Articulations of Femininity in Parade's End
Résumé
Parade's End can be construed as a reflection on English society before and just after the First World War; within this depiction, the representation of the changing status of women in the Edwardian and post-war era takes a major place. The ideological and sociological ambivalences that largely structure the novels are given particular salience through the representation of modern womanhood. Femininity in the novel may first appear as articulated along a clear-cut spectrum running from conservatism to modernity, with Edith Duchemin- Macmaster at the more traditional end, Valentine as a torchbearer for social and political autonomy for women, and Sylvia portrayed as a figure striving for modernity. As is often the case in Parade's End, however, lines become blurred, and some of the characters' positions shift as the narration unfolds. The exploration of womanhood in Parade's End therefore does not open out onto a stable representation of the feminine. The various ideological discourses about womanhood coexist in a constant tension, in a way that is typical of the tetralogy's orientations at large.