest as much as I
think it was right for our defying the norm:
forefathers to come over from the
old country 'cause they didn't have a. She desires for a better life for her
what belonged to 'em,” said Mrs. children.
Penn. She arose. The barn threshold
might have been Plymouth Rock
 During the next few hours a feat
was performed by this simple,
pious New England mother which
was equal in its way to Wolfe's
storming of the Heights of
Abraham. It took no more genius
and audacity of bravery for Wolfe
to cheer his wondering soldiers up
those steep precipices, under the
sleeping eyes of the enemy, than
for Sarah Penn, at the head of her
children, to move all their little
household goods into the new barn
while her husband was away.
Nanny and Sammy followed their
mother's instructions without a
murmur; indeed, they were
overawed. There is a certain
uncanny and superhuman quality
about all such purely original
undertakings as their mother's was
to them. Nanny went back and forth
with her light loads, and Sammy
tugged with sober energy. (Wilkins,
1981)
In those narrations, Sarah Penn
shows her desire to make her children have a
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better life. She dares herself to take a stand
against his husband to teach her children a
lesson. This one is the second basic
motivation that Sarah Penn defies the norm
of the patriarchal society.
CONCLUSION
To sum up, Mary E. Wilkins short
story The Revolt of Mother illustrates the
awakening moment of a wife which directs
her to stand against the authoritarian
husband in order to get what she deserve.
The decision to defy the patriarchal ideology
by ignoring society's judgments symbolizes
women's desire to have the same right to
voice their thoughts. Wilkins tries to give an
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From www.britannica.com, 25 Mei
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