Frail Males in Margaret Laurence’s A Bird in the House :: Bird House

Frail Males in Margaret Laurence’s A Bird in the House Kristjana Gunnars suggests that â€Å"Canada is an unhappy country. No, better still, the Prairies are unhappy. Canadian women are especially unhappy† (Gunnars 122). In Margaret Laurence’s A Bird in the House, the women are indeed unhappy. In the end, however, it is the women who triumph because of their solidarity. The men, due to their solitary states, are unable to maintain their traditionally powerful roles. In these short stories, the men appear to be the leaders of the household, but the women have the greater but subtler power. The men do not lend each other support, while the women are often willing to lend each other a shoulder to cry on. Thus, because of their bluntness and solitariness, the men in A Bird in the House are dethroned from their traditional seats of power in male-female relations, male-male relations, and in female-female relations where their absence is not missed. An imposing character in A Bird in the House, Grandfather Timothy Connor’s power over his household is also a sign of his weakness. The house that he built is â€Å"part dwelling place and part massive monument† (Margaret Laurence 3). Grandfather Connor, a pioneer in Manawaka, is a monument himself and is often associated with his architectural feat. The title of Margaret Laurence’s novel is A Bird in the House; Grandfather Connor is the house that both shelters and entraps the people – especially the women – in his life with his actions. With a stranglehold on his household, Grandfather seems to fit into the traditional male role as the authoritarian but is plagued by guilt and loneliness. He uses his anger as a shield and a mask; he â€Å"demands strength because he is afraid of weakness† (Jon Kertzer 43). Early in his marriage, Grandfather Connor had an affair with a girl in Winnipeg but his wife Agnes â€Å"never told him she’d considered leaving him† (Laurence 85). This places Agnes in a position of higher power: she is virtuous, and Timothy knows that she may be too good for him. As Uncle Terence remarks: â€Å"Another person’s virtues could be an awful weight to tote around. We all loved her. Whoever loved him?† (86). Because his family loves Agnes and will happily obey her, Timothy attempts to reassert his power by being strict and demanding.