Exploring Feminism and Gender Construction in Time Stands Still

This essay provides a feminist analysis of Donald Margulies' play 'Time Stands Still,' focusing on the construction of gender and the complexities of feminist perspectives. The essay examines the contrasting characters of Sarah, a photojournalist, and Mandy, a homemaker, and how their choices and e...Read More

Feminism and Construction of Gender in Time Stand Still
Time Stands Still
The play Time Stands Still is the one that addresses gender issues and also crisis that one
develops in life after having a firsthand experience of the horrors of war. James and Sarah have
seen war, up-close, and the impressions that war has made in their minds, individually, is not
something that they can relate with people like Mandy.
Character of Mandy and Sarah can be juxtaposed against each other and each have a trait that
cannot be weighed up or down. Their attitude of life is different and important in their own ways.
While Mandy is seen as a character that is too basic and average as compared to Sarah, she has
her own vital role in the society that may never be played by Sarah and vice versa. The act of
giving up a professional life and deciding to take care of the child may look unimportant to Sarah
but Mandy does it beautifully and it is because of presence of women like Mandy that kids have
are having well guarded childhood which becomes the very foundation of a secure adulthood.
However, there are many instances that have a different narrative. Here, we are being specific
about Mandy and Sarah (Margulies 2011).
Moreover, the way Mandy goes on to talk about ‘joy of life’ is not something that can be missed.
Over the argument that takes place over the article she says “the article won’t make any
difference to the refugees”
“People who kill each other are always going to kill each and terrible things are always going to
happen” (Margulies 2011).
It is simple assertion but is laden with deep meaning and the effect on the audience is profound
and immediate, shifting the admiration from Sarah to Mandy, quickly.

Sarah is troubled at the thought of having a child. She gets into a serious argument with James
with regards to Tariq and her marriage to James. The quarrel leads to the end of their marriage.
We finally see Sarah packing for the Middle Eastern war zones- the place where she had always
belonged
It is with the different roles that the two characters of Mandy and Sarah play in Time Stands Still
that we are going to proceed further in analyzing them in light of relevant theories and critical
thinking of feminism (Margulies 2011).
The idea of feminism is a dynamic one and has constantly changed its shape. We see first wave
of feminism and then second wave of feminism, starting in France then going on to spread to the
rest of the world, taking a deep rooted position in USA.
Though on the surface feminism may look about doing what the women have not been
conventionally doing and also having a dislike to men, there are opinions on feminism that have
another viewpoint and the relevance of it can be found in the play Time Stands Still in the
character of Mandy.
Mandy chooses to be the regular girl who wants to be full time mother. According to many
feminist this too can be regarded as a conscious step taken by a woman. Women can what choose
she wants to be even if it means going with the traditional set up. It is the choice that matters and
not the direction and the type of choice (Tyson,2014).
However, amidst this the patriarchal set up of the society cannot be changed and it cannot be
denied either. Over a long period (and at present too) women have been subjugated
economically, politically and also socially. This has led to the feminist develop a sense of
bitterness against men. It is actually the bitterness against the patriarchal set of the society that
from where hatred towards men automatically stem up. The ideas of ‘bad girl’ and ‘good girl’
have been imposed on the women forcefully. A woman who stays at home is an ‘angel’ and does
good to herself by nurturing the family. It is due to this imposition that women who happily want
to take to houses and children are not been straight out called feminist. The roots of lies in the
fact that initially (and at present too) the family thing was not an option for women but
something that was forced. Women who moved out of this were labeled as ‘bad girl’. The bad

girl is to be used for sexual satisfaction and not married. This whole idea of validating a
woman’s character based on how well she is accepted in marriage is masculine and degrading.
It is the imposition of a status that is the root cause and not what the women choose to do. There
is feminism against the male gender and we see another development of feminism against the
female gender as well. This may be because of the incidences of women patriarchs. Mandy may
appear to a woman patriarch when she chooses to give up her profession in favor of family
whereas, her husband is giving u the job to do the same. In contrast to her, Sarah is the person
who is aware of the harsh realities of the world and has built up her career as a successful and
brave photojournalist.
Here, Mandy, too, has a successful career as an event planner but that may be considered lesser
in intensity if it is compared to what is done by Sarah. While Sarah’s attitude to life is not
something that can ever be undermined, it is important that feminism has a respectable place for
people like Mandy.
Mandy asserts her position with her lines about ‘joy of life ‘and for the first time, we realize that
having kids and settling as a homemaker is a feminist decision and not succumbing to patriarchy.
Here Sarah’s character has to be rejoiced for never giving up and getting back to her job of photo
journalism and for Mandy to get back to her love of life- her baby and husband.

Works Cited
Tyson, Lois. _Critical theory today: A user-friendly guide_. Routledge, 2014
Margulies, Donald. _Time Stands Still (TCG Edition)._ Theatre Communications Group, 2011.