Entry 7: Feminism in Literature

Given the narrow focus of Paul Zindel’s The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, in that all of the characters that appear are women (this is excluding the mention of Mr. Goodman, whose responses and voice are filtered simply through the female character Beatrice), one could assume that a feminist critic would begin her investigation into this play by focusing on Zindel’s rationale behind why male characters are essentially insignificant and absent in his play. If I were a feminist critic, I would initially be a bit shocked at this notion because, giving my inadequate knowledge on this subject, I would sort of expect the play to marginalize women, especially since the author is male. But, that is not the case here, in fact, it seems as if Zindel switches things up a bit, but why?

Feminist literary theorists mainly aim at understanding the position of women and gender conflict by evaluating how the proportion of gender based material affects our everyday lives end existence. One aspect of this hierarchical relationship between males and females includes the aforementioned idea concerning the binary category of presence versus absence. With this relationship, Zindel switches things up a bit by marginalizing men and having them be the absent characters and women the present characters. While men (Mr. Goodman and Beatrice’s father) are mentioned in the play, they are neither heard nor seen, causing their significance to be a bit puzzling. Mr. Goodman does seem to want to help, as shown by his constant phone calls about Tilly and questions concerning the family’s disheveled and unsystematic home life. A feminist critic may view this as Zindel conveying the idea that a man or father figure is needed to establish order and eliminate the alienation that seems to be familiar to this family.

Another thing that I noticed in the play that may catch the attention of a feminist critic is the relationship concerning activity versus passivity. In the play, Tilly is portrayed as a very submissive and eccentric outcast who seemingly complies with the mistreatment she endures at the hand of her mother. Her character throughout the play, then, seems to comply with the active/passive relationship that is often discovered by feminist theorist. She takes the position of being the character who possess the qualities of the more devalued term—passivity. Mr. Goodman, on the other hand, is depicted as taking an active role in Tilly’s life, by working to genuinely support her educational dreams, and by also having Ruth work for him, perhaps to “save her from herself or her mother?” Either way the male character, Mr. Goodman, although essentially silent, does seem to be superior to the female characters in the play.

Lastly, a feminist critic may also take notice to the fact that Beatrice’s character fits the traditional, stereotypical female character role. She is portrayed as an irrational, angry and unscrupulous woman who seduces men. Thus, given the false, stereotypical roles concerning men and women that arise in the play, it leads me to wonder about Zindel’s aim and thought processes in such a work of fiction.