Forced Dependence

The female characters in Faulkner’s short story “The Brooch” represent the traditional notion of the forced submissiveness and dependence of women on men. Mrs. Boyd and Amy have different experiences with the males in their lives and their individual experiences produce different results. Despite their reluctance to get along and rely on each others strength as women they end up as enemies ignoring the fact that their experiences are very much similar. Mrs. Boyd is a widow; therefore she is vulnerable economically, socially, and politically. Although Amy has not made a formal commitment to Howard, she is also void of stability in her life. Both these cases of vulnerability and instability are due to the fact that they are isolated women in a society that has been structured around women’s dependence on men in all aspects of their lives.
In the beginning of the novel we learn that Mrs. Boyd is a widow with only Howard in her life. The circumstances under which her husband left her are unclear, but Faulkner does state: “He just went away, leaving a note to his wife in which he told her that he could no longer bear to lie in bed an night and watch her rolling onto empty spools…” (647). As a man he has the freedom to leave his wife, most likely, without much disapproval from society. This same man had quit his job to move into her house where he spent most of his time socializing with the “lawyers and cotton-planters” (647). When he decides that he is tired of the life that he has with her he just leaves without concern about the son that they have together and she doesn’t hear from him anymore. Now, Mrs. Boyd’s case is a little different because her father is a “well-to-do merchant” so she is most likely secure financially. Yet, because of her status as a woman in a male dominated society she is forced to rely on her father financially and try to find someone (a husband) to rely on and have a child with for social and cultural acceptance. After her husband leaves her she is forced to rely on Howard for love and “support” which causes her to become over protective with him. She is vulnerable physically, because of her strokes, and she is forced to rely even more heavily on Howard.
Amy’s circumstance is quite different growing up with no parents, except for an aunt who has a boarding-house. Unlike Mrs. Boyd, she is not secure financially so she must rely on her own attributes to help her get by. Without guidance and much attention she becomes some sort of dancer, making a bad reputation for herself. Faulkner implies that although “she always had invitations to more public dances…(her name) was a light word, especially among the older women” (648). She was popular among the men, but not so popular among the older women whose morals had taught against the kind of activities that she engages in. Amy has no physical control over her body. Her case is similar to Mrs. Boyd’s, yet she is not physically ill. She relies on her body to make a living and although that may imply that she does control an aspect of her body, the fact that she has to make a living with her body depicts how she has no greater opportunities to take advantage of. She also allows Howard to bully her and dominate her physically. This becomes evident when Howard expresses his jealousy concerning her job as a dancer. He is beginning to become jealous of the fact that she spends her nights with other men and actually has more fun with them because she is in a committed relationship with Howard. He reacts by gripping her shoulder. “She fell back a little as he gripped her shoulder” (651). Despite her statement that he is hurting her he proceed to drag her “screaming and struggling, out of a dark car and across the dance floor…(where he) drew out a chair and took her across his lap and spanked her” (651). This act is not only an act that Howard uses to exert his control over her physically, but it is an emotionally and socially embarrassing situation in which he depicts how women are viewed as “childlike.” Amy is too grown to deserve a “spanking,” but obviously men such as Howard look down on women.