Photo licensed by Tom Gill under Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lapstrake/507006062/

The Green Satin Gown and The Shed Chamber by Laura Richards have unique plots yet both of them can be linked to actions of war.  This link is further established through the gender roles that are created in both short stories that emphasize the rise of feminism that can be associated with the Civil War and World War I and II.  In contrast to the allusions of war, the actual form and style of Laura Richard’s writing reflects an imaginative and peaceful mind.  The suspense that is built up in both stories is a device that intrigues children and draws them into the story.  In The Green Satin Gown and The Shed Chamber Laura Richards juxtaposes war imagery with the purity and imagination of youth in order to demonstrate this contrast that existed in her own childhood.    

The Green Satin Gown and The Shed Chamber both have a plot that mirrors major events taking place during Laura Richard's childhood.  The Shed Chamber follows a story line that can be related to war.  First a girl, Nora, goes to work for a family where the mother is ill and the story quickly takes an exciting turn when a robber is hiding in the house and the young girl is forced to be brave and run get the men in the neighborhood to catch the burglar.  Laura Richards lived through the Civil War and World War I and II so she was heavily influenced by gender roles and men leaving to fight the enemy.  The plot of A Green Satin Gown follows a young girl who is invited to the mysterious Madam Le Baron’s mansion to do a favor for the older woman who has a niece coming into town with all of her friends.  This plot follows only female characters and not one male figure is mentioned throughout the entire short story.  This void of men reflects the society that Laura Richards grew up in because men were constantly leaving for war and many men died in battle leaving their wives widowed.  

The rise of feminism was a major political movement that took place during Laura Richard’s lifetime.  The role of women changed in numerous ways during her existence, and the vote for women was won when she was alive.  When Laura Richards was just in the beginning of her teen years the Civil War began, which caused massive abolition movements that triggered the first wave of feminism.  In addition, later in Laura Richard's life the second wave of feminism began that questioned women’s roles and examined domesticity and its effect on women.  This empowerment of women is seen in both The Green Satin Gown and The Shed Chamber.  In The Shed Chamber Nora begins to work for a family who has an ill mother and is extremely successful at running the household despite her young age.  Nora is placed in a specific female gender role of cooking and cleaning, which was questioned during Laura Richard's lifetime.  In A Green Satin Gown typical female roles are also played out because the plot revolves around women entertaining by coordinating social gatherings and getting dressed up in beautiful gowns.  All of these roles were common and widely accepted when Laura Richards was alive, yet at the same time Laura Richards sees the fall of these ideas when the feminist movement emerges.  The fact that Richards includes these female gender roles in her stories shows the deep influence that the political changes during her lifetime had on her.

Laura Richard establishes ties to war in both The Green Satin Gown and The Shed Chamber, but this is juxtaposed with her free style of writing that creates fairytale imagery.  In The Green Satin Gown the narrator steps into a dream world when she goes to Madam Le Baron’s home and she even says, “I had walked into a fairy tale, or else I was dreaming!” (Richards 5).  The entire story establishes imagery that creates a fantasy scene that children always can relate to.  Madame Le Baron even gives the young girl a beautiful green satin gown that she puts on for a party that evening.  This dressing up in fine clothing alludes to a fairytale such as “Cinderella”.  This perfect world is contrasted with the plot and gender roles that suggest war.  In The Shed Chamber Laura Richards creates another dream world where Nora is allowed to leave her home and begin working for a lovely family.  She even gets her own room that is vividly described as, “a pretty little room with sloping gables and windows down by the floor” (Richards 5).  The contrast of the fairytale childhood and the war environment mirrors Laura Richard's own upbringing and journey in life.  She grew up “in a delightful old house set in a lovely garden in a suburb of Boston” yet just as she entered into adolescence the Civil War began (Richards 1).

In both The Green Satin Gown and The Shed Chamber a great deal of suspense is built up that is extremely customary of children's literature.  This suspense and sense of adventure allows young people to let their imaginations run free, and even begin to predict and wonder what is going to happen next in the story.  A common device that Laura Richards uses to build anticipation is fear of the unknown.  In The Green Satin Gown the unknown is Madam Le Baron who lives in a grand house all alone.  In The Shed Chamber suspense is built by wondering what is hiding in the shed in the dark trunk.  This build up demonstrates how Laura Richards is in tune to children's imaginations.  This relates to her childhood that she seems to cherish and hold close in her memory as a time of true freedom and imagination.

Childhood is a time that impacts an individual even when they are adults, and it is something that is always remembered.  Young people are so impressionable and easily affected by their environments.  Laura Richards grew up in a beautiful house and spent long days playing games with her brother in her fantasy world "hunting elephants and rhinoceroses (which other persons did not see) in the garden" and having "wonderful adventures under the dining room table" (Estes 314).  As she grew up she came to face the realities of her time, which was the Civil War and World War I and II.  Her works of literature are completely influenced by this deep contrast in her life.  In The Green Satin Gown and The Shed Chamber Laura Richards juxtaposes war imagery with the purity and imagination of youth in order to demonstrate this contrast that existed in her own childhood.

Works Cited

Estes, Glenn E. American Writers for Children before 1900. Vol. 42. Detroit: Gale Research, 1985. Print.

Richards, Laura E. Letter to Junior Readers. 1935. MS.

Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe. The Green Satin Gown. Boston: Dana Estes &, 1903. Print.

Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe. The Shed Chamber. Print.