The Differences of Louisa and Rima the Bird Girl

Rima is sad the first cadence she leads herself down the road to suffering for the sake of romantic illusions (with the diplomat), she is slimy the second time (with the ad man), irritating the third (with the drunken writer), and boring the fourth (with the millionaire). Jaffe may be suggesting some way of feminist argument against the Cinderella complex, or against the society which would nourish such(prenominal) fantasies, but the proofreader simply has no sympathy for this Rima instrument by the time the story is over. She is a little female child who cannisternot or will not grow up and recognise that chicane involves people who have their feet in the real ground and some reasonable knowledge of their own strengths and weaknesses and those of others. Jaffe provides us with a conclusion which seems far too wistful for this reader:

I remembered that the Rima of Green Mansions . . . had been killed in a fire that destroyed her hiding-tree. It seemed to me, that nonsocial morning in St. Thomas, that the Rima I knew had been killed in m both fires, raise again from the ashes of each one like a blinding bird to sing the song of some wanderer's need. Had there constantly been a real Rima? Born and reborn to a small image, she had never looked for herself, nor had anyone else. Being each man's dream of love, she had eventually failed him, and s

Actually freewoman mentions such relish on the part of Louisa only a few times, and more or less as afterthoughts. The story ends with such a sudden and unannounced reference: "Louisa turned again from him to her sweet, mysterious, girlish dreams" (403). It would appear that Freeman makes these rare references to Louisa's dreams of romantic love simply to let the reader know that her character is not entirely immune to love or men. For the great bulk of the story, however, Louisa is absorbed with trying to undertake enough food out of her paltry garden to chip in herself, her mother, and her grandfather. When she isn't intent on simply surviving, Louisa is intent on resisting her mother's efforts to wind her up with the dullard Jonathan Nye.

Louisa is a feminist in that she is as self-sufficient as she can be under the circumstances, and she is something of a saint in that she not only tries to feed her inconceivable mother and imbecilic grandfather, but also puts up with them with curious patience and good grace. For Louisa, the problem is the situation. She is certainly no femme fatale, although from Freeman's explanation of her she is not irrevocably unattractive. She would not be expert at the ways of love, but she would be true to her heart and to anybody she loved, conclusions we can safely come to in light of her treatment of her family and her refusal to make up or pretend to love Jonathan. Therefore, it is the situation rather than any flaw in Louisa which keeps her from love. She has already fulfilled the first indispensability of a successful relationship---she treats herself with love and respect. The only flaw in Louisa is her inexperience with love.

Louisa is hardly a self-conscious woman, but she knows her vocation and her heart, and she does not confuse the two in dealing with her family and with Jonathan. It is marvelous that she would blame her womanhood or her situation for her plight. She has somehow remained unembittered by her suffering, which is evidenced by t
Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.