The Weight of the World
Carmen Mills

            Oppression, or subjection to unjust hardships, has been imposed on minority groups throughout the history of the United States. While the techniques of and reasoning for the oppression may vary, minority groups generally use one of three methods in response to this domination: acceptance, aggression, or avoidance. Acceptance and avoidance are just what the words say they are, but aggression can take many forms (Warren). In this paper, I will introduce the ideas of Carolyn Heilbrun and Virginia Woolf and their relationship to a female songwriter who utilizes indirect aggression in response to the oppression suffered by women.

            Carolyn Heilbrun, in Writing a Woman’s Life, presents to the reader the argument that in the literature of women, power, anger and the desire for both have been strictly forbidden. "Power is the ability to take one’s place in whatever discourse is essential to action and the right to have one’s part matter" (18). Denying women power over their lives constitutes denying their existence. Unless women are allowed to express themselves freely, we will really never know them.

            Virginia Woolf, in "Professions for Women," exposes the mechanism instituted to deny women power. "The angel in the house" is a sociological construct that has served to detour the minds of women from thoughts of power, equality, and respect. The angel is described as being

immensely sympathetic, immensely charming, utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed herself daily . . . in short, she was so constituted that she never had a mind but preferred to sympathize always with the minds and wishes of others. Above all . . . she was pure. Her purity was supposed to be her chief beauty. (1346)

            The presence of such a phantom, as Woolf labels it, allows no room for thoughts that differ in any way. Thus, a powerful tool of oppression has been developed.

            In "Girl with the Weight of the World in her Hands" Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls (a contemporary folk-rock duo) presents to us her version of the effect of the "angel in the house." In consideration of the content of the song, I would suggest to you that the "weight of the world" is the oppression by society or specifically the influence of the angel in the house. Throughout the song, Saliers uses images of loss, blatant oppression, lack of attention to the victim, and acceptance of her position to describe the girl. In contrast, she describes the rest of society as recognizing the oppression, being saddened and angered by it, "feigning to care" about the oppression, possessing happiness that occupies them, and being able to escape or avoid the type of oppression that afflicts the girl by simply going home.

            In the first line, "she won’t recover from her losses," Saliers appears to be speaking of the losses the girl suffers because of her confinement to a certain role or status in society. This probably refers to the loss of her creativity, power, and ability to define her own life. Saliers reinforces this idea of loss by telling us that the girl has "not chosen this path." She also introduces the idea that while this oppression appears to be silent, as a society, we are aware of it because "we can all see her pain she wears like a banner on her chest. The use of the phrase "like a banner on her chest" is quite interesting because it can serve several purposes. One could argue that the banner is symbolic of the blatant sexism and oppression of our society, or perhaps it represents the woman’s desire to expose the destruction of herself at the hands of society. One further suggestion is that the banner represents her seeming willingness to accept her fate in order to provide an excuse for her lack of achievement. Some scholars have argued that some women have accepted the roles regulated by society in order to provide an armor of protection against the lack of desire or inability to succeed. This is suggested later in the song with the verse "but if things didn’t get any harder, she might miss her sacred chance to go a consecrated martyr." Saliers, however, rejects this reading with the simple but powerful line "who will be the scale to weigh the cross she has to bear" which asserts that we cannot truly understand this girl’s oppression or its source.

            Saliers also introduces the idea that we, as a society, have a tendency to have our words speak louder than our actions. She is quick to point out that "all say it’s sad and we think it’s a shame and she’s called to our attention, but we do not call her name." A few lines later she states that "it makes us all angry though we feign to care . . ." It is being asserted that while we all give lip service to easing oppression, it is the rare individual who will take responsibility for assisting someone in escaping from an oppressive situation. She goes even further to expound upon the difference between personally realizing the oppression and doing something about it socially when she states "we’re busy with our happiness, busy with our plans, I wonder if alone she wants it taken from her hands."

            The girl’s acceptance of this oppressive state is symbolized by the half-full/empty glass that she claims will be spilled so one should not worry about the perception of it. One could liken this image to a discussion about the progress of women in the 20th century in which the pessimistic feminist is prone to answer "It’s doesn’t matter because the system is going to get the best of us anyway." We see the speaker’s uneasiness at this thought and the knowledge of the girl, which she describes as the "half-logic language of the sermon she delivers." The use of the word sermon suggests that there is in fact truth in what she is saying. She describes the way in which this "sermon" makes her feel by saying, "the way she (the girl) smiles so knowingly gives me the shivers." To utilize the example of the pessimistic feminist again, structural sociologists would validate her statement that the system of structures is set up to disadvantage minorities. This type of knowledge should make a woman shiver because it is a direct denial of power. While today’s feminist must suffer through this oppression, the speaker in the song is able to protect herself in her home with a blanket.

            The final line of the song is a restatement of the effect of the "angel in the house." The "hundred" she takes with her are most likely the burdens that the world has placed upon her. Sleeping alone suggests that the girl has alienated herself perhaps to protect against further oppression or it could be the only control she has over her life. What we never see, even in the last line, is any sense of emotion from the girl except resignation to her position. With this technique, Saliers has successfully presented to us the emotions of the oppressed without the use of any emotions. She has also given us a perfect example of the only type of writing allowed to women of the past.

            One other technique worthy of noting is that Saliers is careful to set up a boundary between herself and the girl. Throughout the song, we see her consistently referring to herself as "I" and the girl as "she" or "the girl." This technique appears to serve to protect her from the fate of the girl. If she can separate the fate of this girl from her own, she protects herself from becoming the girl with the weight of the world in her hands.

            "Forbidden anger, women could find no voice in which publicly to complain; they took to refuge in depression or madness" (Heilbrun, 15). With the song, "The girl with the weight of the world in her hands," Saliers has successfully presented to us this girl’s refuge in resignation and depression due to her lack of power. We are also presented with the effect of the "angel in the house" as a tool of oppression against women. While this piece was written in 1990, I feel that it has adequately represented the writings of both Heilbrun and Woolf. Furthermore, it has utilized passive aggression to explain the plight of women.

Works Cited

Heilbrun, Carolyn. Writing a Woman’s Life. New York: Ballantine, 1988.

Saliers, Emily. "Girl with the Weight of the World in her Hands." Perf. Indigo Girls. Nomads, Indians, Saints. Epic 1990.

Warren, Stella. Racial and Ethnic Minorities Lecture. Christian Brothers University, January 1999.

Woolf, Virginia. "Professions for Women." The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women. Ed. Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996.