Give and Receive- p.11

“He just beat us because he saw what we wanted and couldn’t give (11).”

This quote occurs in the story as the narrator is describing her family to Clara. In terms of content, it serves as a way to highlight the power relationship that exists between her father and the other members of her family. The father is seen as the breadwinner, and his inability to provide for his family is used as justification for his actions.

While providing a specific example of familial relations and traditional male roles in one instance, it is likely that Le Sueur intended to also use the narrator’s father as an example of male-female relations in society. That is, to use the specific situation to shed light on what appears to be an extremely patriarchal society.

Structurally, the sentence reinforces this power relationship by including only two subjects: he and us. The narrator never elaborates on who the other members of the family are, and it does not matter because there is only the father and everyone else.

In addition, Le Sueur does not include the word ‘us’ at the end of the sentence, which serves as a further illustration of the role of the father in the family. By not including ‘us,’ the author seeks to make the point that it does not matter who the recipient (or if there is a recipient) of the father’s giving is, but only that he is able to give. When he is unable, he cannot fulfill his social role, and takes this humiliation out on his family by beating them in an effort to maintain his dominance.

The usage of the word ‘just’ also serves as a way to naturalize the father’s actions against the family. That is, he beat them because he could not fulfill his natural role as a provider, which elicited a natural, physical response.