More on XIXth Century Female Characters

One of the most common responses that female characters of the XIXth century novels of growth and development have to being abandoned by their beloved, humiliated by acquaintances and rejected by family members is to seek employment. Even Fernan Caballero's goody-two-shoes character Gracia Vargas says, "I have hands, I can work" and rejects a former fiance who comes back to her in favor of independence and security (these are the actual words she uses) that work provides for her. Fernan Caballero was one of the most rabid conservatives of her times. She reminds me of Ann Coulter whenever I read her novels. Even she, however, created female characters who see work outside the home as a panacea for all women's problems.

There is nothing even remotely resembling this attitude among female characters of Bildungsromane published in the last three decades. What happens is the exact opposite. In Espido Freire's Irlanda, the main character murders her cousin who tells her that a woman can acquire power by becoming an executive or a banker. Freire is a young, quite progressive writer. She is no Fernan Caballero, and I'm sure that she is no fan of Ann Coulter either. And still, the very idea of having a life outside the home drives her character into a murderous rage.

I only discussed these two writers here but there are many more who do the same thing both in the XIXth and the XXth century. (And not only in Spain, of course.)