The odd women by George Gissing

¶ … Woman

In what ways do Monica Madden and Mary Barfoot function as "foils" to Rhoda Nunn? Please find specific details and pertinent passages from the novel. This information should primarily be in chapters 1-17.

Over the course of the Odd Woman, its author George Gissing presents several contrasting models of ways for women to construct their identity in the world. The novel deals with the 'oddness' of women forced to work to support themselves, in contrast to the dominant middle class ideologies of the day, regarding feminine existence. Of course, there were many real-life 'odd women' like Rhoda Nunn, Mary Barfoot, and Monica Madden. But according to the dominant doctrine of the time, that of the separate spheres, women were not 'supposed' to work, thus the work they accomplished in factories and schools was overlooked, or caused them to be economically or sexually taken advantage of, like Monica.

Rather than presenting one singular consciousness or model for women's lot in such a situation of enforced or chosen labor, Gissing provides three. No singular consciousness or female fate truly dominates the others, as the one normal fate. Rather, all of the major characters act as foils for the other characters. However, Rhoda Nunn, the oddest of all the odd women working at odd jobs of the title, emerges as the most dominant and distinctive in her symbolic presence of all of the alternative modes of female life and consciousness. Rhoda enjoys being alone, unlike Monica who flees from solitude and celibacy, and Mary Barfoot who sees her choice as one among many.

Monica Madden, in contrast to Miss Nunn, aspires to the most conventional existence, initially of all of the working class women. Early on, Monica's spinster sister Virginia tells the reader: "Monica was sure to marry. Thank Heaven, she was sure to marry!" (Part I, Chapter II) Monica lives as the hope of her two sisters for economic solvency and security in a male dominated economy, where women are fragile unless protected by men. Until then, her whims are indulged like a child, as her sister urges her to eat her cake, like "a good girl," while the men in her life treat her like a plaything. (Part I, Chapter IV)

But Miss Nunn, far from "presenting any sorrowful image of a person on the way to old-maidenhood," like Monica's elder sisters, "has a clear though pale skin, a vigorous frame, a brisk movement." (Part I, Chapter III) Although older than Monica's oldest sister Virginia, Rhoda Nunn is still healthy and beautiful and even decorates her rooms with flowers, despite her masculine countenance. (Part I, Chapter III) She is a woman, daring enough to think and act, and urges Monica and her sisters to open a school to secure their own economic independence. "She will tell you what to do," marvels Virginia to Monica, after her first meeting, "practical" and "like a man" in her "energy and resources. (Part I, Chapter IV)

Rhoda Nunn, however, is not simply a suffragette who believes that all female labor is healthy. She hopes for women to establish absolute autonomy from men and the male economies of the factory system. She frowns and the sick-inducing life Monica leads in her poorly paid life. "Charming arrangement," she sneers. (Part I, Chapter IV) Still, Rhoda's apparent aloneness frightens Monica into immediately adopting the feminine position of subservience to a potential male lover after her first meeting with Miss Nunn. (Part I, Chapter V) Although forced to work, Monica does not see work as part of her identity as a woman, like Rhoda.