Goodreads feminist reviews - Pollyanna

Book: Pollyanna, by Eleanor H. Porter

2/5 Goodreads review also here. 

I read this book a least twice when I was little, an abridged Spanish version, but this is the first time I've read the full English version.

All still from the 1960 movie starring Hayley Mills

-1 It's a pity to read books with a female protagonist who interacts with at least three female secondary characters (+1) when said protagonist turns out to be a full on enabler of the system :S Interactions between women often revolve around physical appearance, children, or relationships with men.

-1 Pollyanna, a cheerful 12-ten-old orphan girl who wants to see the silver lining and be *glad* about it in everything she encounters, actually tends to support the statu quo in everything: From reducing women to their attractiveness and relationships; to always supporting religion and other normative societal systems such as (heteronormative) marriage, nuclear family and gender roles; to upholding the class system and white privilege.

She also uses her fair share of ableism mixed with a healthy dose of internalized sexism, disguised as (pretty patronizing) optimism. For example, she claims that it's normal that her Aunt Polly should be prettier and try to look more attractive than the bedridden Mrs Snow, because more people will be looking at her. Right after that, she claims that she feels sorry for 'ugly' or 'less attractive' people and feels happier when looking at 'pretty folks'.

-1 The often unsolicited, self-righteous ultra optimism in Pollyanna often frustrated me. Not only because she tends to use problematic comparisons to teach people how to be glad, such as 'be glad that you can do something that other people can't' (because they are ill, for example!), or 'be glad that you are prettier than others'. I also found it grating because it's easy to tell someone who's going through something bad that 'it could be worse' or 'there's always something good in everything' until you experience that yourself, and then it's usually not that easy (as she finds out when she herself suffers an accident :S). I mean, I do think it's interesting and useful to try to find silver linings and the positive side of things, but we also need an (empathetic) balance to go with it all.

-1 Aunt Polly is reduced to the Patriarchal trope of the embittered 40-year-old spinster who needs a relationship with a man and a child to care for to be happy. Also, everyone keeps criticizing and/or validating her appearance (because, as we all know, what else is there). I found it particularly grating that houseworker Nancy thought it ridiculous that Polly had been 'very attractive when she was younger' or indeed, that she "still" was - Given that the idea that she has of her is that of an embittered spinster who's never happy about anything, and I suppose good looks are contradictory with being single because a man would have wanted you otherwise :S

-1 People who are neither white, American or Christian are consistently referred to as 'heathens' in a very offensive and patronizing way, mostly by Pollyanna herself. Pollyanna also bemoans the fact that no one wants to adopt local orphan Jimmy Bean because all the Aid Ladies are 'obsessed' with helping 'little boys in India' (and as we all know, yes, all white people are obsessed with helping and/or adopting poor poc children, sure they are :S).

-1 The class structure is never challenged. Houseworker Nancy and gardener Tom are constant secondary characters who always remain in their place and support the plots of the richer, higher-class characters. There's a very patronizing religious-based mindset about helping poor 'heathen' people as charity.

The adoption of orphan Jimmy Bean is probably more central to the story as it reaffirms nuclear family and how men 'need a woman's hand and heart' and people need 'a child's presence' to find love and happiness (and stop being embittered spinsters, or introverted gruff bachelors who live alone and pine over Pollyanna's mother Snape-style while insisting on adopting the child in a decidedly more creepy than romantic or cute way).

Some IG stories about it with some quotes: