Plains Song, for Female Voices: Analysis of Major Characters
"Plains Song, for Female Voices" explores the lives and complexities of several key characters living in the Great Plains of Nebraska, focusing particularly on the dynamics among women in a rural setting. Central to the narrative is Cora Atkins, a tall and stoic woman who navigates her challenging marriage to Emerson, a bewildered homesteader. Cora embodies the isolated yet self-sufficient farm woman, marked by her emotional restraint and hard work. Contrasting her is her niece, Sharon Rose Atkins, who aspires to escape the confines of rural life through music and later gains a deeper appreciation for Cora's strength upon her return after the latter's death.
Other significant characters include Madge, Cora's daughter, who leads a contented, albeit unromantic, life, and Caroline Kibbee, an assertive feminist whose views challenge the traditional roles exemplified by Cora. The relationships among the characters highlight themes of independence, responsibility, and the struggle against societal expectations, all while portraying the intricate tapestry of female voices in a historically rich setting. This nuanced character analysis invites readers to reflect on the varied experiences of women and their evolving roles within family and society.
Plains Song, for Female Voices: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Wright Morris
First published: 1980
Genre: Novel
Locale: Madison County, Nebraska, and Chicago
Plot: Domestic realism
Time: The early 1900's to the late 1970's
Cora Atkins, who is six feet tall, lean, and blonde, with an English complexion totally unsuited to the climate of the Great Plains. She moves from the East with her new husband to a farm in northeastern Nebraska. Her husband is always a stranger to her, and she to him. Firm and implacable, with her emotions always hidden, she is fenced off from others, epitomizing the isolated farm woman who finds grim satis-faction in the fact that her hard physical work is never done. Her marriage includes only one sexual act, which so horrifies her that she bites her knuckle to the bone. Cora is not a martyr, however; she is entirely self-sufficient. A limited woman with a limited life, she sets her own limits. Only once does her action go beyond her own control, when her niece Sharon outrages her so much that she strikes the girl's hand with a hair-brush. Hers is the dominant voice in the book.
Sharon Rose Atkins, Cora and Emerson's niece. Orphaned early, she is reared as a sister to her cousin Madge. Small, dark, and animated, she is almost the antithesis of either Cora or her daughter. She rebels against Cora's restrictions and feels betrayed when Madge marries. As much an egotist as Cora, she escapes the rural Nebraska life through her music, first in Chicago, then later as a professor at Wellesley. It is only when she returns at Cora's death that she understands and admires Cora for her independence and her ability to come to terms with her life.
Emerson Atkins, Cora's husband. A silent plodder, the Nebraska homesteader is usually bewildered by life and by Cora. She sets the limits in their life; he accepts them. He balks at modern mechanization; he is not sure, for example, that chickens and cows will accept electric lights. His most memorable act is to run government men off his farm during the drought of the 1930's. His daughter inherits his phlegmatic character.
Madge Atkins Kibbee, the plump, placid, sometimes flaccid daughter of Cora and Emerson. Older than Sharon, she is nevertheless her follower, the witness whom Sharon finds necessary to validate her own importance. Although her marriage is not romantic, she fulfills the role of wife and mother comfortably and relatively happily, to Sharon's bafflement.
Orion Atkins, Emerson's brother, who is unlike him. He brings a bride from the Ozarks to the farm, and he prefers hunting to farming. After his wife's death, he brings his two daughters to Cora and Emerson to rear. He has little sense of responsibility and never establishes a close relationship with the daughters. After being gassed in World War I, he suffers ill health for years, becoming more and more remote from his family. Except for his marriage, he is another isolate.
Belle Rooney Atkins, Orion's hillbilly wife. Dark, disheveled, childlike, and feckless, she scandalizes Cora with her haphazard housekeeping, her need for people, and her desire to play. Although Cora does not understand her, she is fascinated by her. Belle dies at Fayrene's birth.
Blanche Kibbee, the oldest daughter of Madge and Ned. Whereas Cora is tall and lean, Blanche is also boneless; whereas Cora's is a relatively empty, limited world, Blanche's is a crowded world of imagination. Hoping to offer Blanche a better life, Sharon takes her to Chicago but soon realizes that she cannot cope with the responsibility. When Blanche returns to Nebraska, her family accepts and rather admires her special qualities.
Caroline Kibbee, another daughter of Madge and Ned. In contrast to Blanche, she is square, brusque, opinionated, and masculine. An accusatory feminist, she startles and dismays Sharon by declaring her the role model for Caroline's generation and by blaming Cora for submitting to the rigors of her life. Sharon feels that Caroline has misunderstood both of them.
Fayrene Atkins Dickel, Sharon's sister, who is reared along with Madge and Sharon but never included in their relationship. She is a true orphan. It is only after her marriage to Avery Dickel, from the Ozarks, that she becomes a successful member of the family group.
Alexandra Selkirk, a tall, beak-nosed, conspicuous older woman whom Sharon meets and with whom she travels on her way back to Nebraska, where Selkirk is to lecture to a feminist conference. In a strange way, she recalls Cora to Sharon. She encourages Sharon to come out to watch a sunrise, thus opening new vistas for her and adding a new refrain to the female voices.