Eleanor went on to redefine her role, and became a passionate social activist even before her husband became President.
These were, however, extraordinary women for their times, while Daisy, like most women, was ordinary. The novel and DaisyÆs story are in fact the story of an ordinary woman, one who never seems to consider that she could define her own life, as the three above-mentioned women did. That is DaisyÆs tragedy. As her children say after her death, ôshe just let her life happen to her...she was afraid to look inside herselfö (356). Her daughter does not fault Daisy as much as the times her mother lived in: ôThis mean old sentimental century. It smothered her like a curtain. The kind you canÆt see throughö (352).
Contemporary feminist theory blames the positioning of women at the low end of the social structure on forces behind peopleÆs attitudes and values. Thus, traditional beliefs and sex-role expectations among both women and men contribute to the continuance of gender stratification. Daisy sums this up by saying of women,
To put up with things, with the notion that
men behave in one man manner and women in another.
You might say it is a little side show we put on for
ourselves, a form of complicity. Only think of how
we go around grinning and winking and nodding resignedly
or shrugging with frank wonderment. Oh, well, we say
with a knowing lilt in our voice, thatÆs a man for
you. Or thatÆs just the way women are (121).
These traditional beliefs are passed on from generation to generation and in The Stone Diaries. It is only the youngest generation of women who are able to escape from historical gender imposed roles. Feminist theory of the self holds that individuals who lack a sense of self-worth are timid and afraid to take risks ôand therefore women (such as Daisy) face the problem of contributing to our own subjugation because of not even trying...