Fay Weldon- Weekend

1) Summary of the story

Weekend is a short feministic story depicting traditional middle-class
family, consisting of the mother- Martha and the father of three- Martin,
going for the weekend to their cottage near Stonehenge, where they will
meet their friends.
On Friday, Martha is preparing some things, food and complaining (innerly)
about her life. Martin wants her to be perfect, as she says he likes women
with small hips and big bosoms, thats incredible. She has a suspicion
that her husband has an affair with his secretary, who looks exactly that
way.
Martin has a small sport car, but they take Marthas car for the trip, since it
is bigger, although it is the older one. Martha cant drive, because her
driving licence was taken away for drunken driving. The whole journey,
Martin is joking about the car, but Martha takes it personally, whilst she
has got the feeling, he is ambiguously talking about her.
Late at night, their friends- Colin and his girlfriend Katie, arrive to visit
them in their cottage. His previous wife, Janet with whom he has two
children, was a nice woman and Martha liked her, however she was not so
stunning like the new one. Martha prepares mushroom omelettes in her
nightie, sets the table, cleans everything after the late supper and goes to
bed at 2 a.m. Katie sits and has a good time, without any intention to help
her.
The

other

day

Martha

sleeps

longer

than

usually

and

has

the

consumptions, because everything in the kitchen stays exactly in the same

place, where the consumers had left it. She shouldnt sleep so long.
Glamorous

Katie

did

not

help

with

anything.

Again.

The rest of their friends, Harry and Beryl, come for the lunch. They bring
fresh artichokes. While Martha is preparing the artichoke soup, the top of
the blender flies away and the kitchen is full of artichoke puree. Awkward
Martha.

Jenny starts her first period and Martha is impressed and cries. She is not
her little child anymore, but a little woman.
To sum up the story, a woman must be always perfect. Great wife,
mother, babysitter, awesome cook, successful careerist, best friend,
psychologist, teacher, doctor, dishwasher, cleaner with bottomless sexual
appetite. While exhaustion, influenza, migraine or other illnesses are
mission impossible. And naturally, you should do it all in high heels,
scented, with exquisite hair, flawless make- up and smile on your face.
2) Characteristics of the main characters
Martha- a 38-year old house wife and mother of three- Jenny, Jasper and
Jolyon. She wants to be a perfect woman and tries to manage everything,
what in her eyes woman should manage; however, her husband does not
see that. She feels undervalued by him as long as he is criticizing her and
looks back to the other women, young, childless, with big bosoms and little
hips. She is also helping pretty much with house expenses, the thing, shes
not very satisfied with, because a good husband of his good wife should
manage that.
Martin- husband of Martha; iconic example of a man who comes home,
extremely exhausted after all day in work and awaiting the house to be
clean, children calm and that his wife will be neat, scented, smiling and
ready to make him a supper according to his wishes. He is not satisfied
with his wife. She should be slimmer, nicer, make healthier meals, and use
plenty of perfumes he keeps buying her.
Jenny, Jasper, Jolyon- children of Martha and Martin. We dont know much
about them. Jenny dries off her hair with Katies Yves Saint Laurent towel
and gets the period for the first time at the end of the story. Jasper has hay
fever.
Katie- a glamorous, childless, scented chick in her middle thirties; kind of a
modern wife, who came to the relationship with one bag of clothes,
intelligence and free mind.
Colin- boyfriend of Katie, he loves her very much and wants to marry her.
He has two children from the previous marriage. Katie does not like his ex-

wife Janet and their children; he can meet them just once per month. He is
a successful businessman.
Harry and Beryl- friends of Martin and Martha; Beryl is a secretary and
Harry is an artist. She falls asleep during the visit and Harry gets drunk and
is going to drive. He has scar on his temple from the car accident.
Mrs. Hodder- came in twice a week to clean and Martha paid her from her
wages
3) The story is described from Marthas perspective. Would it be the
same, if the narration would be done by Martin?
No, definitely. It would not be the same. As far as Im concerned,
Martin perceives the whole situation completely differently than Marta
does. He is looking onto problems and situations with a mans eye. He
does not feel that Martha does too much around the house, children etc.
He feels that she should cook better, have smaller hips and try to be
fresher.
4) What are Marthas main worries? Why does she obey Martin in
everything? Why does she never object?
She wants to be an amazing wife of her great husband thats why she
obeys him. She feels that it is her duty in the role of a woman, mother and
wife to behave that way. She is afraid of losing of Martin and fail in all her
roles. Martha cannot imagine her life without a husband she does not
realize she could live a different life, because this is what she knows. That
is why she is trying to keep Martin at all costs although she is not happy
with him.
5) Compare Martha and Katie.
Martha is a prototype of housewife and Katie is her opposite. Martha has a
husband, three children and her family is something sacred for her. But she
works and keeps her own money that means, she can get by from her
wages. Katie has different attitude to these things. She hates to be in the
traditional position of a woman, like Martha is. Katie is divorced twice and
doesnt have children. From my point of view, she is that kind of woman,
who needs husband to take care of her in general, mostly from the
viewpoint of expenses. Although Katie appears as a confident woman, we
also witness her insecurities she realizes that Colin is tied to Janet

because they have children together and that her position might not be
that stable.
6) How is the story narrated? Are there long descriptions or
dialogues? Why not?
The story is narrated as Martas train of thought. Her mind is important.
She is describing the situations from subjective point of view, not like the
omniscient narrator. There are no long descriptions, nor dialogues, because
they are not necessary (and Martha does not have time for them since she
rushes from one task to another so the narration reflects her state of
mind); the reader understands from the situations the whole context.
Anyway the direct speech is used for being more authentic. Her
descriptions make the story more personal than the universal third person
narrator or the eye of the camera. If any woman reads it, she finds
herself in many similar situations and that is the aim, to personalize the
story and give the percipient the space to make his point of view about the
piece and given problem.
7) Look at Martins comments which are inserted in the brackets.
What do they suggest?
They suggest Martins dissatisfaction or ironical view on Martha and her
acts. They are not formulated as direct criticism, but are rather indirect.
Though he might appear as a kind husband, Martha takes his remarks
personally as a form of criticism and thus puts even more pressure on
herself.
8) What

is

authors

opinion

on

women

like

Martha?

Who

is

responsible for their unhappiness- is it men or the women

themselves?
A woman should love her family and her husband, but should not obey him
in the way like Martha did. She gave her own Self and life to her family,
but doesnt get it back from them. She doesnt feel intrinsic fulfilment,
which she should feel, living this pattern of life. They are both responsible
for their unhappiness - males and females. Because if Martha doesnt want
to, she didnt have to behave this way. As long as, we are concerning on
feminist fiction, then men are responsible for the womans unhappiness
.
Weldon is critical not only to men, but to women as well. She points to the
fact that they have power in their hands and they should be active in

pursuing happiness. Martha, however, only relies on her husband, not on

herself so it is her own fault that she leads an unhappy life.
9) Why does Martha cry at the end of the story?
Because her only daughter is becoming a woman. From this important hoar
stone in each girls life, she is not a child anymore, in a real sense. There
will be men teasing her and they will cause troubles to her woman being
and gain control over her whole life, like Martin does to Martha. Martha
realizes that her own daughter is now entering the period of womanhood
with all its responsibilities. The ending also shows that Martha feels
powerless and does not realize that her own daughter does not have to
have the same life as she does.