3.6.16 Strength and Weakness in "The Judge’s Wife" and "The Night Nurse"

[Spoiler warning—this is an old English 102 paper]

Both Isabel Allende’s "The Judge’s Wife" and Joyce Carol Oates’ "The Night Nurse" deal with themes involving human strength and weakness. Both are built around a protagonist and an antagonist, one strong and one weak. The stories focus on opposite types; the protagonist of "The Judge’s Wife" is the story’s strongest character; in "The Night Nurse" the protagonist is the weak one. But in each story, both protagonist and antagonist are characterized such that we are initially misled about their nature. The superficially strong characters turn out weak, and the seemingly weak characters turn out to be the strong ones.

Casilda Hidalgo, the protagonist in "The Judge’s Wife," is first described to us in terms of her lack of physical strength. The desperado, Nicolas Vidal, sees her in the beginning as, "[t]his real slip of a girl[…]" who is "insubstantial" and unlikely to withstand the hot climate (Allende 1226). The vigorous Vidal initially finds her unappealing precisely because she appears so weak. The local residents also regard her as delicate and soft-spoken; as graceful, but woefully unequipped to withstand the rigors of life in their town (1226-1227). We first see Mrs. Hidalgo from the point of view of other characters, and thus we see her as they do—as "such an airy and diaphanous creature that a moment’s carelessness might mean she disappeared altogether" (1227). Mrs. Hidalgo appears at first to be a tiny, frail trophy wife who is far removed from her natural element.

But ultimately, Mrs. Hidalgo turns out to be the strongest character in the story. Mr. Hidalgo cruelly imprisons Vidal’s mother, Juana the Forlorn, in a cage in the town square without food or water, as bait for Vidal. It is now Mrs. Hidalgo who, having never before defied her husband, takes the risk of bringing Juana food and water (1229). She does this knowing that it will ruin her husband’s attempt to bait Vidal, and knowing that it could rouse her husband’s wrath. Yet she persists, even when her children begin to cry at the guards’ handling (1229). Later in the story, when Mr. Hidalgo’s weak heart gives out, Mrs. Hidalgo wastes "little time dwelling on her situation, knowing that she must act to get her children to safety" (1230). And then, dry-eyed, she carries her children, one at a time, up a cliff to a cave, thus showing remarkable mental resilience and determination to ensure the safety of her children. And most importantly, in the end Mrs. Hidalgo returns to her husband’s body, resolved to endure whatever torture or humiliation their pursuers might have in store for her, merely to delay them in discovering her children long enough for the police to arrive (1230). It is here that, contrary to our first impressions, Mrs. Hidalgo’s strength and courage attain heroic proportions.

Like the Allende story, in Oates’ story, "The Night Nurse," our initial impression of the protagonist comes to be challenged by the end. At first, Oates’ protagonist, Grace Burkhardt, seems to be a strong, self-reliant person. Near the beginning, when she falls to the ground with a blood clot in her leg, Oates’ narrator tells us that "she did not scream. She was not the kind of person to scream, especially in a public place" (Oates 970). We thus immediately read her as someone with self-control under stress. Later, in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, she feels "pain in her leg more terrible than any pain she’d ever known […] but she d[oes] not break down sobbing[…]" (970). Indeed, she seems to pride herself in her ability to maintain her mature, adult composure. Later, in her hospital room, she tries to sound as nonchalant about her brush with death as she can. The narrator tells us that "[y]ou could not have guessed that Grace Burkhardt had survived a life-threatening collapse for, on the phone she was wry, ironic, slightly embarrassed, determined to minimalize her condition […]" (971). We first see Burkhardt as, at least superficially, a strong, mature adult enduring a terrible catastrophe.

But ultimately, just as the outwardly weak Mrs. Hidalgo turns out to be the strong one in "The Judge’s Wife," so it is outwardly strong Burkhardt who turns out to be the weak one in "The Night Nurse." When she wakes up in the post-operative room her dominant felling is one of helplessness (970) and she begs not to be left alone (971). But she is left alone, and the narrator recounts, "[n]ow alone, with no witness to admire her bravery, she tasted panic" (971). Here we begin to see the significance of the line quoted above in which Burkhardt is described as someone who would not allow herself to scream, especially in public. Her courage in the face of adversity is part of a public persona. Underneath she is terribly frightened and insecure. Later, though she had not prayed in thirty years, she resorts to prayer before falling asleep (972). As the story progresses and her strange confrontation with Harriet Zink unfolds, Burkhardt’s dominant emotion becomes fear. At first unwilling even to admit that she knows who Harriet is and what their past together was, Burkhardt quickly begins to resort to terrified pleading. In the end, when she reflects on Zink’s decision to forgive her for her past wrongdoings, it is Burkhardt herself who concludes that "[…] I am not that strong. In her place, I could not forgive" (980). By the end Burkhardt has become a frightened, lonely, small woman, in a big dark hospital, all too aware of her own weakness.

There is thus a technique of characterization involving a kind of reversal seen in the protagonists, Burkhardt and Mrs. Hidalgo. Each is shown as superficially one type of person in the beginning of the story, but later turns out to be the opposite underneath. The same kind of technique shows up in the treatment of the antagonists in both stories. In "The Judge’s Wife" the antagonist, Hidalgo, is shown as fitting many of the outward signs of strength. Hidalgo, a judge, is known for his harshness, and exercises legal judgments with severity and stubbornness—"even at the expense of justice" (1226). He dresses in severe, black clothes and sees to it that his shoes are always shined (1226). The independent, previously unwed Mr. Hidalgo is a stern paragon of Latin machismo.

But by the end we see that Mr. Hidalgo’s strong exterior is merely the cowardly strength of a bully. When he visciously imprisons Vidal’s mother as bait for Vidal, Vidal says "[w]e’ll see who’s got more balls, the Judge, or me" (1228). And we do see. At the first sign of resistance from his wife, Mr. Hidalgo sadly gives up and lets Juana go, having been outlasted by Vidal and defeated by his waif of a wife. Stung by his defeat, Mr. Hidalgo gathers his family and leaves by car for the coast. Juana commits suicide soon after her release, and when Mr. Hidalgo learns that Vidal is pursuing him (looking for revenge for his mother’s death), Mr. Hidalgo does not stay and face Vidal. Instead he tries to escape in his car (1230). Finally the stress becomes too great for him. Like a physical symbol of his spiritual weakness, Hidalgo’s ultimate weakness turns out to be his heart, which splits "like a pomegranate" (1230), leaving Mrs. Hidalgo and her children to fend for themselves. In the end, Mr. Hidalgo lacks the strength to catch or even face Vidal on equal terms or to protect his own family.

Similarly, in "The Night Nurse," when we first read about Oates’ antagonist, Zink, she seems to be a sad little door mouse who had long ago allowed herself to be reviled and mistreated by her college roommates. Zink’s weakness is twice implied by association with the concept of childishness. Physically, Zink is described as having a "childish moon face" (976). Later she cuts off Burkhardt’s protestations with "childish vehemence" (977). We learn that she had entered college late because her mother had recently died (977). She was ostracized and unable to make friends in college (977). Later, implying a lack of emotional resilience and maturity, we find that she was unable to get over the resentment she felt then for her fellow students. She tells Burkhardt, "I remember. I still dream about it sometimes" (978). Zink is first portrayed as emotionally immature, perhaps even a little neurotic.

But just as Burkhardt turns out frightened and weak by the end, Zink turns out to be the one who possesses strength—moral strength in particular. We see hints of her hidden strength early on. Even though Zink cried herself to sleep every night (978) and eventually dropped out of school, she had survived her mother’s death, and the mistreatment she received at the hands of Burkhardt and her friends, and had in fact returned to school, eventually fulfilling her ambition to become a nurse. And when Burkhardt is reduced to imploring for forgiveness near the end of the story, it is Zink who forgives. She says to Burkhardt, "[w]hen I saw you here, Grace Burkhardt, and I thought, ‘Am I strong enough to forgive that woman? Even with Jesus’ help, am I strong enough?’ I didn’t know. But now I know. I am strong enough, I can forgive" (979). In the end, Zink finds the strength to do what Burkhardt knows she could not have done.

Both stories feature human strength and weakness as major themes. Though they seem to be opposites—the strong protagonist in the Allende story versus the weak one in the Oates, and the strong antagonist in the Oates versus the weak one in the Allende—both stories seem to come from similar viewpoints about the value of courage and strength of character. In the Allende story the strong protagonist is rewarded for her strength. She not only saves her children, but she is able to experience a kind of physical passion she had not known before (1231). In contrast, the spiritually weak Hidalgo gains nothing but the shame of defeat and finally death. Similarly, in Oates’ story it is not the weak protagonist who gains something valuable by the end, it is the antagonist, Zink. When she tells Burkhardt that she has discovered that she is strong enough to forgive her, the narrator tells us, that "[s]he spoke with such sudden pride, it was as if sunshine flooded the room (979). Zink is able to feel a kind of increased self-esteem that comes with her act of maturity and strength. And continuing the same pattern, in Oates’ story it is the weak protagonist who is left less confident and less happy in the end. When Zink leaves her, Burkhardt must face the rest of the long night alone, with the realization of her own cowardice (980). Despite their differences of style, subject and setting, in both stories we see acts of strength of character and spirit rewarded, and weakness punished.

Works Cited

Allende, Isabel. "The Judge's Wife." Trans.
Nick Caistor. Meyer 1226-1231.

Meyer, Michael. Thinking and Writing About
Literature: A Text and Anthology. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001.

Oates, Joyce C. "The Night Nurse." Meyer
969-980."

A `compare/contrast' paper for English 102
2002.5.21