#Catherine Called Birdy sort of fumbles it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

maddie-grove · 2 months ago

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I’ve been thinking about embroidery as catchall for “stifling useless upper-class feminine activity”* because of Catherine, Called Birdy. So I thought it was kind of funny when I got to the end of The Long Winter and Laura—who generally likes to romp and be outside, who seems bummed out that she’s not allowed to do all the farm work that a boy would do, who doesn’t want to wear a corset—gets a bunch of embroidery silks for late Christmas and is totally jazzed about it. Like obviously that is a totally unremarkable set of preferences for a person to have, and the gender politics of these books are complicated to say the least, but it’s such a Trope that I had to laugh a little.

*Not a bad trope, IMO, but you can tell when an author has put some thought into it and when they’re just cribbing from other authors.

#I like how it’s used in just ella #because it’s basically the only thing these very upper-class women are allowed to do #to show that they don’t need to work as a way of maintaining class distinctions #regardless of their abilities or preferences #and because it’s a made-up fairy-tale setting the author can borrow from different periods #asoiaf isn’t quite as sharp but it’s solid #Catherine Called Birdy sort of fumbles it

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