Out of Step, Out of Time

The narrator does not stop dancing because she does not believe she has a choice. Parker begins to establish this understanding when the narrator wishes her partner would have refrained from inviting her to dance, and later says, "There was I, trapped. Trapped like a trap in a trap" (Parker 491). The narrator could have refused the man's request for a dance and sat down alone, but she felt compelled for some reason to do otherwise---to go against her own desires to appease a man's. As the story continues the reader is able to see that Parker is not simply writing about a woman who does not want to dance with a particular man, but rather it resonates more personally (and powerfully) with readers. The narrator tells us, "And here I've been locked in his noxious embrace for the thirty-five years this waltz has lasted" (Parker 493).She is not experiencing a dance, but rather a marriage (or other significant relationship), using the waltz to possibly symbolize the life of women in the day and age in which Parker is writing. Deciding whether to marry or not was not much of a decision at all for many women during the early 20th century; deciding to remain unattached would have been a move towards becoming a social outcast. A woman's purpose in life, her desire, was supposed to be to get married and have a family. Failing to conform to this norm, for middle and upper class women at least, would have been unacceptable.

Parker's use of double-voicing helps the reader see how her thoughts and actual desires are masked by social conformity and politeness. She is able to make the reader laugh by showing how absurd it was for women to silence their desires (and in this case her pain as well!) and to obey what men ask of them, even when the man is wrong. The man in this story does not waltz properly, embarrassing the narrator, but instead of explaining his errors or finding a new partner, the narrator uses self deprecation in order to massage his ego. She takes responsibility for him kicking her in the shin even though her thoughts clearly show he was the one out of step.

By letting us see the narrator's inner thoughts, we are able to not only get comic relief but also see how unhappy she is. The double-voicing creates a stark dichotomy in the way the action is being addressed, creating a linguistic mask for the narrator. Her speech makes her seem like a perfectly well-conformed and obedient woman, but it is when she removes her "mask" that the readers are able to see how damaging these expectations are on her. She is a sympathetic character, in part, because of the successful way she manages her mask. "I should say I am not tired. I'm dead," the narrator tells us after the orchestra begins an encore (493). She is playing the part of the obedient woman perfectly, and in doing so the readers see how detrimental this is to her well-being. The outcome of the pairing an idea that would normally illicit happy imagery (a waltz) with a terrible dancer and a reluctant dance partner is possibly the climate some couples found themselves in when married. It is through the successful use of double-voicing and Ong's idea of masking that create a compelling and poignant look into the experience of the narrator.