Tender Buttons

1. Read Tender Buttons and see if you can pick out a pattern for the piece. Think of these questions: What do these objects have in common? Why might Stein be experimenting with these particular words? As always, use quotes from the text in your answer.

Tender Buttons is a very fragmented piece of work. Gertrude Stein experiments with syntax, connotation, sentence structure, and imagery. Her writings reflect the ideals of the modern art movement: broken pieces of a whole, a singular experience in time, a rebellion against convention. After reading through Tender Buttons, one feels uncomfortable and disjointed. However, there is a common thread throughout the poems. All of the objects she discusses are those that would be prevalent in a woman’s world.

Gertrude Stein has been called an early feminist by many. By composing poems about female possessions, she is exalting the female position. Male writers write about male subjects, because until that time, male society was the only important thing in life. Stein gives depth and significance to the female life in her work. She shows us that a woman’s world is important, worthy to be the subject of art. Stein does not dwell on quaint notions of love and giddiness, and she does not center on the role of motherhood or childbearing. Everyday, common objects are the main characters of her work- a dress, a hat, a piano, a shawl, etc. These are things that a woman would come in contact with every single day, going through the motions of her mundane routine. Clothing, food, household items. They are overlooked because they are not the instruments of man. They are not intellectual, they are not forceful, and they are not grandiose. But they are not any less worthy of documentation, and Stein recognizes this fact. To the ignorant male, these are not worth observing, but to Gertrude Stein, they are symbolic and pivotal in delving beneath the surface of the female psyche. These silly little objects are the fundamental components of a woman’s existence. Through these ordinary things, her perspective is distorted and translated. By fragmenting the individual parts of each item, Stein reveals the inner core. We can see how a red dress is more than a dress, how it affects your life, how it affects your mentality, and how it plays a role in the larger framework of the universe.

Essentially, Gertrude Stein not only commands our attention to the importance of the female existence, but arguably declares its precedence over the male existence. I believe that her feminist pattern for Tender Buttons highlights her stance on female complexity. If a woman can express internal significance through milk or a hat, what would she be capable of doing with the resources of mankind at her disposal? I am convinced that Stein utilizes Tender Buttons to showcase feminine depth and power. Her style of writing reflects the modernist movement in art and literature, but her choice of subject matter and consistent theme of female life carries her feminist opinions through the work. Her experimentation with grammar and diction are a catalyst for our brains, to stir our emotions to the point of analysis. She wants us to get the raw, undiluted essence of a woman. She wants her writing to dig under our skin, causing an undeniable itch that does not allow us to be distracted from her message; there is more to a woman than what a man might define her as.