From Landscape for a Good Woman by Carolyn Kay Steedman

3/13

335

From Landscape for a Good Woman by Carolyn Kay Steedman

Carolyn Kay Steedman has a unique style of writing that is at times hard to follow. Her early life was stained with poverty, the aftermath of war, and the fraught relationships she has with her mother and father. Because of this, when she recalls her early life, it seems confusing because you can sense Steedman’s childlike wonder and cluelessness. She often jumps abruptly from very different times in her life to make connections and rationalize the events of her past. 

“I wept over that, of course, for a world where some people might doubt her- my- cleanliness. I didn’t care much about the honesty, and I knew I was strong; but there are people everywhere waiting for you to slip up, to show signs of dirtiness and stupidity, so they can send you back to where you don’t belong” (716). Steedman’s mother lies to her often about the work she does and the relationship she has with Carolyn’s father (716). Steedman finds out truths about her mother later in life, and although she resents the lies, she understands her mother’s longing to have better circumstances and appear “cleaner” (716). 

In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou writes of a forced sentiment similar to Steedman’s by stating, “Not only was cleanliness next to Godliness, dirtiness was the inventor of misery” (42). Maya, also being poor, cares about the opinions of others and lets this affect how she sees herself. Being dirty is often associated with being poor and unintelligent. Both Angelou and Steedman, being writers, are highly intelligent women who have a broken self image based on their relationships with family and the idea that their poor circumstances have tainted them or made them “dirty”. 

Many people are “working-class” and have complex relationships with their parents. I imagine that many people can relate to Steedman’s accounts. I myself relate to her childlike confusion and the later awareness of how parental decisions and financial circumstances affect a person’s life and affect how it affects their self-image.