Patriotic (short story)

Patriotic

Author Janet Kauffman Published 1983-04-11 Type Fiction, Short story Genre Drama Themes Drama Age Group Adult

Patriotic is a short story written by Janet Kauffman and first published in the New Yorker on 1983-04-11, and again later that year in her short story anthology, Places in the World a Woman Could Walk.

In the story, a farmer's wife has to take over the task of baling hay as her husband is working a second job as a builder. She is helped by a take charge woman and a young attractive hand who is naive as to his affect on her.

Personal

Own?	Yes. In the anthology, Contemporary Fiction: 50 Short Stories Since 1970.
Read?	Yes.
Finished	Late 2000s.

I first read this story sometime in the late 2000s, probably around 2007-2008. I had forgotten about the story, and, when I was looking for new stories to read in an anthology, I got halfway into it before realizing I already read it. But, I remembered liking it, so I finished it again.

Review

Overall:

Good

• Reading about the frustrations of the older farm wife regarding Floyd was quite fun.
• The part where everyone takes off their top is a nice scene showing the people are jolly rather than stuffy.
• I like how the wife and Mrs. Bagnoli hope that their skill and endurance will rub off on Floyd and make him appreciate strong women.

Bad

• There is a little tension when the wife takes off her shirt and when the fire breaks out, but both are resolved without much ado. Other than that, little happens.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass	Both the wife and Mrs. Bagnoli are capable women.
Bechdel test?	Pass	The wife and Mrs. Bagnoli talk about the tractor for a while.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Everyone is white.
Queer character?	Fail	Nobody is queer.

Links

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Kauffman - Wikipeda - Author's page.