Khalid YASSIN

University Sultan Moulay Slimane, Beni Mellal. Morocco.

The Women’s Situation in the 1950’s America: through the Representation of Female
Characters in the Drama of “Death of a Salesman” (1949) and “Fences” (1957)

The representations of the 1950’s American women in dramatic works,

and the way in which female characters are interpreted and enacted, have

become a controversial topic among critics. In the dramatic literature of the

time, female characters hardly occupy a central role in plays. Playwrights,

especially realistic ones, provide their readers/viewers with a realistic point of

view concerning the roles assigned to women in the USA. In order to understand

the actual situation of females in the American society, one should engage in a

close examination of female characters in the two inspiring plays, namely Arthur

Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and August Wilson’s “Fences”. This paper is an

attempt to probe into the significance of the stereotypical role of American

women, either White-American or Afro-American, in their societies during the

1950’s.

First and foremost, before starting to study the role of female characters in

the aforementioned plays, one should delve into the socio-historical background

of White-American women, as well as their Afro-American counterparts.

During World War II, an overwhelming number of women worked in factories

in order to make up for the domestic labor shortage. After the war, the number

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of working women decreased drastically due to the fact that soldiers returned

home and claimed their jobs back. Society, back then, endeavored to condition

women’s mind by portraying the perfect female role as a caring mother, a

diligent homemaker, and an obedient wife. For a homemaker to be accepted

within her society she was supposed to stay home and nurture. The stereotypical

perfect housewife cooked dinner for her husband before arriving from work.

Moreover, a good wife was seen as the one who surrendered to her husband's

every order and consented with him on everything.

In order to understand the situation of White-American females in the

1950’s, readers should carefully study and examine Arthur Miller’s character

Mrs. Linda Loman. Linda does not represent an individual, but all white women

who belonged to the middle class at the time. During the course of the play,

Linda embodies the role of that almost perfect homemaker, who takes good care

of her husband, Willy, and her two children, Biff and Happy. “Linda epitomizes

the notion of female passivity, caretaking, and self-sacrifice. She stands by her

man, seldom questioning and never opposing him.” (Kinnison, 88) Beside

cooking food, doing dishes and laundry, she plays an important role as a

supportive wife and protective mother. What is more, she enacts the role of the

conscious side of the family. That is, she tells Willy lies in order to soothe him,

telling him he has “too much on the ball to worry about” and is “the handsomest

man in the world” (Kirszner, Mandell,49). Linda Loman has perfected the art of

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being a good homemaker, as her son happy articulates “They broke the mold

when they made her.”

In so much the same manner, Mrs. Rose Maxson incarnates the role of

the stereotypical obedient and caring wife in Wilson’s Fences. During the course

of the drama, Rose spends a good deal of time in the kitchen cooking for her

family and their friends, and in occasions resorting to church to pray for her

family’s union and protection. Additionally, In Act One, Scene Two Rose asks

both Troy and Cory to fix the broken fence of their house; a request that,

metaphorically speaking, symbolizes her attempt to protect her home from any

outside danger, and preserve her family’s union. She has a blind trust in Troy

and has never thought that he would once betray her. In Act two, Scene one,

Troy encourages himself to confess to Rose that soon he is going to be the father

of another child. Rose is taken aback and shouts:

I been standing with you! I been right here with you, Troy. I got a

life too. I gave eighteen years of my life to stand in the same spot

with you... I planted a seed and watched and prayed over it. I

planted myself inside you and waited to bloom… You was my

husband. I owed you everything I had. Every part of me I could find

to give you. You always talking about what you give . . . and what

you don't have to give. But you take, too. You take . . . and don't

even know nobody's giving! [sic] (Wilson Act II, Scene I).

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“For Rose marriage is sacred and important despite the sacrifice, so Troy’s

infidelity has done more than wound her; it has also wounded the idea of black

marriage that she has desperately attempted to create for their family” (Menson-

Furr, 81).

Another point to take into consideration is that the dramatic vision of

both playwrights demonstrates males strive to realize their American dream, and

excludes women’s hopes, dreams, and expectations. A close reading of the play

exhibits that only Willy and his sons, Biff and Happy, discuss their dreams,

desires, and successes. In her essay Redefining Female Absence in Arthur

Miller's Death of a Salesman, Dana Kinnison observes:

The play is a critique of values embodied in the American Dream:

consumerism, competition, and frontierism—including freedom, the

acquisition of wealth, and dominance. To be sure, acknowledge that

women's subordination in the play parallels their minor role in the

dream itself, which is the emanation of a white male ethos (90).

Unlike Willy and his sons, the audience does not know Linda's dreams and

desires, or even that she has expectations rather than being a dutiful wife and a

caring mother. The character of Linda stands for the 1950’s American women

who were excluded from the American dream due to their secondary status

corresponding to gender.

In the first skirmish between Rose and Troy in Act Two, Scene One, she

reveals that she has dreams and expectations. In her words, Rose tells Troy:

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“Don't you think I had dreams and hopes? What about my life? What about

me?... I took all my feelings, my wants and needs, my dreams . . . and I buried

them inside you” (Wilson, Act II, Scene I). Certainly, Rose Maxson is an

altruistic personage which is seen throughout the play as she discards her own

needs for the comfort of her entourage. As the play moves forward, the readers

are informed of Troy’s dream of being a truck driver, a dream that is realized

later in the play. Similarly, the audience is aware of the big dream of Cory, in

that he wants to be a football player and gets a scholarship with the purpose to

enter college. From the beginning to the end of the play Rose, as well as all the

other female characters, maintains a static role, that of a house keeper. Through

the way the characterizations are handled by the realistic playwrights of both

plays, African-American and European-American women in the 50’s of the last

century, especially those who belonged to the middle and lower classes, were

excluded from the American Dream.

It is worth mentioning that female characters in Death of a Salesman are

represented as sexual objects. In this respect, it is important to note that the

white-American society is a patriarchal one par excellence. Lois Tyson provides

an interesting observation concerning the modern man in modern America. She

states that:

If men can’t achieve the unrealistic economic goals set for them in

contemporary America, then they must increase the signs of their

manhood in some other area: they must be the most sexually active

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 (or make others believe that they are) or be able to hold the most

liquor or display the most anger. (87-88)

This statement corroborates with the interesting reading of Terry Otten,

in which he notes “Other than Charley’s briefly seen secretary Jenny and Linda

Loman, the women are described as sexual objects: Miss Francis, the “buyer” in

Willy’s Boston hotel room, referred to as “The Woman”; Miss Forsythe, whom

Happy assures Biff is “on call,” referred as “Girl”; and her friend “Letta,” also

obviously “on call”” (11). The character of The Woman enacts the role of a

prostitute who serves to please Willy. He treats her as an object of sexual

purposes. Basing on these instances, the American society perceived women in a

dichotomous standpoint: the faithful wife (Linda in the kitchen) versus the

extramarital mistress (The Woman in a hotel room).

In Act One, Scene One in Fences Troy and Bono are engaged in a “men

talk” wherein they are discussing their sexual desires. Troy says “Legs don’t

mean nothing. You don’t do nothing but push them out of the way. But them

hips cushion the ride![sic]” ( Act I, Scene I). Still in another instance, Troy tells

Bono in the presences of Rose: “See this woman Bono? I love this woman. I

love this woman so much it hurts... Don’t you come by my house Monday

morning talking about time to go to work . . . “’cause I’m still gonna be

stroking! [sic]” (Wilson, Act I, Scene II). This quote reveals the mode of

thinking that was pervasive back then. Rose is not only seen as a diligent

housewife, but also a sexual object for Troy. Besides, it is important to mention

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the affair between the character of Alberta and Tory. Every Friday after work,

he sneaks to Alberta’s apartment for extramarital affairs. He provides himself

with an atmosphere where he can get rid of stress, as well as express his

manhood. Troy’s treatment of the opposed sex corresponds to the same vision of

Willy’s. Basing on the aforementioned evidence, African-American men

perceived black women in binary polarities: the obedient housewife (Rose,

Bono’s wife, Lyon’s girlfriend), or the mistress (Alberta). African American

women were victims of the established traditions that were pervasive in the

1950’s.

The roles of the female characters in Death of a Salesman (Jenny, The

Woman, Miss Forsythe, Letta and Linda), and Fences (Raynell, Alberta, Bonnie,

Miss Pearl, Mrs. Bono, Rose) correspond to the roles contributed to the

American females in the 1950’s. The plays under analysis are considered as

realistic artworks. Surely, placing these characters into their political, social,

economic, and historical context, one finds striking similarities between the

fictional characters and the stereotypical women of the time. The choice of the

characters was not arbitrary, but successfully handled by both playwrights.

American women, in these dramatic productions and in reality itself, were

victims of the patriarchal society. They belonged to a male-dominant world, in

which women were celebrating a secondary status. American society adhered to

the established traditions, wherein the patriarchal ideology denied women from

being independent, making their own decisions, or believing in the American

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Dream. A number of critics started to interrogate the woman’s conditions during

that decade; as a result, in the 1960’s, American feminist movements and

activists got engaged into a series of protestations to change the status quo.

Works Cited

Wilson, August. Fences: August Wilson. New York: Samuel French,

2010. Ebook.

Fisher, Jerilyn, and Ellen S. Silber. Women in literature: reading

through the lens of gender. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003. Ebook.

Menson-Furr, Ladrica. August Wilson’s Fences. New York: Continuum

International Publishing Group. 2008. Ebook.

Tyson, Lois. Critical theory today: a user-friendly guide. London:

Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2006. Ebook.

Sterling, Eric. Arthur Miller’s Death of a salesman. Amsterdam: Rodopi,

2008. Ebook.

Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Compact literature:

reading, reacting, writing. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2016. Ebook.