Nineteen Eighty-four

I recently finished reading what is quite possibly the greatest book that I've read up to this point in my life. Orson Welles' Nineteen Eighty-Four was spectacular. The thing I found most remarkable is how so many other things that I've recently taken in have somehow synergized with the message in that story. It's given me pause to think a little bit longer about an awful lot of stuff that I read and watch and hear...

After having finished reading Nineteen Eighty-four, one of the things which seems to have had an amplified impact on me is the song "God Bless the Canadian Housewife" by SheDaisy.

Just before the end of Part II of the story, the protagonist, Winston, is looking out his window at a woman who is described as being "a metre across", her skin roughened by years of household work and child-rearing. She pins clothes up to dry as she hums a pleasant tune over and over again... She does not have a conventional "prettiness" about her.

And yet Winston remarks that she is beautiful. Indeed, his reason for finding her beautiful is likely because he feels that she has a bit of freedom that he cannot have. She is below the suspicions of the Party, yet somehow above being oppressed. But in her freedom, she chooses to - I can imagine - live a life of love, caring for her children. Indeed, in love there is a very intense sort of freedom.

Now, I had just finished the book, and the images in this scene were still freshly rolling about in my noggin when "God Bless the Canadian Housewife" came positively pouring out of the speakers in our car.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the latest Triple-E. The vocals in "God Bless the Canadian Housewife" are nothing short of heavenly, and the lyrics, while tongue-in-cheek, strike me sharply. How beautiful it truly is to be a housewife. The elegance in organization, the grace in balance, the wonder in compassion... It is amazing.

God Bless the Canadian Housewife
How she does it all I'll never know

And yet, beneath this admiration for women who would be considered housewives, I cannot help but feel that there is something more to my admiration of the song. Something more deeply moving that I cannot quite comprehend or verbalize.

Regardless, the song is fantastic!