Taylor

Essay about “Weekend” by Fay Weldon

This story is a substantially a feminist satire about a weekend of a woman, who is basically classified as a wife and working-mother in the 70s. The story is about a fortunate english family, at their country cottage.
Essentially, the main focus is on Martha, and a lot of the passage represents her stream of consciousness as she does everything to make sure that her family and guests are properly looked after. Presumably, Martha has a case of obsessive compulsive disorder .There are many key contributors to her exaggerated compulsion of obsession. The misleading title soon proves to be an ironic comment on the weekend that Martha has to kind of suffer instead of enjoy, while she also tries to fit herself in the middle of the social expectations from every single person around her.
By the way, the feeling is that every thing in this text is subdued by the issues that run throughout. Primordial themes of sexism, gender inequalities, body image and are presented very strongly. One example that women was supposed to be subordinate to the patriarchal system is that only when Martha has “everything packed into the car”(Weldon) does her chauvinistic husband Martin come back outside to “take the wheel”(Weldon) as any stereotypical man in the world would.As a matter of fact, there is an insinuation that women should not work if they have children showed in the phrase “it wasn't the best thing for the children, but that must be Martha's moral responsibility” (Weldon). This not only demonstrates the obsolete social context of the 70s, but also hints at Martin’s desire for women to be in a specific position of the society that maybe would make him feel better and not not threatened by the female power.
A lot of examples of sexism and chauvinism are obvious, as well as insults and patronising remarks that Martha suffers at the hands of Martin. One clear example is when Martin says “Don’t get like your mother, darling”(Weldon).
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