Feminism and Feathers—It’s Not Just A Bird!

Susan Fenimore Cooper was the daughter of renowned naturalist author James Fenimore Cooper. After spending a year in the countryside of New York, she published her own nature diary, becoming one of the first female naturalist writers of the 19th century. She claimed this diary was written solely “for her own amusement” (Cooper 1), its contents focusing on her experiences with the flora, fauna, and people she observed during her trip. Analyzing the book through a feministic perspective, however, reveals a vessel through which Cooper displays discontent with gender roles pertaining to marriage and parenthood. By looking at Cooper’s Rural Hours through a feminist lens, one can detect evidence of her progressive feelings about society’s sexist expectation that mothers sacrifice their freedom for their children, innocently disguised as a series of observations about birds--as she would have been required to conceal any feministic nature of her claims in order to maintain her family’s positive reputation in society.

The period during which Cooper lived undoubtedly influenced her writing. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature claims that feminism “is a political commitment to the equality of women” (Guerin 253), and society had strict limitations for females that prevented them from living on “equal” terms with men at that time. Socially, she was “born into the best of all families” (Cunningham 350), subsequently burdening her with a duty to protect her family’s reputation. She was “reared in the stern French Huguenot (De Lancey) tradition in the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century, a time when woman's place, if not exclusively in the home, was still in homely pursuits” (Cunningham 350). One can also ascertain how Cooper's identity as a woman shaped her upbringing from her mother's letters, several of which contain reassurances to family members that Susan and her sister had not been exposed to “dancing on Sunday or other similar evils” (Cunningham 343). It is implied that Cooper does not agree with the customs her family adheres to, as she writes in her book that “from tradition we step to something more positive” (Cooper 4), asserting her belief that progress is beneficial. Her family’s sexism was extended to her work as well as her behavior, as Cooper’s father himself critiqued Rural Hours and proclaimed that the work was “not strong, perhaps, but [was] so pure, and so elegant, so very feminine” (Cunningham 339). These words—especially “feminine”—betray the bias Cooper faced as a female writer. If Rural Hours had been a man’s work, it is unlikely that the word “masculine” would have been included in the review. Instead of praising his daughter’s work like he would for a male author, Cooper’s father chose instead to glorify her femininity and how it fit the gender role assigned to women by society.

These experiences with sexism give weight to the idea that Cooper chose to use subtle means of promoting feminist ideals instead of stating her ideas outright in her writing. In her journal, she chronicles the familial structures of birds, focusing profoundly on the differences between males and females: “We all know how industrious and skillful [orioles] are in building; both work together at weaving the intricate nest, though the wife is the most diligent” (Cooper 12). This snippet in itself may not seem very feministic, but when it is combined with other examples of gender roles within bird families, a pattern begins to emerge. Cooper writes that “the male [hawk] is smaller and less powerful than the female” (Cooper 20), the word “power” hinting at the metaphor behind the observation: that women can be just as or even more powerful than men.

Cooper then describes how their “power” and “diligence” are regulated to preparing for children after they have officially coupled:

The female [Eider duck] plucks the down from her own breast, for the purpose of making a soft nest for her young; but after she has laid a number of eggs, these and the down are both removed, the eggs being very palatable. The patient creature then re-lines her nest with the last down on her breast and lays a few more eggs; again both down and eggs are taken by greedy man; the poor mother has now no more down to give, so the male bird steps forward, and the nest is lined a third time. (Cooper 46).

This example is particularly interesting when looked at through the feminist lens, which proposes that motherhood is “something that does not maintain the division between men and women based on biological function” (Guerin, 258). This supports the idea that Cooper's description could be an allegory for the plight of human mothers: The female bird, for the wellbeing of her children, sacrifices her down not once, but twice. In contrast, the father only does so when the female can no longer fulfill this duty. The specific actions Cooper’s subjects undertake even before having children—creating a home, obtaining food, preparing for children—are also tasks prioritized by human women more than their husbands in traditional society.

Cooper deepens this comparison by discussing the loss of freedom that female birds face when they become mothers, similar to the expectation placed on human women to ‘give up’ their own freedoms for their children. She describes the liberty and independence of birds, writing, “by nature the winged creatures are full of life and activity, apparently needing little repose, flitting the livelong day through the fields and gardens, seldom pausing except to feed, to dress their feathers, or to sing” (Cooper 19). The inclusion of the phrase “needing little repose” indicates that these birds do not rest every often, as they are too busy enjoying themselves. Cooper then contrasts this with the life female birds must lead once they breed, journaling, “and yet there is not one of these little winged mothers but what will patiently sit, for hour after hour, day after day, upon her unhatched brood,” (Cooper 19). This is a stark deviation from a life spent “flitting the livelong day through the fields and gardens, seldom pausing”.  She makes sure to include that the liveliness of the mother bird has not disappeared when she writes, “That it is no unusual drowsiness which comes over them at this time, rendering the duty more easy, is evident, for you seldom find them sleeping; their bright eyes are usually open” (Cooper, 19), implying that while their duties have changed because of motherhood, the female birds still possess a hunger for days “full of life and activity”. The quote “warming them with her breast–carefully turning them–that all may share the heat equally, and so fearful lest they should be chilled, that she will rather suffer hunger herself than leave them long exposed” (Cooper 19) exemplifies the selflessness of the mother bird and provides a negative connotation to the act, particularly through the word “suffer”.

This “suffering” and self-sacrifice is not seen in the behavior of the father bird: “the male among some tribes occasionally relieves his mate by taking her place awhile” (Cooper 19). This exemplifies Cooper’s point that the father birds do not share the same duties as the mothers, an idea previously displayed in the case of the Eider Duck. Cooper makes a bittersweet declaration about this act, which reflects how many human women feel trapped within their roles as wives and mothers, when she says, “but altogether, this voluntary imprisonment of those busy, lively creatures is a striking instance of that generous, enduring patience which is a noble attribute of parental affection” (Cooper 19). Although she praises the virtues of motherhood, the phrase “voluntary imprisonment” communicates the view that with these traits comes a loss of freedom not felt by male birds. By using the experience of birds as allegories for the similar experiences of humans, Cooper presents a progressive and feministic commentary for her time: that human women are diligent and powerful despite society’s view of them as the weaker sex, yet are unfairly expected to not only sacrifice their freedom, but also to regulate these traits specifically to preparing and caring for their young.  

This criticism of traditional gender roles mirrors the human example of parenthood, likely in order to drive home the comparison between the two species. Cooper once again does so under the guise of observing her environment and recording what she sees for “personal amusement.” During a trip to the market, she journals about “a mother exchanging the fruits of her own labors for a gay print to make frocks for the eager, earnest-looking little girls by her side”, reinforcing the idea that mothers are expected to make sacrifices for their children. This idea is referenced more clearly in her passages about bird mothers. She then provides society’s clashing expectation for the father: “often the husband stands by holding a baby–one always likes to see a man carrying the baby–it is a kind act” (Cooper 53). By lauding the man as “kind” simply for holding his own child until the mother can finish what she is doing, Cooper not only pokes fun at society’s expectations for fathers and husbands, but also displays how society often devalues women’s actions as simply part of their job as wives and mothers.

Cooper’s responsibility to preserve her family’s reputation despite her conflicting views combined with her personal encounters with sexism indicate that she was limited in her ability to express her true opinions about sexism's delegation of the majority of parenthood's sacrificial duties to women. Rural Hours, though presented as just a nature diary, can be taken as an allegory about the loss of freedom that mothers face once they have children, a cost that is not forced upon fathers due by the patriarchal society. Through her descriptions of the differing expectations for a mother versus that of the father found within bird societies, followed by a similar picture of human parenthood, Cooper created a work that could display her feministic views and simultaneously disguise them.

Works Cited

Guerin et al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.

Fenimore Cooper, Susan. Rural Hours, Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1850. Print.

Cunningham, Anna K. Susan Fenimore Cooper—Child of Genius, Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association, Vol. 42, p 339-350, 1944. Print.