The Role Of Women In A Patchwork Fever By Charlotte Mary Yonge

Women have always had a difficult time. The first woman, Eve, was condemned for eating an apple and no one will ever overlook that, but many people do overlook or don’t know that Adam ate the apple as well. Only Eve, the woman was faulted for it. In the nineteenth century, there were gender role expectations and to go against it would lead to a misfortune. The story, “A Patchwork Fever”, by Charlotte Mary Yonge, is the story of a young girl, Frances, who must uphold the responsibilities of the house and the family while her mother goes on a trip to visit her ill mother. During her mother’s absence, she should clean, cook, wash, etc. as all women are expected to do these duties at that time. However, she is an educated girl and builds upon a …show more content…
Women were expected to do the cooking, cleaning, washing, etc., essentially every house errand possible. In the story, “Psyche’s Art”, it states, “But ma wanted a dish of gossip, pa must have his papers read to him, the boys had lessons and rips and grievances to be attended to, May’s lullaby could not be forgotten, and the maids had to be looked after…” (Alcott 2179). Was there anything left for Psyche to do? Oh right, her artwork. The one task she wanted to do, she couldn’t. With all these errands, she couldn’t manage the time to have for her own work. In the story, “A Patchwork Fever”, it states, “’Fancy, Fancy, I can’t find my stockings’…’Fancy, Fancy, I can’t undo this horrid knot’…the kettle was boiling over, and she had to rush down to it in a haste.” (Yonge 2151). Frances’s nickname was Fancy. Frances was here and there, trying to do all her duties and still attempting to have time to work on the table cover. Women are not robots, they can’t do everything solicited or anticipated of them. Humans can only be stretched out so much, to expect a thirteen-year-old girl to do such duties every morning along with the rest of the duties she needs to do throughout the day is beyond unfair and is quite ridiculous. As men do have their own set of duties that were expected of them, such as being the breadwinners and doing the labor work, it isn’t as constrained and to the same extent it was for women. After doing their …show more content…
By giving more attention and focusing more on their desires rather than their duties. In the story, “A Patchwork Fever”, it states, “Every spare moment did Frances spend on that work, and some moments that could hardly be called spare. She durst not neglect her father’s meals, and she kept the rooms tidy and the children neat…” (Yonge 2155). Her desire of the table cover made her put her duties on hold, but depicts a greater picture. Regardless of whether it is a table cover, education, etc. that is her desire, it made her cross the line, which were against the gender expectations. She did her duties at a minimum just so her father wouldn’t notice that she is putting her household chores aside. Women knew what they were relied upon to do, but since the nineteenth century, women have been attempting to pursue what they want to do. Psyche on the other hand, tries to consolidate her desire and duties to try to please both. In the story, “Psyche’s Art”, it states, “But being very much in earnest about doing her duty, not because it was her duty, but as a means toward an end, Psyche fell to work with a will, hoping to serve both masters at once...Psyche found duties and desires desperately antagonistic.” (Alcott 2177). She wanted to do both, but it wasn’t working. To be devoted to the household work didn’t allow her to have time for her art work and vice versa. Her desire and the duties she was expected to do, were