If you're curious about women's lives at the turn of the century, particularly those of mixed ancestry, Winnifred Eaton's Me: A Book of Remembrance offers an interesting glimpse into the life of a struggling young artist hoping to succeed against all odds. Winnifred Eaton was born in 1875 in Quebec, Canada to an English-Irish father and Chinese mother. She was published at the very early age of fourteen and an established and popular author by the time she wrote Me in 1915. She wrote under the pseudonym Onoto Watanna, which I thought curious as it sounds very Japanese, until I read the novel's afterword. In the early part of the 20th century there was a strong anti-Chinese sentiment in North America. Apparently the Japanese were admired for their military strength and economic insularity, however. Japanese immigrants were also often of a higher economic class, and no doubt Eaton must have felt the prejudicial attitudes deeply and decided to "pass" for another race.
The novel is concerned with only one year in the life of young Nora Ascouth who leaves her home in Canada at seventeen and follows her first to Jamaica and then on to America where her dream is to write and perhaps find love. Me is autobiographical and many events follow Eaton's life very closely, though I'm not sure just how much of the narrative is fictional. Nora is young and naive and not especially experienced and perhaps a little too dependent on the kindness of strangers, who usually come in the form of a man, but maybe this is typical of the period. Sometimes they are decent and helpful and other times they just want to take advantage of her. Nora tells her story in first person and often addresses the reader directly asking for understanding for her actions and reminding us (no doubt from the vantage point of her older and wiser self) that she's a young woman from another country and not savvy to the ways of the larger world and that we must look beyond this.
Eventually she makes her way to Chicago via Richmond, Virginia with the help of an older man who she falls hopelessly in love with, though it seems more like an unhealthy infatuation. Roger Hamilton is taken with Nora and wants to help her, but initially assumes she's only out to take advantage of his wealth and good will. It's clear to the reader that if not his motives then at least his situation is suspect, though Nora is oblivious to anything beyond what she sees in front of her. He never tries to "make love" to her and is always offering her the comforts of money and clothes, but he's not willing to tell her he loves her. Nora, however, won't accept anything from him unless she knows that it's actual love for her that is prompting his gifts. It was sometimes hard seeing past this all consuming love for a character who was so disreputable and, well, slimy in my eyes.
"...he was a man used to ruling people, and he wished to govern and absorb me utterly."
"Of course he was exacting and at times even cruel to me. He really didn't want me to have any friends at all, and he not only chose all my clothes, but he tried to sway my tastes in everything."
I put it down to being seventeen and not worldly-wise. Nora was far too unsuspecting even when her friends tried to warn her. If she can't have love she still wants success and spends her free time writing stories and poems even after long days working as a stenographer and typist. The most interesting aspect of the story is seeing how a working woman lived in the early part of the century--how difficult it was to find a decent paying job and an affordable living arrangement and the attitudes towards these women who lived outside the home. As well, a woman had to live within certain moral confines to be considered decent. Nora has to deal not only with prejudices against her sex but against her looks as well.
"Lolly was in blue, the color of her eyes, and she looked, as always, 'stunning'. Beside her, I'm afraid, I appeared very insignificant, for Lilly was a real beauty. I never went anywhere with her but people--mean and women, too--would stare at her, and turn around for a second look. People stared at me, too but in a different sort of way, as if I interested them or they were puzzled to know my nationality. I would have given anything to look less foreign. My darkness marked and crushed me, I who loved blondness like the sun."
Despite mentally recoiling every time Roger Hamilton crossed the pages I was reading, I did enjoy Nora's "rags to riches" story. And judging by Eaton's real life story, surely Nora found happiness and success despite her hardships. I only have to look in my library's catalog and see her books listed for confirmation she achieved what she wanted and became a successful author.