The Spirit of Women

            The spirit of women is a theme prevalent in the novel, The Girl. The girl manages through hard times to make lasting women friends, find work, and fall in love. She faced obstacles too. The devastating loss of her love, her best friend’s death and becoming a mother. The women of the novel find strength in each other to get through the hard times of the Depression and their personal struggles.

            The first evidence of the bond of women is in the first paragraph of the novel, “I was lucky to have Clara showing me how to wander on the streets” (1). The Girl needed Clara to help her make it in the city life. The women worked hard to find money during this difficult time. The Girl “made doll furniture and Belle here used to peddle it from door to door” (12), anything for a few dollars.

         The second example of the tie that binds is the girl’s struggle with the bond with her mother. The struggle came to an end at the death of her father. This was evident in the quote “I was into my mama’s life for the first time” (39).  For the first time in the girl’s life, she felt a connection to her mother. In the bad times, the girl sought comfort of her friends’ words. “I wanted to find Belle and Amelia and Clara and my mama” (47). This quote is made when the girl finds blood on the sheets of a hotel bed where she and Butch had sexual relations. She sought the advice of her friends because she had no idea of what was happening to her. She was naïve and never known a man. Who could she turn to answer her questions? Her friends. She finds her friends and feels an automatic sense of relief. Amelia makes her feel comfortable when she said “I’m glad you came here if you don’t feel good” (47).

        The women face yet another struggle, Clara’s sickness. “ Often Clara was sick in bed and it was cold in the room so we kept the gas plate going when the landlady wasn’t looking, and I put the blanket mama gave me over her and got a brick and warmed her feet” (53). The women were struggling through the times of the Depression, yet their only concern was taking care of one of their own. The spirit of women was prevalent once again when Amelia rescued the girl from a “relief maternity home” (115).  The girl was terrified to be at the maternity home. She “couldn’t sleep in there for thinking they would sterilize me” (116). This thinking was manifested by the home case workers recommendation that “the girl is maladjusted, emotionally unstable, and a difficult problem to approach,” and that “the girl be sterilized after the birth of her baby” (114).

          The women in the novel fight for the rights of the other women in their group. “Amelia saved up four nickels from berry picking to buy Clara some milk” (120). Clara was sick and needed nourishment. Unfortunately, the nourishment came too late and Clara dies ending Clara and the girl’s long and lasting bond. The stress is too much and the girl goes into labor. She had lots of support during her labor. Amelia was there to help her deliver the baby in the midst of the other women who lived in the large house. This again displays the unity of women in times of distress and happiness.

         One quote best sums up the theme of the spirit of women “We all got to be together. Protect each other. We got to fight for each other” (124). 

 by Sarah Hall, English 102, Spring 2002

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