Eva as a Woman

As the time goes, Eva also gets more confident in terms of fighting David’s expectation on herself. Technically, she is now a very old grandmother. She no longer feels obligated to do her duty as a housewife and a mother. However, she still yearns for freedom. Enough . Now they have no children. Let him wrack his head for how they would live . She would not exchange her solitude for anything. Never again to be forced to move to the rhythms of others . For in this solitude she had won a reconciled peace . Olsen, 1976: 77 Eva tries to take the advantage of her current situation and have the time of her life as a woman . She yearns for freedom and she never stops fighting for it. Especially, now that she has no duty as a mother . She fights for her freedom and she finally wins . She is not giving up on her solitude nor is she going to let herself being told what to do . As she is shown to have sacrificed her free spirited self in the past to be the woman expected by the society, she does not want to that person anymore . However, researcher notices that Eva develops anxiety issue when she is faced with her old tasks . A new baby . How many warm seductive babies. She holds him stiffly, away from her, so that he wails . And a long shudder begins, and the sweat beads on her forehead . “Hush, shush,” croons the grandfather, lifting him back. You should forgive your Grandmamma, little prince, she has never held a baby before, only seen the in glass cases . Hush, shush. ” “You’re tired, Ma?” says Vivi. “The travel and the noisy dinner. I’ll take you to lie down . ” A long travel from, to, what the feel of a baby evokes . Olsen, 1976: 91 Eva used to put others before herself and she wants solitude and silence in her old days as a remedy. She finally reaches her golden age at that time and freedom is her big achievement. She wants to live her life without any limitations because she is not able to do so in her days while being a housewife and a mother. She cherishes the freedom and she is determined to keep it safe. As the result, she becomes anxious when she meets Vivi’s son. Her anxiety shows how much she does not want the history to repeat itself. David also does not help much as he claims that Eva never holds a baby before .David is also shown to degrade Eva by his words. Again, does not acknowledge Eva’s ability as a mother as she is the one who raises seven children. Researcher then realizes that Eva is unable to be the grandmother figure in the first place. She wants to be free after she is done with her duties. The proof can be seen from the following. Cannot what? Unnatural grandmother. Not able to make herself embrace a baby. It was not that she had not loved her babies, her children. The love – the passion of tending – had risen with the need like a torrent; and like a torrent drowned and immolated all else. But when the need was done – oh the power that was lost in the painful damming back and drying up of what still surged. Olsen, 1976: 92 Here, it can be seen that Eva loves her children and she gives her best. However, she does it out of the gender roles given by the society. Once she feels that her duty is done, she just cannot bring herself to do more motherly duty. She does not even have the heart to hold the baby as it reminds her of her past days of being a mother. She loves and supports her children, but she is done. She does her best for her children, and her grandchildren are not her business. She wants to put herself as the priority this time. Eva grows older and she is shown to develop a hearing problem. She wears a pair of hearing-aids to help her hearing things. However, she makes use of the fact that the hearing aid can be turned on and off. There are multiple occasions where she turns it off to her advantage whenever she does not want to hear others. The proof can be seen from the following part. “And she turned off her ear button, so she would not have to hear.” Olsen, 1976: 75 This happens when Eva finds out that David has been hearing her words of a better mankind, but David chooses to ignore it. David urges Eva to move into Haven. Eva has had enough. She turns her hearing aid off so she cannot hear David’s voice. Another example of the same act can be seen from the following part. “Turn on your ear button – I am talking. And stubbornly she resisted – so that from wheedling, reasoning, manipulation, it was bitterness he now started with. ” Olsen, 1976: 78 On one of those times, David and Eva have another quarrel on selling the house. David keeps repeating the same talks about moving to Haven and Eva does not want to hear it as her decision has been made from the beginning. She does not want the house to be sold.In response, she turns off her hearing aid only to see David being mad, claiming that there will be a way to make her sign the documents. Eva is no longer forced to listen to what people say, especially David. She now has a choice, to listen to David’s words or to turn off her hearing aid. Eva shows an attempt to stand up for herself and rebel by choosing the second option. From the proofs provided, it can be concluded that Eva uses the hearing aids to her advantage. Whenever she does not want to hear others, she turns it off. This act actually indicates that she has been oppressed the whole time. She has to hear her husband’s orders and opinions since her marriage. She finally gets her freedom through the hearing-aids. It becomes her escapade. If not for the hearing problems, she will not have any other choice but to hear David’s ramble. As explained earlier, the act of turning off the hearing-aids can be considered as her rebellion of not listening to David’s word as a man. If David can ignore her words when he can clearly hear it, she can do the same thing. Eva tries to stand up on her own and seek for equality to David’s action. In conclusion, Eva fights for her own freedom. She goes along with what the society expects her to be in the beginning of the story. However, she only gets stronger and more confident in standing up for her rights to David towards the end of the story. She is an independent woman and she wants to be free as she finishes her duties. It is also revealed that Eva has been putting up with the pressure addressed towards her and she grows tired of being told what to do.

2. Eva as an Angel and a Monster

The poem “The Angel in the House” becomes an extremely popular in the mid nineteenth century, Victorian Era, and sets the standard for the ideal woman. The typical of literature in this time period depicts a woman whose sole purpose for living was to care for her husband and her children above all else. Women are supposed to be passive in the society and men take the lead. After that, women at that time are divided into angels and monsters. From the story “Tell Me a Riddle”, researcher notes that Tillie Olsen successfully demonstrates both sides of the angel and the monster in Eva’s character. The angels are the ones who do their job properly as a woman. They represent the ideal of men. Anything other than the ideal type of men are considered monsters. These standards of how “good” women should act become the fundamental of gender roles in the society. In other words, people who are biologically female are considered as women failures if they are not completely selfless, content to make sure the husbands and children are well-fed, clean, dressed and happy. Eva is presented as a “good” housewife and a “good” mother in the beginning of the story. She can be considered “good” because she does her job properly. She is a selfless person and she puts other people before herself. There was no time for anything else as she focuses on taking care of the family. However, it is later revealed that Eva holds everything without other people knowing her real feelings. She suffers due to the gender stereotypes related to her roles in the society and she yearns for freedom as a woman. At the end, researcher sees Eva’s development as a woman. She starts to stand up for herself and she even takes every chance that she can get to enjoy freedom, especially through her hearing-aids. She no longer listens to David as she can turn off her hearing aid on purpose. While she starts to rebel, she slowly shows her monster side because she is not the ideal woman. The theory of woman as an angel and monster then cannot be used to describe Eva as she is somewhere between being an angel and a monster. There is no clear limit to describe women. 48

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION

In this chapter, the researcher concludes all of the analysis given in the previous chapter. This research consists of two problem formulations that can be be seen in the first chapter. The formulations make the research to be more specified. They contain the analysis on the character Eva in the story and the how she reacts to the gender stereotypes addressed towards her in relation to her gender roles. From the analysis, the researcher concludes that Eva gradually improves. At first, she is presented to be a “good” housewife and mother, the perfect kind of woman during the 1960s. She stays in the house, takes care of the family and her husband, and also does the house chores all on her own. Later, it is revealed that Eva actually suffers from the duties given to her as a woman but she keeps it all to herself until her children are all grown up. She goes along with what the society wants her to be. She always does her best despite the fact that she does her job out of obligation in the beginning. She shows cares to her children and she does not want her daughters to experience the same gender stereotypes. She does not want the history to repeat itself due to the structure in the society, where men have the advantages as they are higher in position compared to women. It can also be seen that the people of the 1960s still hold the Victorian values tightly. Eva is also a woman oppressed by the traditional view in the patriarchal society. The society wants her to act in certain manners and fulfill certain standards as well. In order to be considered as a “good” woman in the society, she has to fill these standards. Also, there is a structure in the society and men have the advantages as they are higher in position compared to women. This is the unspoken rule of patriarchal society. In Eva’s case, she plays along with the roles assigned to her as she feels responsible for her husband and children. Eva is presented as a “good” housewife and a “good” mother in the beginning of the story. She can be considered “good” because she does her job properly. She is a “selfless” person and she puts other people before herself. There was no time for anything else as she focuses on taking care of the family. However, it is later revealed that Eva holds everything without other people knowing her real feelings. She yearns for freedom, but suffers due to the gender stereotype. At the end, researcher sees Eva’s development in relation to her real-life experiences. She starts to stand up for herself and she even takes every chance that she can get to enjoy freedom, especially through her hearing-aids. She no longer listens to David as she can turn off her hearing aid on purpose. While she starts to rebel, she slowly shows her monster side. She is no longer the ideal type.She also appears to be the representation of how liberal feminists react to the gender stereotypes addressed towards women in 1960s. She stands up for herself and does not fall into the stereotypes. At the end, she wants to act like David. She fights for a gender justice exactly like how liberal feminists do at that time. The theory of woman as an “angel” and “monster” then cannot describe Eva as she is somewhere between being an angel and a monster. There is no clear limit to describe women. With that explained, the researcher would like to invite people, especially women, not to limit themselves to certain points because there is no such thing as limits in this context. As this research only focuses on the life of Eva as a woman in the patriarchal society, the researcher hopes that there will be a more specified research in the future related to the problems discussed.