Small Changes by Marge Piercy
"Small Changes" by Marge Piercy is a novel that explores the lives of two women, Miriam and Beth, as they navigate their relationships with men and their burgeoning identities within the context of the women's movement. The narrative begins with Beth preparing for her wedding, but she soon discovers that her understanding of heterosexuality as a social construct leads her to embrace her love for women. Through dialogue and vivid characterizations, Piercy illustrates the struggles and transformations faced by women in a patriarchal society.
Miriam, characterized as a free spirit, engages in several affairs while grappling with societal expectations and the pressures of her relationships with men. Both women find solace and empowerment in their connections with each other as they seek to redefine their identities outside the constraints imposed by male dominance. The novel delves into themes of friendship, tenderness, and the importance of women's narratives, highlighting how shared experiences can foster a sense of community and political awareness.
As the women confront their roles in society, they challenge the status quo and explore the cultural shifts associated with community living and the drug culture of the time. Through the experiences of Miriam and Beth, Piercy offers a nuanced portrayal of women's liberation and the small yet significant changes that emerge in their lives as they strive for autonomy and solidarity.
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Subject Terms
Small Changes by Marge Piercy
First published: 1973
The Work
Small Changes is a novel about two women, Miriam and Beth, and the men in their lives. The men are lovers, teachers of life, and models of the patriarchal philosophy that has dominated the women’s lives and culture. The women’s movement became the messenger of this oppression and pointed out the ramifications of that oppression for half of the human race. Jackson was one of the men in Miriam’s life during her college days. “He taught her to wear funky colors and bold colors and cloth with an interesting texture. He taught her to look first at how the cloth lay against her body; how it lay when she stood, when she sat, when she moved.”
The novel begins as Beth is preparing for her wedding, and as her life expands into the women’s movement she realizes that heterosexuality is a social construction for women. She falls in love with a woman, and she learns to identify herself as lesbian. “Why not come out of the closet? The first step in our liberation is being able to love each other, to give each other that love and support and tenderness we’ve given men. Men don’t have to be gentle and nurturing because they can find a woman to do it for them. But all women are starved for tenderness.”
Marge Piercy uses dialogue as metaphor and spins a compelling story of the small changes that women are making in relation to the men and other women in their lives. Miriam is the free spirit and has several affairs with men while in graduate school. Beth continues with her marriage and believes that she is doing what women have done forever. Miriam begins to feel the pressure of her life. “Living with two men who constantly pushed and pulled on her, she felt a sharp need for women she could talk to about her life. It healed her guilt at not pleasing her men utterly, gave her a frame of reference drawn from other women’s experiences. But her growing friendships with women got in the way of maintaining friendships with men.”
Part of the women’s new identity is political. As members of the women’s movement they come to see men as the primary oppressors of women. Learning women’s history and experiences creates a commonality and understanding of women in similar cultural and socioeconomic situations. The novel depicts the cultural changes of community living and the drug culture. As the story progresses, Piercy uses her women characters to show how women can battle the patriarchal oppression inherent in society.
Bibliography
Piercy, Marge. “A Harsh Day’s Light: An Interview with Marge Piercy.” Interview by John Rodden. Kenyon Review 20 (Spring, 1998): 132-143. Piercy discusses her insistence on the role of politics in poetry, her relationship with other female relatives, and her attempt to write science-fiction novels. Offers interesting insight into her life and work.
Piercy, Marge. “Marge Piercy: A Class Act.” Interview by Dawn Gifford. Off Our Backs 24 (June, 1994): 14-16. Piercy offers her assessment of the problems faced by the feminist movement in the United States, stating that she believes that the situation has improved between 1993 and 1994. She discusses works by other authors that most influenced her writing, including those of James Joyce and Simone de Beauvoir.
Shands, Kerstin W. The Repair of the World: The Novels of Marge Piercy. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994. Provides biographical information as well as criticism and interpretation of Piercy’s novels. Includes bibliographical references and an index. A valuable resource offering a solid overview of Piercy’s works.
Walker, Sue, and Eugenie Hamner, eds. Ways of Knowing: Critical Essays on Marge Piercy. Mobile, Ala.: Negative Capability Press, 1991.