Themes; a Connection to American Culture

Theme 1: The restrictions of American culture and the expectations of society prohibit women especially from fully thriving and being themselves vs. being what society deems appropriate.

One of the key factors at the beginning of this novel that shows evidence to this theme is Alexandra Spofford's repeated notation of the changes she has made in her life. As stated in the intro, Alexandra stated that it was not until midlife that "she truly believed that she had a right to exist, that the forces of nature had created her not as an afterthought and companion... but as a mainstay of continuing Creation." (14) With this acceptance of herself, or at least a tolerance and inward gentleness, Alexandra achieved a heightened sense of freedom and liberation. While many women today, especially as the idolization of thinness has heightened, would disagree with the idea of gaining weight or being happy with oneself at a higher than socially accepted as a positive. People today who are seen as overweight are often discriminated against both socially and professionally, in addition, they are often stereotyped as lazy or lacking in control. However, according to Alexandra, "while she had attained her height of five-eight by the age of fourteen and had weighed one-twenty by the age of twenty; she was somewhere around one hundred sixty pounds now." Instead of mourning this change, or stray from perfection, Alexandra notes that " one of the liberations of becoming a witch had been that she had ceased to constantly weigh herself" (17) In turn, I think it can be said that with this freedom, Alexandra has also ceased to constantly compare herself to others and she has stopped being so judgmental and negative towards herself. This gentleness towards one-self and not only the highlighting of one’s inner beauty but of one’s outer beauty exactly as they are is something that is not often encouraged by today's society. This role of society is exemplified by Alexandra's "female struggle" against her weight. As of “age thirty-eight, she found it increasingly unnatural." Alexandra questions this idea by asking “In order to attract love must she deny her own body, like a neurotic saint of old?" In her opinion, "nature is the index and context of all health and if we have an appetite it is there to be satisfied, satisfying thereby the cosmic order." (5)

With the idea of self acceptance and the "female struggle" to satisfy one's own hungers while also following the guidelines and expectations of society, I think it can also be inferred that the "appetite " mentioned in the previous quote is not solely related to food. This appetite in my mind can be any physical or psychological appetite including the need for belonging and acceptance to the fulfillment of one’s sexual desires. This is something that is taboo, and also considered an uncomfortable topic for many. Yet, on the contrary, it is heavily advertised. However, the sex scenes that are shown in movies and the stereotypical portrayal of the perfect man and woman are what is shown. Sex is often portrayed especially to teens as an act of ultimate pleasure or thrill often, it seems that teens have an unrealistic idea of sex and their ideas towards it are in turn flaud. The media portrays choreographed sex scenes, most of them very similar in nature, and almost all of them lack in a realistic portrayal of sex. Also, sex is often blown way out of proportion. The sexual desires off women especially, are often seen as inappropriate. While, it is completely natural for a man to have sex with many different women, if a woman does the same thing she is considered a whore. The introduction of Van Horne into the lives of these three women allows for both their sexual and emotional liberation from what is socially accepted. These women in turn, for a short time flourish and blossom under this new sense of empowerment and liberation. This may in turn be reason to question whether our current ideas of what is socially and morally acceptable for women are unfair or unnatural.