When thinking of a feminist approach to Paul Zindel's Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, I immediately want to start with Tillie and Ruth's mother Beatrice. One way to approach a text using feminist theory is to examine how the characters react to women within the story or how readers react to the female characters. By focusing specifically on Beatrice, a self-loathing abusive mother who bred a toxic environment in which she raised her two daughters and a slew of elderly people in her charge.
Beatrice is the omnipresent female in Zindel's play. We see how Beatrice reacts to the off-stage Mr. Goodman, the positive male role-model in her daughter Tillie's life, through phone conversations. The implication is Mr. Goodman tries to appeal to Tillie's mother, and though he might be getting frustrated when her attitude and answers interfere with Tillie's interest in school and namely the titular science experiment, he is persistent. Beatrice's reactions to him imply that he must be somewhat level-headed when he phones her in an attempt to be on Tillie's side. Beatrice reveals much of her coniving and destructive attitude to the audience during these phone calls. (Alternatively, Mr. Goodman tries to be a positive role model in Tillie's life and even gave her that pet rabbit that both Tillie and Ruth adore, so his attitude toward women is implied through the female characters reaction to him.)
As a reader, Beatrice illicits a sour reaction from me. Her intrusive and passive- (or-not-so-passive) aggressive behavior grates on my nerves and I immediately feel sympathy toward her daughters who receive the brunt of her behavior. I find her outlandish, indecent, and disillusioned. However, I do feel that the other women in the play, specifically her daughters, balance out the negative views on this one female character. Tillie, which in her quiet manner and scientific aspirations, is acting against what her mother has in mind for her daughters -- subordination as a way to completely control her world. Ruth succumbs to her mother and almost appears to be her mother's best friend or delegate and to me, seems to go to school more because she isn't an embarrassment to her mother.
Beatrice is the villain of this story but she is necessary to create the "radiation" (the environment) that Tillie (the marigolds) grows in.
2 comments:
Kati,
I had a similar reaction when I read Zindel’s Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. Beatrice is not at all a likeable character, and I felt, like you, that she really grated on my nerves with her abusive, self-destructive behavior. However, I would not necessarily call her the villain of this play. An antagonist she may be, but I think calling her a villain gives her a more evil connotation than I would think. She does not focus her hurt on others exclusively; she hurts herself as well, and I think while some of her behavior is intentional, I do not think she intentionally makes her daughters lives so hellish. She certainly contributes, but I think their situation, poverty an absent (now dead) father, and their house also play a huge role. However, I agree with the rest of you post, and I think Mr. Goodman is one of the only positive characters in the play, and he is male. You entry was great!
Thanks,
Shea
Hi Kati!
So, I think you did a very good feminist analysis, but I would like to offer my reading of Beatrice. I find her much more piteable than anything else--and I think (from a feminist perspective) the long shadow of her father looms large over her life. Perhaps she has such confused and terrible relationships with men (which she passes onto her daughter) because she has never outgrown the adoration of her father (...sensing an Elektra complex here?). Anyway, just a few thoughts to add to yours. Great entry!
Molly
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