Below is the very first Episode of my series English in Summer School. I hope you enjoy!
Intro
I have examined the novel The Girl Who Was Saturday Night Written by Heather O’Neil from a feminist perspective .
It was back in the early 90’s in Quebec young women are seen as a sex object and nothing more. There were pimps causing trouble, and getting their money’s worth for every girl they have grabbed off the streets. The protagonist Nouschka clearly explains,
Before I’d dropped out of high school, I remembered reading about how ships full of girls were sent from Paris to New France to marry inhabitants. They stopped off the boat with puke on their dresses and stood on the docks, waiting to be chosen. They were pregnant before they even had a chance to unpack their bags. They didn’t want this. They didn’t want to populate this horrible land that was snow and rocks and skinny wolves. They spoke to their children through gritted teeth. That’s where the Quebec accent came from. The nation crawled out from between their legs (O’Neil 2).
I believe this text justifies the population of girls who were taken away from home, not even able to live a regular teenage life before their body was taken advantage of. When they were finished with each girl they were thrown out one by one, unless you were their favourite. Because back then they didn’t have a voice to stay no. There life was on the line if they didn’t listen and there was no one to stand up for them or tell them that everything was going to be alright.
In every neighbourhood you would be able to find at least one pregnant teenager, with the fear in her eyes not knowing when it will end, restricted to the life they wanted to live. Referring back to the presentation when we first touched on literary theories in Unit 1, “ women’s voices were ignored mainly because most critics were men who tended to read and write about their own experiences” (Literary Theory Slide Show). Similarly, as girls didn’t have a voice or a say in anything and only men were a loud to voice their opinion.
What were the social conditions for woman in present day that might help us understand their roles and desires in your text?
Compared to this period of time in present day woman are treated more equal then back in the 1900’s, they are able to get a job in the same work place as men and work as hard.. But our society isn’t perfect when it comes to comparing men and women, there are still times when man may be chosen over woman because he may have more strength. It’s not happening consistently like in the novel, but there are times women are defined how they are seen on the outside than inside.
How is the protagonist seen? How does it affect her role or character?
The protagonist herself was seen as an object that wasn’t treated with respect, but she continued to let it happen. Anywhere she went, walking on the sidewalk to school, bars and at work. No matter the age, Nouschka was seen as the pretty thing behind the counter at the news stand she explains, “The men who stopped by would hit on me and say that I was wasting my time behind the counter and that I should go to Hollywood and become a movie star. It made me think that there was a paperback bestseller that they had all read called something like 1001 Compliments” (O’Neil 56).
But she tried to get guys to like her, of whom she thought was good looking, but she never truly loved them, she let them take advantage of her.
How does Nouschka exercise her power in this text? What were the consequences?
Getting deeper in the novel towards the end, Raphael asked Nouschka to marry him. Of course she said yes because a 20 year old girl wouldn’t want anything more than to marry the one she loves, or so she thinks. On her wedding day, her grandfather was against this marriage and couldn’t settle with it, but Nouschka wasn’t going to let him ruin their day. Before the ceremony, her grandfather continued to lecture her, that it wasn’t right that she was marrying a guy like him, a fool with no job, Loulou bickered, “” You know, what’s a guy like that going to do for a living? Don’t you want a guy who can support you? Why don’t you go for a guy with steady work?”” (O’Neil 170). Even how old and goofy her grandfather was, he know she deserved better, but she was to blinded by her so called love for Raphael, she believed that he could give her everything she needed or wanted in life.
It was months after they got married and Nouschka was pregnant. Even though being with Raphael was against Nicolas and grandfathers belief, Nouschka put money a side, a bit every time she got payed, just in case.
Eventually that one day did come, Raphael was out of control one evening, he raced into the bedroom saying that they needed to leave the city. Nouschka didn’t want to go without saying goodbye to her family. But she quickly grabbed a few things, knowing if she refused to go, she didn’t want to find out what would happen. Raphael kept driving and never looked back ,with a crazy look in his eye. They ended up at this old house where they stayed for a few days, when one morning Raphael left and wasn’t coming back till sunset. Nouschka knew this was the time to leave and go back home, she didn’t want this, she missed her family. The protagonist confessed,
Being married to Raphael would be like being married to a hurricane. I would have to be putting up storm windows and climbing up trees to rescue the dog. It was wonderful in a way to be so marvellously distracted, but it didn’t leave you any time or boredom for being a person. Maybe there was nothing out there. But I felt too young to give up on the world yet. I loved Raphael, but I loved my life more. I loved Montreal more (O’Neil 317).
Nouschka was finally fighting back and saying no. She took the money she had saved and bought a bus ticket. She knew she belonged at home in her grandfather’s apartment, at least for now.
With consequences:
Nouschka went back to her old apartment that Raphael and her shared, retrieving the rest of her stuff. She sat on the bed for a few minutes, then Raphael walked in and came and sat next to her. He was a bit up set she could tell and barely said a word, the narrator describes the situation, “He turned back around and came and sat on the end of the mattress. He gave me such a strange look. He looked at me with terrible love for a second. He put the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger” (O’Neil 179). Nouschka couldn’t stand to think if she didn’t leave him that day, would they be in this situation. She couldn’t help to think what was going through Rapael’s mind and knowing her baby boy wouldn’t have a father to protect him.
After that occurred Nouschka came to a realization, from taking a stand for what she really wanted in life it might have taken some else’s life, but from a feminist point of view this part of her life taught her and helped her realize that she was strong enough and capable of breaking out of that shell. As the famous Jennifer Lopez once said, “If you don’t love yourself, you can’t love anybody else. And I think as women we really forget that” (picture quotes.com).
Emphasizing that Nouschka didn’t need a man to take advantage of her to feel pretty or loved. Nouskcha truly needed to love herself, no one can do it for her. Furthermore, days after the baby was born she smirked, “And then I realized that he was the most extraordinary, beautiful and entrancing human being that I had ever seen. So this was what if felt like to be a mother, I thought” (O’Neil 400). Nouschka realized her son Papillon, was the only person who mattered in the world right now, and standing there as his mother he was the most amazing thing in her life that was truly hers, her true love.
She now spent her days with family and friends, studying to get a degree. So she can have a good paying job to support her and the baby. And give him the best life she could ever give him.
Therefore, from analyzing the novel The Girl Who Was Saturday Night from a feminist perspective it really opened my eyes and from an effective point of view to see what lives were like back then as a teenage girl. A passage from Lauren Biernacki’s writing about The Sexual Objection of Women in Literature she addressed, “Even though our society is allegedly advanced, women are continuously portrayed as objects of sexual desire rather than the independent beings that they truly are” (prezi.com). And in present day you shouldn’t let any gender stereo types get in the way, this society needs people to stand up against these types of situations and people need to learn to say no, because this is your life, not for any one else to control.
Lastly, I just want everyone to think about this quote on the last page in the novel, “But your task is to become something much more unique and and surprising than anyone your parents could ever imagine you to be. You have to know that the life you have is completely yours” (O’Neil 403)
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ONeill, Heather. The girl who was Saturday night. London: Quercus, 2015. Print.
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