Delightful Daughters

On Valentine’s Day my youngest daughter gave birth to Olivia Grace, the latest of my nine grandchildren. Livy is my eighth granddaughter. While Natalie was doing that “little thing” I was completing the novel Honolulu by Alan Brennert.

Honolulu is set in Hawaii in the first half of the 20th Century and tells the story of a Korean “Picture Bride” named Regret. Brennert characterizes the position of women in that place, culture and time as little more than the servants of men and mere receptacles for men’s pleasure and the birth of more men.

When I began reading his novel, I’d wondered if Brennert would be able to successfully navigate the perspective of the protagonist. Brennert is, after all, a 21st Century American male, of European descent, who did not grow up and does not live in The Islands. (For the same reasons, I’m not really capable of knowing how accurate he was.)

Brennert’s character development is satisfying. He delves successfully into the carefully controlled lives of his female Korean characters along with the differences in opportunity and justice in Turn of the 20th Century Hawaii based upon ethnicity and wealth. Brennert’s narrative added to my appreciation of the 21st Century Islands (a place I truly love.) My next visit to The Islands will be more colorful and rich because of the narrative.

I was born one year before the fictional end of Brennert’s book. Since then I've witnessed the formation of the Civil Rights Movement, observed the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and seen most of the intent of the Equal Rights Amendment become the Status Quo.

Like many men of my generation, I cannot imagine being disappointed at the birth of a daughter or granddaughter, let alone feeling that I’d been somehow less “blessed” than my friends with many sons. (This does not mean that my son, sons-in-law and grandson are chopped liver. I enjoy their company immensely.)

Yet, while we live in a time of unprecedented opportunity for women, there are still men I know who are disappointed at the birth of a daughter, balk at working for a woman, and far too many who view women as less capable than men. Those feelings are foreign to me. Even in the Enlightened Western World, we cannot yet say that we’ve “arrived” in the Promised Land of Equality.

I adore my daughters and enjoy every moment I spend with them. They have always given me such joy. They are so bright, so full of life, so very delightful. They often feel differently about the same “facts” than I do. This has caused me to look at things very differently. My daughters have been great companions. There are few things I enjoy more than talking with them or listening to them converse with one another (especially if they don’t know I am listening.)

My daughters, and their daughters, have been a great and wonderful gift in my life and I shall truly enjoy getting to know Olivia just as I have enjoyed the company and personalities of her mother, aunts and cousins. I can already tell she is going to bless my life.