Thursday, July 7, 2011
Tillie Olsen. NPR article and excerpt
You may either read or listen to the article introducing an excerpt of Olsen's work "Tell Me a Riddle." The article is by lawyer/novelist Scott Turow (One L and Presumed Innocent) and it provides some background on Olsen and this story, as well as his responses as a reader of her work.
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Even though this is just an excerpt from Olsen's work it is easy to see how far out of sync this couple's lives have become. What I was struck with most from the excerpt is the sadness of their unsynhcronized lives. Olsen shows us that in the early years of their marriage the wife assumed all domestic roles and the husband did nothing to relieve them. However, now that there are no more than two mouths to feed and the work load is greatly diminished he wants them to move to a retirement community of sorts so that she does not have to stress about domestic duties so much. On the other hand, now that the workload is not as heavy, the wife wants to remain living as they are so that she can enjoy the things, like peace and quiet in one's own home, she missed out on while raising their children.
ReplyDeleteThe irony is that these two people do want the same thing, it just takes form in opposing ways. They both want relaxation and freedom from their previous woes; however the way for one to achieve this state is in direct contradiction with the way for the other to do the same. The husband does not wish to continue worrying about money and fixing things (which usually costs money)now that he is retired, and, therefore, wants to move into the retirement community where everything would be taken care of for them. The wife wishes to have time to herself and to be merely wife (not mother) now that the children are out of the house and her entire life is not devoted to them. Therefore, she wishes to remain at home.
The sadness comes in when we realize that the husband and wife have never wanted the same things at the same time. This leads to understanding that they have probably never been happy with each other, regardless of how they may have seemed. Their children can't understand why they are separating; however, we readers can understand why all too well. The sadness deeply sets in when we realize that this is not an uncommon occurrence.
I agree with the irony factor. The women wants to have some time to relax in the home she has always worked so hard for. She has spent all of her life taking care of her children to prepare them to go out into the world, now that they are ready her husband wants to leave. Both wants are understandable but I seem to go towards the women in this case. There is not much to keep up with since it will only be the two of them in the home. The man on the other hand does not want to have to do anything and wants to have everything done for him. Not to say he did not do anything while they were children in the home but the domestic duties the women had to provide maybe he does not appreciate. I also agree that the children dont understand because their view of their parents has always been the same, but we as readers are able to relate because we do not know them before this passage. I would want to stay in the home I have always lived in and worked so hard to prepare for.
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