The Role of Women in Giants in the Earth Essay -- Giants in the Earth

The Role of Women in Giants in the Earth Peter Mangus Hagen, a large Swedish immigrant carpenter, pushed back his chair, rose from the end of the long dine table in their kitchen, and announced, And now for my dessert--. He walked the length of the table bygone his bakers dozen children to the other end, bent his large frame down, and tenderly kissed his married woman Maggie, who was fifteen years his junior and mother of those thirteen. As he pulled himself to his by nature erect stance, he proceeded to thank her for her labor in preparing an excellent meal and in caring for their home and their thirteen children. This conclusion to the meal was as much a ritual as was the blessing asked in Swedish before it began. And if the thank you was customary, so was the bill of fare, i.e., a large arena of navy beans, freshly-baked bread and freshly-churned butter, a bowl of home-canned tomatoes and a bowl of home-canned fruit, a very large bowl of mashed potatoes, two pit chers of milk, and coffee for the adults. In that category a seven-course banquet was not mandatory in order to overstretch a word of appreciation. This Scandinavian never pretended that his building of refrigerator boxcars for the Santa Fe Railroad in 1919 was more essential or worthwhile than Maggies homemaking, home management, clothes-making, food preparation and preservation, or care of their family. In fact, it may have been Peters respect and high regard for Maggies womans work that helped hold unneurotic and make easier a loving marriage that encompassed not only their thirteen children, but also his five children by an earlier marriage. Of course, if looked at realistically, the couples member ... ...probably all women are alike--they have no sense (194). The one important function Beret fulfills is having children. Giving birth to Peder that Christmas on the prairie is her only noteworthy accomplishment. save even then, Per Hansa takes over and names him with a name that poor Beret dislikes and regards as near sacrilege (279). By looking at Beret in Giants in the Earth and certainly by looking at Peter and Maggie Hagen, it could be concluded that childbearing is the chief item of value in womans work. By comparing those lives further, it might also be concluded that it is too defective that Beret was not told more often that she was Per Hansas dessert and that her womans work was appreciated. Works Cited Rolvaag, Ole Edvart. Giants in the Earth. New York Harper and Row, 1955.