happy by the fact that her position as local man’s wife makes her easier to be accepted in her new social community.
Francesca hadn’t expected him to ask. She stammered for a moment. “Oh, gosh, nothing like you do. I got my degree in comparative literature.
Winterset was having trouble finding teachers when I arrived here in 1946, and the fact that I was married to local man who was a veteran made me
acceptable… so I picked up a teaching certificate and taught high school English for a few years Waller, p.41.
The quotation above shows that Francesca is a woman who has a strong will to
dedicate her life in the area of education. She uses any little chance to get a job in the field that she concerns on, that is education. She also has a will to fulfill the
requirement even she must have extra-courage to complete it. It shows that she is a woman who is one-step forward comparing with the women around her in the
place she lives.
4. Francesca as Herself
Francesca is a daughter, a wife and a mother. Almost in every aspects of her life, she is ruled by the other. It was started by her parents, who decided
anything for Francesca in the past. Their choices for her even, have a big impact in Francesca’s present life and change her attitude to be a dependent woman.
Then her oppression is continued by the authority of Richard, her husband. Carrying out her duty as a wife, Francesca is totally under Richard’s
control. She even does not dare to complain about Richard’s failure to be an ideal husband for her. He forces her to be a dependent woman.
Francesca is also oppressed in her role as a mother. After her children grow up, they tend to loose their attention toward their mother and gradually make
a distance in their relationship as children to Francesca, their mother. She does not get a proper treatment as a mother.
Behind all her anguish, Francesca has herself as her own. She has her own world in which she is the master and free to expresses her feeling and does what
she wants. She finds a kind of a new world after she meets Robert Kincaid. She feels relieved because she gets the freedom that she never gets in her marriage
with Richard. Robert’s presence in Francesca’s life gives a new horizon and pleasure for
her. He knows how to treat woman properly. She finds her happiness that she tries to find for so long. She feels strange and clumsy being treated as a woman as
Robert does to her, because she never feels it before, and she is happy for that. She had been slightly embarrassed at the amount of film he used but
pleased by the amount of attention he paid to her. She hopes none of the neighbors were out early on their tractors. Though on that particular
morning she had not cared too much about neighbors and what they thought Waller, p.25.
Robert gives her so much attention than the other person ever gives. His interest
leads her to ignore what society might think about when they find her with Robert, who is not her husband. She forgets about the rule of society around her. She
thinks that she has a right to do what she wants. Robert is successful to affect Francesca’s life. She becomes a woman who
dares to expose her beauty. Her nipples were clearly outlined where they pressed against the cotton T-
shirt. She had been strangely unconcerned about that, about being naked under T-shirt. More she was glad of it and was warmed knowing that he
could see her breasts so clearly down his lenses. Never would she have dressed this way around Richard. He would not have approved. Indeed,
before meeting Robert Kincaid, she would not have dressed this way anytime Waller, p.25.
She starts to change the way she dressed up. She wants to show her ‘thing’ to a
man, in this case Robert. Her basic characteristic as a woman has returned, she does something to attract a man. She does it in front of Robert, not Richard,
because he concerns about her, while Richard never pays attention for that thing. Inside her mind, Francesca has a thought to be herself. She thinks about
what to do in order to get her happiness without being criticized by the small town society.
It needed a good rubbing with silver polish, she thought, then chastised herself for being caught up in the trivia of small town life she had silently
rebelled against through the years Waller, p.33.
She realizes that she lives in a social community with their conventional rule. On
the other hand, she is a complete person with her rights to be independent and is not made for command. Finally, she makes out her thought she keeps for a long
time in the form of rebellion toward society’s judgment. She finally decides to break the rule of society around her. But as a woman
who has been living in a traditional society with their traditional thought, she is still wondering about the risk and consequences.
She directed him--casually, she hoped--to park the pick up around behind the house. What she didn’t need was Richard to come home and have one
of the neighbors men to say, “Hey, Dick, havin’ some work done at the place? Saw a green pick up there last week. Knew Frannie was home so I
didn’t bother to check on it.” Waller, p.37.
Again, her self-respect convinces her to go on and ignore her fear and
doubtfulness. What is more important for her at that moment is to fulfill her selfishness which is pursuing happiness.
