Aunt Maria: Witches in Power

Diana Wynne Jones’ Aunt Maria uses the witch archetype for many reasons. One reason was to establish this dystopian world with a great rift between sexes; a rift that is unnatural and should not be accepted as a decent way to live. This is almost revealed explicitly when the revived Antony Green speaks of the way life is at Cranbury. “They divided into men’s ways and women’s ways then, and they’ve been thinking up more and more rules ever since to make the difference seem even bigger. Women allowed men the strong, out-of-doors things – provided the men put the virtue of their thoughts and ambitions into this box, so that it couldn’t get loose and run wild – while the men gave over all the secret, indoors things to the women – on condition the main power was kept safe by just a few strong women who would work by the rules.” This book pushes for gender equality and is aimed at a young audience, which I think is important. The female characters range from evil to pure, sane to insane, strong-willed to naive. The male characters range from mild-tempered to hot-headed or soft-spoken to loudmouthed. And progress is only made when they all work together, regardless of sex or age. Jones is implying that in order for a community to function properly, there needs to be mutual respect.

I thought it was interesting, then, how we are immediately made to dislike Aunt Maria and the secretive power she yields. Even though at first she seems relatively harmless, it could be argued that the reader should assume there is an unbalance due to the matriarchal structure of the Laker family. Of course it slowly is revealed that Maria is a true threat because she acts selfishly to hold onto her power. Mig, on the other hand, is a young girl who sees the truth because she considers her and her brothers to be equal. I found it interesting when she said “I’ve been letting Chris do all the real active thinking. Perhaps it’s because Chris is a year older than me. But I am not usually like this. I think it is the way everyone here takes for granted that having ideas is not women’s work and not nice somehow. In future, I swear to do better.” That is the moment when she is reintroduced to the fact that women need to be as active as men and men need to be allowed to express their emotions. After she finds that balance, she is a stronger lady who helps save the day.