Abstract
The idea of patriarchy makes the subordination and oppression of women by men visible and illegitimate. Starhawk labels the dominant and oppressive type of power that reinforces obedience in patriarchy power-over, an exploitative form of power that celebrates and encourages manipulation and a view of the world as mechanistic and disconnected. From the perspective of what Starhawk defines as “power-over”, this paper examines the female ideologies of the Bunner sisters – the passive victims of the patriarchal system – constructed under the influence of the patriarchal system in terms of such key elements as misplaced conception of culture and literacy, the “virtue” of self-abnegation and absolute obedience to and dependence on the authority which are deeply entrenched in the character of the two sisters.
Highlights
Bunner Sisters depicts two spinster sisters, Ann Eliza and Evelina Bunner, who run a sewing shop off Stuyvesant Square and sell needles and thread
From the perspective of what Starhawk defines as “power-over”, this paper examines the female ideologies of the Bunner sisters – the passive victims of the patriarchal system – constructed under the influence of the patriarchal system in terms of such key elements as misplaced conception of culture and literacy, the “virtue” of self-abnegation and absolute obedience to and dependence on the authority which are deeply entrenched in the character of the two sisters
Ann Eliza and Evelina Bunner are portrayed by Wharton as the passive victims of the patriarchal system
Summary
Bunner Sisters depicts two spinster sisters, Ann Eliza and Evelina Bunner, who run a sewing shop off Stuyvesant Square and sell needles and thread. (Longfellow 39–40) Longfellow seems to mark the highest point of culture and gentility in the world of the Bunner sisters, for whom Ramy’s way of reading aloud poetry of Longfellow holds obvious and considerable appeal They believe “his culture [soars] beyond the newspapers” and he is a suitable husband: “It was a very beautiful evening, and Ann Eliza thought afterward how different life might have been with a companion who read poetry like Mr Ramy” (Wharton 49). The entire performance falsely implies that marriage to a man who can declaim Longfellow will be a genteel and cultured sequence of emotionally satisfying parlor activities Charmed by this sentimental poem praising female innocence, the Bunner sisters believe Mr Ramy to be the epitome of romance. Ann Eliza’s ideals, partly derived from fiction, have been far worse than useless
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