Nudity, Girlhood, and the Child Within; How Little Girl becomes Evelyn Nesbit's Inner Child
The concept of the inner child is one often explored by therapists, modern media, and online life gurus living out of their vans. This very same concept of the inner child; unresolved childhood traumas becoming formative elements of adults’ lives, is explored through Evelyn Nesbit’s relationship with Little Girl. Evelyn Nesbit is the exact character who would need a strong inner child, as she had been exploited from a young age, and continuously exploited since.
On page 42, Evelyn steps out of her car after her chauffeur opens the door for her, and kneels down in front of Little Girl. After a description of the little girl’s appearance, we are given two sentences back to back. “She gazed at Evelyn without curiosity. She was the most beautiful child Evelyn had ever seen,” (Doctorow 42). This sequence– a description of the girl’s qualities, ending in a short sentence about her not recognizing Evelyn, swiftly followed by Evelyn’s appreciation– depicts a connection between Little Girl not knowing who Evelyn Nesbit was and Evelyn’s fondness of Little Girl. After all, Evelyn Nesbit has lived a life of exploitation in the hands of people who knew her, and paparazzi following her out of recognition, so the freedom of an uncertain gaze is not beyond expected.
Evelyn begins to step out of her tight corset, which held her waist “Pinched tighter than a purse string,” (Doctorow 61). She is mothered by Emma Goldman who instructs her to breathe. This, not only the mothered mentality of the scene, but rather the contrast it poses to the bathing scene in chapter 7, displays Little Girl’s use as Evelyn’s inner child. As Evelyn bathes the sick girl, the description we get of the girl is rather detailed, including the smooth slope of her stomach (Doctorow 49), a description that almost depicts the little girl’s stomach’s freedom, as it is sloped. The little girl’s freedom contrasts that of Evelyn. A part I'd like to highlight of this scene, although perhaps over-detailed, is the usage of the phrase “her girlhood” (Doctorow 49). This phrase highlights the truth of the little girl, as well as her nudity, as opposed to Evelyn, she is uncorrupted by society and men– she is still just a little girl, and she is still free.
Doctorow, E. L. Ragtime. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007.
Hi Sophie, I really liked your exploration on girlhood through Evelyn Nesbitt. I agree with you - even though she's been continuously exploited since a young age, she is still free - free to leave the men she doesn't like, to choose how she wants to spend Thaw's bribery to her. I want to add to your point n Evelyn seeing Tateh's daughter. I think one of the deeper reasons why Evelyn is so attached to her is because she sees Tateh's daughter as a younger version of herself, if she didn't get exploited. Furthermore, Evelyn is entranced by Tateh's daughter because she doesn't recognize who Evelyn is - she see Evelyn as a person, not a symbol.
ReplyDeleteHi Sophie, I definitely agree that Evelyn Nesbit has some kind of unresolved trauma. I think that's kind of the reason why she gets obsessed with Tateh's daughter since she kind of sees herself in her. She feels a kind of pity and wants her to grow up in a way that Evelyn herself wasn't able to. She even goes as far as considering kidnapping the little girl.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting to see the Little Girl as Evelyn's younger self, because it makes readers a little more sympathetic to her stalking of the family. Regardless the fact that Evelyn faced a lot of exploitation in her life, I feel that her relationship with Tateh and the Little Girl is a little weird, especially in terms of the class disparity. It seemed like she believed this little girl was an uncorrupted version of herself, which is sad, but again makes her a more understandable character.
ReplyDeleteI can agree with your point that Evelyn's connection with Little Girl represents the inner child that she has, but also her longing for the innocence she lost. The observation about the Little Girl's gaze is strong, because it really contrasts the exploitation Evelyn endured with a rare moment of genuine freedom from recognition.
ReplyDeleteHiii sophie! I agree with your point on seeing the Little Girl as a free, romanticized, protected version of herself. I think another interesting point building on is how Evelyn could also be propelled by this new maternal role she is stepping into. From her experiences of being exploited, she is used to being sexualized and portrayed as scandalous and young. She never truly experiences receiving or giving of maternal love; thus, this new experience of nurturing the little girl could be intriguing to her.(?)
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of it this way before, but there might be an element wherein Goldman's "therapeutic massage" of Evelyn serves as a kind of "rebirth" or return to a more innocent/childlike state for Evelyn, too. The removal of the corset, along with the consciousness-raising insight that she is wearing it in order to present a societal and culturally constructed ideal of "womanhood" in her public appearance, but this structure literally constricts the shape and function of her actual human body. So we see something like an innocent child being squeezed into a shape/form that pleases the powerful exploitative men in her life, and Emma Goldman takes on a quasi-maternal role, briefly returning Evelyn to a point before her life got so messy. Remember that Evelyn loses her innocence quite young--she's fifteen when she comes to New York--so this idea of a "lost childhood" being restored in some symbolic way, through the Little Girl and through Emma Goldman, isn't as wild as it might sound at first.
ReplyDeleteHey Sophie!! I definitely agree with the idea of a parallel between Evelyn and the Little Girl, and how Evelyn might have been somewhat changed by society's ideas in comparison to the little girl. I liked your introspection into chapter 8, and how Evelyn gets to let her inner child go a bit. This connection to the little girl is largely because she sees herself in the little girl, and wants to build an amazing future for her because it's something she never really got for herself. They're also both described as beautiful and grew up in somewhat horrific conditions. Amazing job sophie!
ReplyDeleteSophie! I like how you tied Evelyn’s story to the idea of the inner child. It really makes sense given how much she went through so young. I liked the way you pointed out the contrast between Evelyn’s corseted, restricted life and the Little Girl’s freedom. The topic itself is kind of alarming since it shows how deep the trauma runs beneath the surface. I think you did an amazing job getting your point across!
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