Maria Full of Grace and Piano Teacher
Maria Full of Grace: Body Agency
Maria Full of Grace and The Piano Teacher, by Elfriede Jelinek, both follow the story of females struggling to gain confidence about and control over their own bodies. In Maria Full of Grace, Maria Alvarez struggles with her problems of poverty, pregnancy, and desire for independence which ultimately leads her to be a drug mule. Her life is subsequently controlled, for the most part, by the drug dealer who is powerful and able to influence her life. In The Piano Teacher, Erika Kohut has little if any power over her own life. She is constricted by her overbearing and controlling mother and has been shaped into what her mother wants for her. Even in the moments with Klemmer when she has power over him, as a masochist, she commands him to inflict pain on her body: an interesting and convoluted expression of Erika’s power over her body. In both stories the two protagonists do manage to gain control of their own bodies in certain moments, although there is always a male figuring involved, casting doubt on whether the female character truly gains agency. Although Erika and Maria embark on different paths, both are initially portrayed as tools being used to further the lives of others. Both works clearly indicate that the female body is a tool crafted and controlled to be used by, not only by men, but by the people closest to them: Maria’s family and Erika’s mother.
Maria Alvarez’s life is clearly not her own as she is forced to work long hours in a job and for a boss she despises, to be able to provide for her family. Because of this responsibility her life is largely restricted and dictated by her mother with whom she butts heads frequently. She also butts heads with her boss who is demeaning and unsympathetic even when Maria is clearly sick. These are early indicators that her body is not her own, but merely a tool. For her family she is a provider and to her boss she is cheap labor. The scene between Maria and her boss is a
Maria Full of Grace and The Piano Teacher, by Elfriede Jelinek, both follow the story of females struggling to gain confidence about and control over their own bodies. In Maria Full of Grace, Maria Alvarez struggles with her problems of poverty, pregnancy, and desire for independence which ultimately leads her to be a drug mule. Her life is subsequently controlled, for the most part, by the drug dealer who is powerful and able to influence her life. In The Piano Teacher, Erika Kohut has little if any power over her own life. She is constricted by her overbearing and controlling mother and has been shaped into what her mother wants for her. Even in the moments with Klemmer when she has power over him, as a masochist, she commands him to inflict pain on her body: an interesting and convoluted expression of Erika’s power over her body. In both stories the two protagonists do manage to gain control of their own bodies in certain moments, although there is always a male figuring involved, casting doubt on whether the female character truly gains agency. Although Erika and Maria embark on different paths, both are initially portrayed as tools being used to further the lives of others. Both works clearly indicate that the female body is a tool crafted and controlled to be used by, not only by men, but by the people closest to them: Maria’s family and Erika’s mother.
Maria Alvarez’s life is clearly not her own as she is forced to work long hours in a job and for a boss she despises, to be able to provide for her family. Because of this responsibility her life is largely restricted and dictated by her mother with whom she butts heads frequently. She also butts heads with her boss who is demeaning and unsympathetic even when Maria is clearly sick. These are early indicators that her body is not her own, but merely a tool. For her family she is a provider and to her boss she is cheap labor. The scene between Maria and her boss is a