#(b) Catherine is actually not very well-suited for a life of poverty and humility and obedience

[maddie-grove]

I wouldn’t really object to the anti-sewing sentiment in Catherine, Called Birdy, given that:

Karen Cushman is clearly doing something on purpose by making Catherine the medieval equivalent of a teenager who hates doing these bogus chores and just wants to go to the mall. It’s a book for kids and Catherine’s “ugh I’m so mature now why won’t Mom let me go to a public hanging” attitude is supposed to emphasize that people have always been people but also that the past was unimaginably different.

I get why a Silent Gen/Baby Boomer woman would represent part of the heroine’s struggle as “she has to do very gendered chores instead of going out and doing more active, rough-and-tumble activities.” I grew up in a post-Title IX world, where home ec was either not part of the curriculum or part of a gender-neutral “life skills” class. Cushman didn’t.

One of the themes of the novel is that Catherine (while certainly oppressed) is not uniquely unfree, because everyone is part of a rigidly hierarchical society. Catherine goes from thinking she has the rawest deal of anyone to realizing that other people have similar or worse struggles. Of course she initially thinks whatever she has to do is the worst.

It’s a childhood favorite (although probably not my top Cushman) and I like it.

However: every time she describes spinning as “foolish” (not boring or hard or unenjoyable), I do think “girl that is how you get CLOTHES.” It’s only slightly less essential than farming. This would be a little silly in a fantasy novel or Disney movie, but in a historical novel for children that’s meant to be educational about daily medieval life, it’s actually embarrassing.