Landscape and Cyclical Violence Within "The Woman at the Store"

           In Katherine Mansfield’s short story “The Woman at the Store”, the harsh New Zealand landscape is portrayed as a destructive force that creates isolation and influences the characters, transforming the woman and child into animalistic and savage “others”, and directing the actions of the other characters in a way that produces an inescapable cycle of violence.

          Within the opening lines of the short story, the New Zealand landscape is depicted as having influence over the characters. The narrator, traveling with a group of men through the country describes the dust as, “a dry skin itching for growth on our bodies” (55). Immediately, it can be seen that the land is pervasive, filling even the air; possessing the innate desire to become part of the characters' bodies. The travelers themselves are not immediately impacted by the environment in any obvious way besides Jo's failure to sing as usual and the narrator's near tumble from her horse due to the heat (55, 56). Because they are merely passing through the country side, the influence is not as great. However, when presented with the characters of the woman and the child, the true effect of the grotesque landscape can be seen. In the scene in which the reader is introduced to the character of the woman, she is described in terms of the landscape and the effect that it is having on her, “[the sun] gleamed on the woman's yellow hair, over her flapping pinafore and the rifle she was carrying” (57). Additionally, the child is repeatedly described as being influenced by the environment and as having various lights cast over her that affect her appearance. Therefore, these characters, who have been living under the influence of the environment for so long, become products of the grotesque land in which they live; adhering to its will.

          As the text continues, it becomes apparent that the harsh environment goes beyond merely influencing the characters - specifically the mother and child who are transformed into savage and erratic “others”. The mother, is repeatedly referred to as having, “too much alone”, establishing that, left to the influence of the countryside, she has become savage and animalistic - beating her child and changing from calm to furious in mere seconds (59). Once “pretty as a wax doll”, her looks have been transformed to resemble the grotesque conditions in which she lives (63). The term “wax doll” to describe the woman can also be used to show the influence of the environment over time. Years earlier when visited by Joe, she was considered beautiful, but because she has always lived under the influence of the landscape, even then she wasn't completely human - just a pretty replica. As all outside contact, including that of her husband, ceased, she declined into a type of hideous “other”. This is evidenced repeatedly throughout the text; on page 58 the woman is portrayed as “a hungry bird” and on page 62, she is described by Joe as an “old bitch”. This, too, can be applied to the young girl - having lived in the land all her life - in the way that she is consistently compared to animals. The child is described as “a rat” and verbs such as “bleat” are used to describe her actions (66). Her actions are often insane and disconcerting, her drawings described as “repulsively vulgar”, eliciting the grotesque in the same way that the environment surrounding her does (68).

          As the landscape exacerbates the savage qualities of the characters, this type of animalistic behavior gives way to a cyclical violence that the landscape itself helps to reinforce. The mother is later revealed as having killed her husband, establishing the character not only as insane, but capable of violence. However, this action, too can be seen as a product of the environment, the woman stating, “if you was back at the coast, Id 'ave you lynched for child murder” (66). In this scene, the woman is referring to the abuse that her husband inflicted upon her. Because of her isolation, the landscape obstructs her ability to find justice without violence. The environment then proceeds to provide the mother with another victim – the storm forcing the characters to stay inside, the character of Jo spending the night with her, taking the place of the husband. Even her appearance is transformed to become more appealing to the man, encouraging him to stay; "the woman's hair was tumbled - two red spots burned in her cheeks - her eyes shone" (65). This description is not in terms of what the woman has done in at attempt to make herself more attractive - on the contrary, each of these improvement seem to have happened on their own, her eyes shining as a result of the light, and thus, her environment. In addition to the woman being provided with a new victim to support the cycle of violence, the child herself can be seen as the ultimate continuation of it. Because she is a product not only of the environment in which she exists, but of her mother, a fact that her mother insists upon, stating, “she's the dead spit of me”, when asked if the child is more like her father, it can be assumed that the child, just like the mother, lacks the freedom to leave that the father possesses (61). Additionally, because the mother is influenced so strongly by the harsh landscape, this suggests that the child is just as affected creating a future for the child in which she essentially becomes her mother, and setting up a cycle in which violence is continuous.

         Throughout Mansfield's short story, the landscape in which the characters operate is inherently violent and creates isolation that drives the characters to savage behavior. This creation of the “other” within the character of the woman and child produces a cyclically violent environment that is further supported by the grotesque New Zealand surroundings.