The Automobile and the American Feminist Movement in Annie Proulx's Postcards.

Annie Proulx constructs a covert feminist narrative line in her debut novel Postcards with female minor characters. Focusing on the "historical gap" between the waning of the first wave of the feminist movement and before the rise of the second wave of feminism, Proulx examines the experience and differentiation of American women in the industrialization and urbanization movements. Strongly influenced by the "Annales School," Proulx uses the quintessential cultural totem of 20th-century America, the automobile, as "new historical material" and a key entry point into the fluctuations of the American feminist movements. The three female characters in the story, Billy as "the Beauty in the Car," Mernelle as "the Motorcar Bride" and Pearl as "the Mechanical Earth Mother," correspond respectively to women of consumerism, women of the "affluent society," and post-war modern professional women. Pearl's final death from a car accident not only serves as Proulx's warning about "industrial progress" but also reflects her contemplation on the failure of the second wave of feminism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]