Gender, Stigma, and Shame Theme Analysis

By depicting several generations of Westaway women over the course of 70 years, Nine Days provides a window into changing roles of women in society over the course of the late 20th century, and briefly into the 21st. Although the full scope of the novel traces four generations of women, the main examination of women’s changing place in society largely comes through the parallel lives of Connie in the early-20th century and her niece Charlotte in the late-20th and early-21st centuries, as both women are faced with an unexpected pregnancy. Through this main parallel of Connie and Charlotte’s lives, the novel argues that although women in the modern era are far more liberated and empowered than they were in Connie’s day, some of the same social stigmas and inequities remain.

Connie faces limited prospects and intense social pressures which lead to a catastrophic outcome, demonstrating that women lived harder lives in the early-20th century and were severely limited by gender. Although Connie dreams of becoming a professional photographer, her brother Francis belittles the idea of a female photographer and thinks it’s “stupid,” demonstrating society’s general disregard of women’s skills and abilities. When their father dies, Connie is the first child to be pulled out of school because she is a girl, sacrificing her own education and professional goals to support her brothers’ educations. Jean believes the only proper future for her is to marry a wealthy man, demonstrating the narrow future afforded to women in the early 20th century. Connie also faces major stigma around her sexuality, demonstrating women’s sexual repression in that era as well. When Connie has sex with her lover, a young man named Jack, for the first and only time, she reflects, “All my life I’ve had nothing I’ve desired and given up having desires at all.” This suggests that, as an unmarried young woman, she has never had the chance to explore her sexual desires because of society’s expectations. This stigma around her sexuality is reinforced when, after Jean, Connie’s mother, finds out that Connie is pregnant with Jack’s child, she calls her own daughter a “slut” and a “loose woman” with “no morals.” Since Jack was recently killed in the war, Jean demands that Connie have an abortion—but against her wishes, Connie would rather keep the child. However, since abortion is not a legal practice, they are forced to go to an illicit practitioner behind a dress shop, not a medical professional, and Connie hemorrhages and dies as a result. Connie’s abortion and tragic death not only reiterate the repression women and stigmas women face in her time, but also the tragic consequences of those stigmas, since she does not have access to a safe method of dealing with an unexpected pregnancy.

Contrasting with Connie’s limited life and tragic death, Charlotte enjoys a comparatively high level of freedom as a woman in the modern world, demonstrating that social conditions have improved drastically for women over the course of the 20th century. Although Charlotte, like Connie, does not have a professional career path, she is still able to support herself and be independent working as a yoga teacher and selling naturopathic medicines. She is also never pressured to marry a man to provide her with stability, demonstrating that she enjoys far more independence and agency than Connie ever did. This is reinforced by the fact that Stanzi is able to build her professional career as a counselor and later as a physical trainer. Unlike Connie’s largely unexplored sexual desire, Charlotte seems free to enjoy her sexuality as she sees fit, largely unburdened by societal expectations. Charlotte keeps a sex toy in her nightstand, suggesting that she is free to enjoy herself and explore her sexuality. This is further emphasized by the fact that her father was unbothered when he found her having sex as a teenager, a stark contrast to how Connie’s mother reprimands her for getting pregnant out of wedlock. Charlotte’s comparative sexual freedom suggests that women in the late-20th and early-21st centuries live under much less repressive expectations than those in the early-20th century. When Charlotte faces an unexpected pregnancy much like Connie, Stanzi reminds her, “Your body, your choice,” meaning that she can either choose to have the baby or to have an abortion at the local hospital, which is a safe and “short operation”—unlike Connie’s dangerous amateur abortion in the back of a dress shop. Charlotte’s safe and easy access to abortion once again contrasts with the fatally dangerous option available to Connie, once again demonstrating the improved conditions for women in society.

However, despite the markedly better societal conditions that Charlotte enjoys compared to Connie, several sources of shame remain consistent through both their lives, suggesting that although women in the modern era enjoy far more freedom than in the 1930s, some of the same social stigmas and inequities remain. Although Charlotte knows that her father, Kip, won’t be angry at her or deride her morals for having sex outside of wedlock, she still fears telling him because she knows he will still see her pregnancy or even an abortion as irresponsible, since she didn’t have the foresight to use proper protection. Stanzi knows this too, but points out the inherent sexism of it, saying, “No one talks about [abortion] because of this ancient gender-loaded taboo, that’s all. Men aren’t judged by the same standards. No one asks a man if a fetus of theirs has been aborted.” Furthermore, when Charlotte decides to keep the baby rather than abort it, she is left to care for the child on her own until Stanzi moves in with her to help. The stigma of irresponsibility placed on Charlotte for getting pregnant is not equally directed at the baby’s father. Further, the expectation that she will raise the child on her own demonstrates that despite the many way in which women enjoy more freedom now than in the past, some of the same stigmas and inequities remain. The parallel journeys of Connie and Charlotte are at once vastly different in the degree of freedom that Charlotte enjoys, while tragically similar in that they both face the same stigma of unexpected pregnancy and inequity of shouldering the burden or responsibility.