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Frame in The Two Extremes Marxism and Feminism in "The Skylight Room" !

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Grade 12-1

Frame in The Two Extremes Marxism and Feminism in The Skylight Room

How do people value each other? Does this value concern itself with gender and social

class? There is a significant similarity; whether considering by gender or social class, the

result is inequality because these ideas build up a difference and create bias among

human simultaneously. As these ideas are widely circulated in the real society, it is also

common to be found in literature. The Skylight Room written by William Sydney

Porter, known by his pen name O. Henry, is originally released in 1906. It can be an

example of short story that prominently reveals the idea of Marxism and Feminism,

which portrayed clearly through a female character named Miss Leeson. She is a beautiful

woman who is finding a room to rent in Mrs. Parker's apartment. Because of her being a

single working women, she is very poor, and the only room she can afford is the skylight

room- the cheapest room of all. As a result, she is not be treated fairly and affable by the

landlady, Mrs. Parker, just because she is poor and she is neither a doctor nor a dentist like

what Mrs. Parker expected. Moreover, her job as a writer does not help her to earn adequate

amount of money to buy food even though she works really hard. Consequently, Miss

Leeson, the main woman character, is inevitably kept down and excluded by society because

of the two factors: she is a single working woman, and she is poor.

In The Skylight Room, male characters do not notice Miss Leeson as a person but as

the object. Other than Mrs. Parkers insult and discontent towards Miss Leeson, there is still

people who fall for her. Mr. Skidder, Mr. Hoover, and Mr. Evans who are

the companionable roomers are attracted to Miss Leeson because she is beautiful and she is

still single. The author compares Miss Leeson to Helen in the Greek mythology, In vain
Frame in The Two Extremes Marxism and Feminism in "The Skylight Room" !2

beats the faithfullest heart above a 52inch belt. Avaunt, Hoover! Hoover, fortyfive, flush

and foolish, might carry off Helen herself; Hoover, fortyfive, flush, foolish and fat is meat

for perdition. There was never a chance for you, Hoover (p.22). According to the Greek

mythology, Helen was stunningly beautiful, and a whole war, one which lasted for ten years,

was fought over her (Robert, 1991). Many men fell in love with Helen, the most beautiful

woman of all, and they were competing each other to be able reach her. Comparing Mr.

Hoover and Miss Leeson to that mythology, that fat man is wishing for her; he desire for a

beautiful woman to own but it is not going to happen. Furthermore, it is stated that Miss

Leeson sat on the middle step and the men would quickly group around her (p.22). Her

charm makes her becomes the mens favourite and the one that men want to be close by

because they want to appreciate her beauty. That is the reason why Mr. Hoover once asks her

to marry. Looking from the other angle, men are by nature looking for mates or sex

partners. This idea has also been discussed that the women came to be regarded mainly as

support for or as adjunct to man, as sexual object, as tool of reproduction. Her body and her

mind were reified, became objects (Marcuse, 1974, p.151). At this point, these men sexually

objectify her. She is viewed by her physical appearance and not who she is, as a person, and

become an object of male sexual desire. These heterosexual men desire Miss Leeson for

themselves; they notice her as only an pretty object and a sexual tool that they desire,

which naturally devalue her and distinguish her from a human being.

As a working woman, Miss Leeson works hard but has less money than a man. She is

in a lower class, struggle, and labour. In this case, it is obvious in a working place that she is

in the outskirts of the society that are kept down and controlled by the bourgeois and idea

of patriarchy. From the research, formal labour organisation tended to reinforce traditional

gender patterns, including the ingrained assumption that it was the natural function of men to
Frame in The Two Extremes Marxism and Feminism in "The Skylight Room" !3

lead and women to follow" (Smith, 1994, p.167). Miss Leeson is a feminine, who is the one

who follow, rather than being viewed by her skills and human qualities. So, she has been

undervalue for the reason that she is she. Moreover, female workers are mostly referred to a

pejorative fashion (Smith, 1994). It is seen to be improper for the bourgeois to hire a woman,

which means that women, as a whole picture, are not given any opportunity to work like men.

As mentioned in the short story, Every day Miss Leeson went out to work. At night she

brought home papers with handwriting on them and made copies with her typewriter.

Sometimes she had no work at night (p.22). Although she works hard, she is not going to be

succeed in her career and her ability is not be fully realised and appreciated when compares to

mens. That is the reason why she never be rewarded as much as the men. Besides, "The

female body, not only a commodity but also a vital factor in the realisation of surplus

value" (Marcuse, 1974, p.153). Women are seen to be a superfluous, and useless leftover

piece of society. Those female workers are then treated unequally because

the masculine bias. From the story, Mr. Skidder and Miss Leeson are both writer, but they are

totally different. Mr. Skidder smokes cigarettes all day long in his large hall room,

which decorated by the lambrequin. By contrast, Miss Leeson who is also a writer can merely

manage to pay for a iron cot bedroom with a small square of light framing. She has to work

harder than the others, especially men, to be able to survive because she is controlled by the

unfair system of social class and gender. Thus, this action lessens the power and ability of

women insidiously and carries the idea of bourgeois feminism that the bourgeois left behind

Miss Leeson, as a woman and as workers, to be considered as inferiors.

As a consequence of how Miss Leeson has been viewed as an object and as

inferior, she is treated unfairly and finally becomes destitute. Her poverty puts herself into

trouble because she struggles to buy food and shelter and, at this point, the star is the only
Frame in The Two Extremes Marxism and Feminism in "The Skylight Room" !4

thing she has. She can only afford the cheapest room in the apartment. Mrs. Parker shows the

room at the second-floor-back at $8, and Miss Leeson, as expected, does not have enough

money to pay for it. She adds, "Im just a poor little working girl. Show me something higher

and lower (p.21). Until Clara, the coloured maid, shows her the smallest room of all. It costs

only two dollars so Miss Leeson is able to take this deal. The room is so small that its four

bare walls seemed to close in upon you like the sides of a coffin (p.21). An iron cot is now

her bed with a small window above her. Her livelihood depends on money. She lives

in straitened circumstances; however, it is not what she intend but she cannot get herself a

better choice because she is lack of money. Worse than that, there comes a day that she has no

dinner and that she is starving. She has an onerous time to ascend to the fourth floor while she

has no energy. Due to the exhaustion, she is unable to undress and it is very hard to open her

eyes. Even if she almost has no energy, she still tries to say good bye to the star from the

small window that she names it to be Billy Jackson. In fact, the star is a Gamma of the

constellation Cassiopeia not Billy. Furthermore, this star is the brightest star located in

the middle of in the constellation but there's no proper Western name for it (Kaler,

2013). Miss Leeson asks, "you kept where I could see you most of the time up there when

there wasn't anything else but darkness to look at, didn't you?" (p.23). She realises how

terrible her livelihood is and recognise her location in the society where she can only look and

wish on the brightest star. Her life is excluded to be in a dark small room. So, she feels lonely

that she loses connection from the society. A very distance object, a star, become her closest

friend to rely on and lighten her up from the darkness. So, she creates a name for the star

herself by not using the real technical term because it is unfamiliar to her. On this account, she

can not make herself richer to afford a better room and even does not have money to buy

food, nothing but interacting with the star is what she can do.
Frame in The Two Extremes Marxism and Feminism in "The Skylight Room" !5

To summarise, the characteristic of Miss Leeson portrayed in The Skylight Room is

the reflection of both women and the poor in the society throughout the past time until the

present. She is an example of an erotic and sensitive conflict between human. It can be refers

to the womens studies that Womens strikes were, therefore, transgressive in gender as well

as in class terms, representing a threat both to the social order based on property and to that

based on patriarchy ( Smith, 1994, p. 151). She is exploited by male workers and

the bourgeois so she is kept down in the lowest class of the society where she does not receive

any opportunity and always struggle in profession and livelihood. Also, as a woman, she is

oppressed by the patriarchal ideology and is devalued by being noticed as an object.


Frame in The Two Extremes Marxism and Feminism in "The Skylight Room" !6

References

Kaler J. (2013). Gamma Cassiopeia. Retrieved from http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/

gammacas.html

Marcuse, H. (1974). Marxism and feminism. Women's Studies, 2(3), 279.

Robert E. Bell (1991). About Helen of Troy. Retrieved from http://www.english.illinois.edu/

maps/poets/g_l/hd/abouthelen.htm

Smith, S. (1994). Class and gender: Women's strikes in St. Petersburg, 1895-1917 and in

Shanghai, 1895-1927. Social History, 19(2), 141.

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