My Thoughts on Robert Olen Butlers Mr. Green In Mr.

Green Butler develops the theme of patriarchal influence on the narrator (a little girl) sense of self through the use of the grandfathers perspective on a womans role in a family (society). The narrator, a little girl, narrates the stories in the first person as she remembers the time that she and her family spent, during her childhood, in a little village near Hanoi, and later in Saigon, both in Vietnam. Her grandfather teaches her at a very young age, what it means to be a girl in the Vietnamese society. He tells her that only a son can oversee the worship of his ancestors (Butler) when the narrator suggests that she would always pray for his soul. His belief that it is not possible for a girl to take on a boys job, makes the narrator feel inferior about herself- I felt a strange thing inside me, a recoiling, like I'd stepped barefoot on a slug, but how can you recoil from your own body? The grandfathers perspective on female identity, albeit formed by a traditional Vietnamese upbringing that clearly defines womens role as inferior to that of a man, is impressed upon the little girl throughout his time with her. He suggests to the narrator that women are worthless, by saying that women sound foolish when they chatter, and comparing a bunch of noisy blackbirds to a group of old ladies. Though the narrator likes to look at myself in a mirror and primp and puff myself up, just like any other little girl, she hesitates due to her grandfathers dislike of women who were vain enough to be content only with their own company. When he sends the narrator to help her mother prepare the sparrows for dinner, he reinforces the fact that women are only supposed to do household chores, and make the men of the house happy- my grandfather would take a deep breath after the meal and his eyes would close in pleasure. Even on his death-bed, the grandfather shows disappointment with the narrator being a girl, and that her parents had still not had any male child. The fact that this disappointment showed on his face, only served to further diminish the narrators sense of self worth. Parents and families can influence a girl child into believing that they can achieve anything, and that nothing is not possible, but sometimes traditional belief systems can cause the opposite effect thereby diminishing a girls self esteem and telling her that her place is not very high up in a male dominated society. The power of such influence is emphatically suggested by the grandfathers words- Their wings are clipped. Works Cited: Butler, Robert Olen. "Mr. Green http://www.deanza.edu/faculty/swensson/green.html. April 20, 2012.