Ponder Post: The Home-Maker

I was made aware of this 1924 novel, The Home-Maker written by Dorothy Canfield, because it was referenced by a blog I follow sporadically. The blog is Penelope Loves Lists, with the subtitle Unapologetically Organized, so I was expecting some humorous methods of tongue-in cheek home management from a long ago era. The story opens with a disciplined homemaker, Evangeline Knapp, working scrupulously to keep an immaculate home and three well-reared in children. My first impulse was to rebel against being bombarded with yet more "household tips" but the plot has a twist to it that enables exploration of stereotypical roles of husband and wife.

The reader is invited into the thoughts of Lester and Evangeline and is privy to revelations of feelings neither spouse can scarcely admit to him/her self, much less to society. Mrs. Knapp is not happy being home and yet riddled with guilt because she feels she should be. Mr. Knapp hates his job, does not advance in it, and feels to be a failure at providing for his family. I was pleasantly surprised by the sensitivity and character revelation in this 90+ year old bit of writing that recognized and reflected conflicted sentiments far ahead of their time.

In 1924, the same year the book was copyrighted, Dorothy Canfield wrote an article for the Los Angeles Examiner titled "Marital Relations". The article was printed in full at the beginning of my 1996 reprinted copy of the book. It was extremely forward thinking.

The novel is out of print and my library did not have it, so I bought it used on Amazon. There is a good summary on Amazon, but basically the plot is that due to a severe injury, the roles of Lester and Evangeline Knapp are reversed – the woman enters the work force and man steps in as the stay at home parent. The role expectancies are just as one would imagine for the 1920's time frame but this novel was amazingly both inciteful and insightful long before the feminism movement of the future. How the man and woman cope, and even thrive, in their interchanged roles makes for an engaging, thought-provoking, and poignant tale. It would make an excellent book club selection and discussion candidate.

For another review of this book check out the blog post that introduced me to it.
http://penelopeloveslists.com/organize/the-homemaker-by-dorothy-canfield/