Discuss the Representation of the Spinster in Katherine Mansfield's 'the Daughters of the Late Colonel'

Discuss the representation of the spinster in Katherine Mansfield's 'The Daughters of the Late Colonel'.

Introduction - Women's Role in Society in Different Times

Women in contemporary society engage actively in social space, working place and politics, no longer being suppressed and constrained from connecting to the outside world. Marriage is not an imperative to women of 21st century. It is possible for women to be as, or even more, economically and socially independent as men. Women do not just live for marriage.

According to Ardener (1978, p.70), in the past, the marriage of offspring was the primary concern to parents which would be contracted at the appropriate age. In addition to being treated as the prerequisite of acquiring full independent maturity and adulthood, marriage, to women, was seen as the sole measure to fulfill their destiny, getting married and bearing child. Motherhood was the culmination of woman's hopes, ambitions and dreams (Hammond and Jablow, 1976, p.49).

The difference in nature reveals what a woman is, and what her roles are, depend more on a cultural definition than biological facts (Hammond and Jablow, 1976, p.5). Though more valued is still placed on motherhood as childbearing is unique and firmly based on female biology, unmarried single women nowadays will not be scorned and treated as a stigma of their family. Unfortunately this was not the case in early 20th century.

Representation of the spinster in 'The Daughters of the Late Colonel'

In 'The Daughters of the Late Colonel', Constantia and Josephine vacillate a lot. Their vacillation can be found from Chapter 1 that they cannot make the decision of what to give to a porter. The sisters fail to reach a common view if they should give their father's top-hat away and have to 'decide to-morrow'. Constantia changes the topic and asks if they should have their dressing-gowns dyed. Constantia wants to have the gowns dyed in black while Josephine does not see the necessity of changing the colour of the gowns. They do not insist their own stand, but Constantia leaves the decision aside, again, by switching to another topic - 'How many letters have we had up till now?' In Chapter 10, when the sisters are asked if they want to have a fried or boiled fish, they cannot reach the conclusion in short, 'On the other hand, of course, boiled fish is very nice. I think I prefer them both equally well...Unless you... In that case --' It is obvious that they are very irresolute.

They are irresolute because they have been under parental control for a very long period of time, they do not feel comfortable making decisions for themselves, and they do not have their own will.

Constantia and Josephine do not have their own, which directly leads to their dependency on surrounding people. When Mr. Farolles offers his help to manage the funeral, the sisters only give a general suggestion to Mr. Farolles about what kind of funeral they want for their father, '...to be quite simple... and not too expensive.' The suggestion is so vague that they have a deficiency in expressing themselves. In Chapter 5, it is apparent that they are still living under the fear of their father. Josephine is suddenly terrified on the funeral, thinking how her father would think if he is alive, seeing them has him buried and spent an enormous amount on holding the funeral, 'Josephine had had a moment of absolute terror at the cemetery' because 'she and Constantia' had done this thing without asking his permission'. She cannot help ask 'what would father say when he found out?' Josephine is terrified enough to hear his father roaring 'And do you expect me to pay for this gimcrack excursion of yours?' and she goes to Constantia immediately 'we should have done it, Con!' She is scared to death because holding father's funeral is the first thing ever without father's prior consent, there is no doubt that their father controls everything when he is alive.

In the meantime, having lived under father's constrained life, the sisters, especially Josephine, are quite innocent. From how Josephine behaves on the funeral, it can be seen that she does not know exactly what a funeral is about and its purpose, or she would not have asked 'what would father say when he found out?' Apart from funeral, they do not have a clear concept about death. After the funeral, they have to deal with their father's left-behind belongings, and it is