Comparative Essay: Girl, Woman, Other and Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal

📌Category: Books
📌Words: 1256
📌Pages: 5
📌Published: 14 April 2022

Girl, Woman, Other (GWO) and Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal (WBH) are both published in the 21st century and set in modern Britain where each author explores the universal challenges faced by women. Girl, Woman, Other is a fusion fiction novel described by Evaristo as: ‘free-flowing, unpunctuated, with a cadence that — in the best portions — approaches lyricism’. It is written with the context of the problems which women encounter daily and highlights the process of womanhood through the perspective of twelve different female narratives, where one shares how they have been segregated on account of their class, race, sexuality.  The novel’s title could be a reference to writer and filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-Ha’s book on feminism and post-coloniality called Woman, Native, Other. Similarly, WBH is a memoir by Jeanette Winterson published in 2011 that recounts her “life’s work to find happiness”. Winterson’s memoir is about her struggle to break free from this ‘cosmic dustbin’ and the diaspora to interrogate the intersections of her identity by finding her biological mother.  

Both writers create strong feminist identities through differing narrative voices. In GWO, Evaristo employs a more poetic, experimental form of writing with non-punctuated prose (fusion fiction) through twelve different narrative voices. In the first chapter, we are introduced to Amma; a theatrical director who expresses how her younger self struggled to embrace her identity as a homosexual, black female by comparing herself to the people in London “[who] proudly proclaimed their outside identities on badges.” The imagery of “badges” conveys the confidence of those in London who are proud to express their identity and their acknowledgment of their individuality within society, in a way this highlights the fact that Amma has low self-esteem and a lack of belief in herself and of her heritage. Furthermore, this exemplifies Evaristo's concern in the intersections of identity, as well as her portrayal of a diverse range of underrepresented communities in Great Britain through a third-person narrative. In contrast, in WBH Jeannette Winterson uses a first-person perspective to establish to the audience how she found her own identity. ‘I was a woman. I was a working-class woman. I was a woman who wanted to love woman without guilt or ridicule”, the repeated use of the noun ‘woman’ accentuates how JW has moulded herself into becoming her own type of ‘woman’ which further projects the writers’ strong desire of spreading feminism. ' At same time the use of syntactic parallelism ‘I was’ elevates JW as she gives herself a sense of purpose and empowerment as she’s not only a woman but, has achieved her goal of being a ‘working class woman’.  Also, she shows pride towards her homosexuality and is not hindered to tell society to be more accepting to the idea of her ‘a woman who [wants] to love woman without guilt or ridicule ‘. It is prevalent that in WBH, JW is able to freely express her identity as a homosexual woman compared to GWO where black women are hindered to proclaim their identity in society due to their racial standing in society 

Evaristo goes on to describe Amma's journey to discover her identity by relating an anecdote about "white men [opening] the doors or [giving] up their seats on public transport for white women (which was sexist), but not for them (which was racist)" (pg. 13). Amma emphasises the importance of intersectional feminism by claiming that white men giving up their seats for white women is deemed 'sexist.' This demonstrates her strong feminist values on how women are treated unequally in relation to men, both racially and sexually presented. Furthermore, racial discrimination is expressed through the juxtaposition "but not for them (which was racist)", Amma conveys how white women are less likely to be racially discriminated against as people of colour were shown inequality through words and actions in contemporary Britain. Amma's experience of racial discrimination was where 'white men' would open the doors for 'white women.' Education is presented as a key part in both writer's presentation of the female struggle for freedom.  

In the workforce sector, Evaristo comments on how Amma was living on edge as she ‘spent decades on the fringe’ and is now finally receiving recognition for her work that was once ‘excluded’. Through Amma, she points out the hypocrisy and politics of the arts industry. Evaristo talking about Amma spending ‘decades on the fringe’ display how she’s been struggling to survive as her work was initially not recognised by others. She further exemplifies the struggle faced by Amma as by using the hyperbolic metaphor “a renegade lobbing hand grenade”, the noun “renegade” refers to Amma as she is seen to be a traitor within the art industry as she’s continuously fighting (“lobbing hand grenades”) to seek monetary validation and justification for her outlook on art.  

Contemporary Britain expresses of how women were viewed objectively in terms of their societal purpose. As stated by Jeanette’s English teacher whom she compares herself to “… a woman alone is [of] no interest to the opposite sex [and] only visible when she has [a] purpose.” (pg112) This impacts Jeanette greatly as previously stated, she idolizes Mrs. Ratlows capability to have a ‘real job’.  In context, by emphasising on Mrs Ratlows career, JW highlights the limited opportunities available to women at the time, and who were often overshadowed by the predominantly male workforce. Thus, further enhancing the visibility of the women as only present in being able to “…h[o]ld together the family and community…” and non-existent in the non-domestic arena. Despite the challenges evident towards the female identity and those who pursue higher education, which were deemed as a ‘manly’ thing to do and improper as a female, Jeanette contrasts the expectations of society as she   continues to apply for an English degree at Oxford University “because it [is] the most impossible thing [she] could do.” Therefore, one can plausibly assume that Mrs. Ratlow played a major role in influencing her desire for her love of literature and eagerness of wanting to succeed and being accepted as a writer in society.  

On the contrary one may argue that Mrs. Ratlow had minimal influence on her ultimate goals such as in choosing the University of Oxford, as in Chapter 10 Mrs. Ratlow expresses a disinterest in ‘feminism’ and dissuading her pursuance of Oxford considering a rejected application. Therefore, it can be argued that what emancipates JW is her true love of books and literature. Throughout the memoir we are continuously expressed of the role of books/literature in providing her a sense of escape, its continual destruction, and her resulting sadness.  

Therefore, one may contest that her love of books is a strong motivator and factor in the formation of her feminist identity and goals as an established writer in society recognised by both males and females in her pursuit to reform and introduce the world of feminism into her hometown, Accrington. “I was a woman. I was a working-class woman. I was a woman who wanted to love woman without guilt or ridicule.” Repetition of woman shows how JW has moulded herself into becoming her own ‘woman’ and projects her fervent desire to spread feminism. The use of syntactic parallelism ‘I was’ gives her a sense of purpose and empowerment as she’s not only a woman but, has achieved her goal of being a ‘working class woman.’ Also, she is proud at the fact she accepts her homosexuality and is not hindered to tell society to open the gates to allow feminism into her hometown. She wants people to realise that there is so much in the world compared to her enclosed controlled life her mother has trapped her in causing her to become a more independent person. The quote “and I for one want to become my own woman, no discrimination, just me being a strong feminist.” It evokes the powerful sense of her feminity “my own woman” this implies her collectively for all women of society, the pronoun ‘own’ tells us that JW holds responsibility for all women not just herself as she believes in the equality of woman. 

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