In Frederick Philip Grove’s “Lazybones,” Elizabeth Hurst we are told was a strong bony woman. She wasn’t beautiful and she seemed not capable of doing a lot of work. She is the one who was waking up her husband who was still sleeping and this show the women in this book were hardworking. She was prepared for the windy day since we are told that she had a tight checked grey cloth which she covered her head with.
When Kezia tells the preacher they were riding with to take the shawl she had and that she doesn’t need it shows her sympathy. This is because the preacher looked helpless. She rode like a man and this show there is a potential to change. She has Masculine behavior and hence we see there is a lot of freedom.
When Mrs. Barclays says that Kezia was the first choice of the cloths cast off by Miss Clara and Miss Julia, it shows that Kezia doesn’t own anything.
I the book lazy bones Elizabeth was used to working in the field, milking and in the house. She could not raise a comment when she finds a seeder and a binder standing in the open sky.
Elizabeth was married to Walter Hunt and she was always disappointed since there was a twitching in her upper lip that uncovered her strong white teeth that showed her nervous strain. She had married this man with a lot of opposition from her family. Her brothers and sisters were speaking badly of her husband calling him son of a blacksmith. She says she had to defend her husband because he had enabled her to remain within her own traditions even though he was lazy and unsuccessful. Elizabeth describes him as handsome and had fallen in love with him. This is completely the opposite in the book the wedding gift by Thomas Raddall where Miss Kezia Barnes is like forced to marry Mr. Hathaway. At some point we see that Kezia had tears on her eyes this shows she really didn’t want to get married to anyone (Jeffrey, 1991).
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In the book Lazy bones we discover that women are very hardworking. When Elizabeth finished milking she went right ahead to feed the horses and by this time the husband wasn’t awake. He was so lazy. She gathered large trusses of hay from the haystack big enough for any man to carry. While Elizabeth does all these work the husband is still asleep. He even says he be added five minutes so that he can sleep. Being so gentle she adds him ten minutes instead of the five and still he isn’t satisfied. He is truly a lazy bone though handsome.
In Thomas Raddall’s “The Wedding Gift, we learn that Mr. Hathaway was a hardworking man and a useful businessman and Thomas says that Kezia was lucky to have him. He was far from hand some as Thomas says as opposed to Walter in the Lazy bones. Kezia was a valuable girl because Mr. Barclays says she was a colorless little creature though quiet, well mannered and pious and only twenty two. Kezia had masculine behavior because we are told as they were going to Bristol Creek, she forgot she was riding astride until she passed the pastor she then flushed and gave the indignant horse a cut of the switch. She then remembered and swung her right leg where it should be and then tucked the skirt modestly below her ankle. The preacher though looked down until she overtook him. As they moved they had so many difficulties and they had to leave their horses. Kezia cried as the pastor prayed they came across a deserted hut and they decided to go inside and shelter there. The snow that was giving them difficulties to move on was in another way good for Kezia because it would rescue her from the forced marriage. The bad things perceived may be an advantage to others as shown here where Kezia is benefiting from this. There is constraining of gender values as we are told that there is men kind which includes Mr. Hathaway and the rest. This shows the class is insignificant. Kezia though is very sympathetic and offers the preacher her stockings and these shows the women are good willed despite the way men are treating them. The men seem to rule the world in this case that is as told by Thomas Raddall (Jeffrey, 1991).
Elizabeth on the other hand tries to be harsh by showing Walt that he won’t have breakfast until he wakes up and goes to prepare the fallow as the land lord wants. She knocks the broom handle on the ceiling to justify this. As Walt eats his breakfast slowly, Elizabeth went with the children so as to fill the barrel from the sloughs before they went to school. As Elizabeth was separating cream, he just crossed his legs and kept on talking instead of going to work.
Elizabeth then leads the children to take the cows to the pasture. It was like half a mile north and she lead the children pulling the cow with a bell and the rest followed together with the children. The children were bare foot a sign of poverty. The woman was still the one to come and prepare the children so that they could go to school and eve as she is coming back from taking the cows, she passes by the pig pen to see whether they have been fed. Walt was still not at the barn. It is half past eight and these shows the women here are very responsible. She still helps Walt to hitch up the horses and immediately into the trough where the horses drank from. This water wasn’t fit for use in the house. She then heads to the house to wash the dishes. She is truly a hardworking woman while her husband is extremely lazy.
When Kezia and the preacher – Mr. Mears were in the house, Kezia seems to be the head and tells the preacher what to do. For example she tells him ‘Put your hands around me’. He does so. She also tells him to pray and he does so still. They keep themselves warm and as outside the storm hissed loudly on the roof top.
The next morning they eat what Kezia had carried for herself and this shows she is kind. She then confesses to Mr. Mears that she had been a bond girl since she was fourteen and that she wasn’t ready to be given out body and soul without her willing. She is strongly willed and says she won’t lie to Mr. Hathaway and Mr. and Mrs. Barclays if they asked where they had spent the night. The preacher is embarrassed and doesn’t know what to do as she is so straight forward.
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Kezia is very confident and tells the preacher what she wants. She wanted him to be her husband and not Mr. Hathaway. She even tells him to kiss her. She is very sharp and doesn’t allow anything to go against what she wants. The preacher accepts what she suggests and this is a symbol of the power of a woman. They take a new path and head on. When Kezia says they came by ride and tie and that she needs warmth, means that they will cooperate in life and that is what is needed so as to be successful. There is redefinition of female role as she will be valued by the help she can offer. Kezia had a tinder box all along but didn’t tell the preacher. She manipulates the poor preacher until she gets what she wants. She has strong determination and this is a pro to her since she lastly didn’t marry Mr. Hathaway. She is deceiving and manipulating and she uses this to improve her status.
In lazy bones Elizabeth’s husband is very lazy such that when his visitor comes he can’t do anything else except chatting. Elizabeth has to come up with a way of dismissing the visitor so that the husband can go to plough the land. At dawn Elizabeth manages to do everything that is needed of her like bring back the cows and put the children to bed. Walt sleeps quite early. At the end of the day Elizabeth feels so contented and manages to maintain the family (Allan, 1983).
In these two books we find that women are praying a big role in their families especially in the book Lazy bones by Frederick Philip Grove. In the Wedding gift by Thomas Raddall, Kezia gets what she wants and this indicates the strength of a woman. She throws away the wedding gift which shows she doesn’t want to be forced to get married to the person she doesn’t want. She manages to manipulate the preacher until he accepts to marry her. She won’t let anything come between her dreams. Elizabeth on the other hand got married to a lazy poor but handsome man despite her family opposing the marriage. She is living with a lot of problems which she can’t blame anyone for.
Men in this two books seem to be of no say but in the wedding gift they seem to take what they want like Mr. Hathaway wanted to marry Kezia she he was only lacking a woman. He had a good business and they had a men’s like attitude which was undermining the prosperity of women. This was not good at all. Kezia though defies the odds and refuses to be married to him
Work Cited:
Allan R Young. Thomas H. Raddall. U.S.A.: Twayne Publishers, 1983
Jeffrey M. heath .Profiles in Canadian literature, Volume 7.Canada: Dundurn Press Ltd., 1991
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