Home Burial Gender Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Line)

Quote #1

"I don't know rightly whether any man can." (40)

This line shows the woman putting down not only her husband, but all men. She isn't sure that any man would know how to talk about his dead child, which hardly seems fair. Sure, the grieving process is likely different for men than it is for women in this situation, but some men certainly would be able to talk about their grief in an inoffensive manner.

Quote #2

"A man must partly give up being a man
With women-folk. […]" (52-53)

It seems as if this guy just might have a hard time talking with all women—not just his wife. But hey, his wife talked smack about men, so now it's his turn to say something not so nice about the ladies. Tit for tat, right?

Quote #3

"What was it brought you up to think it the thing
To take your mother-loss of a first child
So inconsolably— […]" (66-68)

The gender in this line is in the words "mother-loss." This makes it seem as though the grief of the mother is an entirely different thing than the grief of the father. Does that seem fair to you? Does a mother grieve differently than a father? How so?