Henry Lawson's short story "The Drover's Wife," offers a nation-building image of an Australian bush woman capable of overcoming the hardships of isolation and life on the frontier, while "The Woman at the Store," Katherine Mansfield's short story offers a more critical look at the realities of Lawson's idealization. Both stories have striking similarities in terms of both setting and situation, which are then offset by the striking differences in how each woman is affected by her lot in life. The drover's wife is independent, self sufficient and well adapted to the barren landscape and dangerous circumstances of frontier life. She is well integrated into the cultural ideals of Australian hegemonic masculinity, un-corrupted by the isolation and risks set to her (Laszáková, 2.2). The woman at the store is driven mad by the same circumstances that the drover's wife so admirably overcomes and she seems weak and feeble minded in comparison. Where Lawson creates a Virgin Mary of the Bush, an example few if any real women could actually attain, Mansfield counteracts it by more accurately assessing the effects of such an inhospitable environment as well as the psychological demands of living under the pressures of an unyielding patriarchal society.
The drover's wife appears to be a more capable mother simply by the number of children she has, four in comparison to the store woman's only daughter. However, to be overly affectionate would be unsuitable for a bush woman as it might breed weakness in her children. Lawson writes: "she loves her children, but has not time to show it. She seems harsh to them" (179). To make up for this she demonstrates the fierceness of her love in other ways, such as riding nineteen miles with a dead child in her arms (177).
[...] To make up for this she demonstrates the fierceness of her love in other ways, such as riding nineteen miles with a dead child in her arms (177). The woman at the store appears completely unsuited to motherhood having had four miscarriages in six years with only one surviving daughter (Mansfield, 16). Rather than presenting themselves as mother and daughter they appear to be two individuals in a bad situation, the mother having infected her child with madness and vulgarity (17). [...]
[...] Position of Women in Australian Literature: the Analysis of the Drover's Wife Stories.” Diss. Masaryk U Web March 2013. Lawson, Henry. Drover's Wife.” While The Billy Boils. Sydney: Angus and Robertson 175-80. Print. Mansfield, Katherine. Woman at the Store.” Selected stories. Ed. [...]
[...] Masculinity and the Bush: How Henry Lawson Perpetuates the Concept and Katherine Mansfield Troubles It Henry Lawson's short story Drover's offers a nation- building image of an Australian bush woman capable of overcoming the hardships of isolation and life on the frontier, while Woman at the Store,” Katherine Mansfield's short story offers a more critical look at the realities of Lawson's idealization. Both stories have striking similarities in terms of both setting and situation, which are then offset by the striking differences in how each woman is affected by her lot in life. [...]
[...] The drover's wife and the store woman are the main sites of difference between Mansfield and Lawson's perception of bush life. The traveler Jo describes the store woman as being feminine and fun loving before her transformation, and pretty as a wax doll” (14). This is a figure wholly unsuited to the rigors of such a life and her physical appearance stands as a testimony to the affect of the bush has had upon her: “certainly her eyes were blue, and what hair she had was yellow, but ugly. [...]
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