Hapgood: Tying Two Issues Together

For the final phase of the archival project overview, I will discuss the topics, organization and prominent rhetorical strategies in Mary Hapgood’s short stories, “Jerry the Mine Mule,” “Big Tim’s Daughter” and “Why Do Intelligent Women Marry?”, to make an argument about women and social reform.

Jerry the Mine Mule

In this story, Hapgood makes an argument for women’s rights in conjunction with worker’s rights. The main character in the story is a mule named Jerry, who lives in an ideal home in a farm, surrounded by loving owners and mother. He is eventually taken away from this home to work in a mine under terrible conditions. This parallels a woman’s passage from childhood into adulthood: she is reared in a home protected by her parents. As she comes of age, she is eventually forced to leave the family and fulfills society’s expectations of what a woman ought to be. While working at the mine, Jerry at first has a kind-hearted driver who never forces him to overwork. Eventually, however, he suffers mistreatment from other impatient and cruel drivers who feel no qualms about beating and overworking him “It seemed to Jerry that no matter how hard a mule worked some drivers were never satisfied” (Hapgood 4). Hapgood uses an appeals to pathos and paints a touching picture of a horse unused to manor labor that diligently and patiently strive to satisfy his drivers but never succeeds. One day, one of his drivers puts more loads on Jerry than he can pull; he “cursed insanely when Jerry, straining with all his strength, was unable to move the string of cars” (Hapgood 4). He is seen as a machine and thus treated inhumanely, without love or sympathy. Similarly to this, a woman’s quality of life depends on the disposition of her husband. If he mistreats her, there is not much she can do as she is bonded to him. Yet, this is the exact idea Hapgood wants to counteract. In “Jerry the Mule Mine,” Jerry gets to know a female horse named Bird. Hapgood states that she was a “wiser mule. She refused to draw more than three cars at any time…She usually won her point” (Hapgood 4-5). Here, Hapgood argues for strikes and how effective they can be. At the same time, she seems to be stating that women can make a difference for themselves and gain rights, but activism is required. They cannot sit around and complain about their qualities of life if they expect for it to improve. They must use their brains and protest. In this story, Hapgood shows her indignation at the poor conditions a mine worker and a woman can suffer from while fulfilling society’s expectations. She uses very direct language without attempts at subtlety. By making the main character a mine mule, who represents mine workers and the oppressed in general, Hapgood creates a fable-like story that is easy to relate to and read.

Why Do Intelligent Women Marry?

In this essay, Hapgood directly questions the issue of women’s rights and feminism instead of cloaking or paralleling it within another issue. Hapgood begins by stating that she attains satisfaction from being a “successful wife and mother” to refute possible criticisms that she is neither; she is merely saying that she is “also interested in other things” (Hapgood 2). She calls for equal rights in a marriage and scorns the fact that married women are expected to take interest in nothing but their husband and children. She believes they should be able to pursue any interests they want, as they, too, are individuals who have something to offer to the world. She points out the inequalities between men and women in a marriage because “women who are married to men with interests the same as their own find that marriage is considered a substitute or a compensation for all else” when clearly, this is not the case in, nor is it expected of, the men (Hapgood 2). She states that she is as much interested in politics as her husband, despite being a woman and wife and mother, but is “expected to be interested, not in politics, but in my husband’s success in politics” (Hapgood 3). She points out the hypocrisy of stating that two people become one in a marriage when it is actually the woman who has to give up her personality, interests and rights (Hapgoo 3). She points out the unfairness in such societal expectations: “I, too, am an individual. I do not want to subordinate myself to my husband” (Hapgood 3). She is unwilling to give up her individuality and believes she shouldn’t be called upon to give it up in the first place.

Big Tim’s Daughter

Similarly to her “Jerry the Mine Mule”, Hapgood combines the issues of social reform for mine workers and women in this story. She again points out how terrible the living conditions of mine workers are: “The whole mining camp was sordid enough” (Hapgood 1). Big Tim is a mine worker and his daughter, Nellie, frets over “‘how hard he works’” (Hapgood 1). One night, while he is attending a union meeting, Nellie meets up with a man who persuades her to have sex with him. He tells her that everything is safe and Nellie believes him blindly, but she ends up becoming pregnant. He then leaves her. Nellie pities the “poor little baby who was coming whether or not [she and her father] wished it” because there is nothing she can do about it (Hapgood 3). Hapgood shows us again what few rights women really have—they don’t even have the right over their own bodies! While men have the option of being sexually independent and active, women cannot. If she becomes pregnant, she will have to give birth to the baby who will then be a fatherless bastard. Hapgood also seems to tell us that men are not so noble, ethical and moralistic as they pretend to be; they don’t keep their word and are generally unreliable. They don’t protect women’s rights; they take them away. Hapgood continues to closely link the two issues together in this story, using a subtlety that cannot be found in her direct essay, “Why Do Intelligent Women Marry?” This story, similar to “Jerry the Mine Mule” both stylistically and content-wise, again employs pathos by drawing sympathy from the readers towards the poor, helpless Nellie, and to her father, both of whom have terrible living conditions.

For my final paper, I will be drawing upon Hapgood’s autobiography, No Tears from My Youth, as a lens for getting a better understanding of the numerous short stories she has written. I would like to see if there are any contradictory views, and if similar styles and content that predominate in her short stories do so in her autobiography, as well. I want to know why and how she became a socialis. I am not sure yet what question I shall be investigating; some questions that I have regarding Hapgood as a whole are:

How does she position herself in her stories? What kind of an audience does she construct for herself? How does she complicate the idea of the feminine style?