Women, throughout history, have made a tremendous impact in shaping the world. While women's role within society has always been clear, significant, and needed for progress, their unique contribution to their immediate environment and beyond has not always been duly acknowledged. However, as societies evolved, socio-political trends have begun to recognize women’s societal status, rights, abilities, and accomplishments. In her novels ‘The Huntress’ and ‘The Alice Network’, Kate Quinn explores the role of women in both world wars, and how women had a much bigger effect in shaping history than commonly acknowledged. Both novels primarily focus on women at times of war, and their varying struggles. The female protagonists in these novels all portray qualities of strength, boldness, fierceness, and skill to truly represent the powerful women back then. Quinn conveys her message through detailed illustrations of the stories of Evelyn Gardiner (a female spy in World War I), the Huntress (a Nazi murderess), Nina Markova (a female fighter pilot in World War II), and Charlie and Jordan (young female adults in a post-World War II setting). In doing so, Quinn actually empowers women to break the perception of women being a historically marginalized segment of society.
Quinn has placed the protagonists in the said novels in dangerous circumstances to prove that they are as capable as men. Espionage has had, undoubtedly, one of the biggest impacts in wars. Spies were key in obtaining valuable information that facilitated efforts to win wars. Such an endeavor came with great danger, especially for female spies in World War I. The Alice Network was, in fact, an actual British spy network established to gather information about the Germans during World War I. Unfortunately, their stories remain untold to this day. In her novel entitled ‘The Alice Network’, Quinn has renamed Louise de Bettignies, an actual spy of the said network, as Evelyn Gardiner, who made immense sacrifices to achieve a position in the network. Espionage is a very difficult trade. Throughout history, there has been a limited number of highly successful spies as they are either killed or captured by their enemies. The story of Evelyn Gardiner is a prime example of a female spy who had gone to great lengths to complete her missions. Throughout her assignments, she was always underestimated, abused, and exploited, often by men. One of Gardiner’s main struggles was her undesired intimacy with René Bordelon. The fictional character, Bordelon, was introduced as a dishonorable man, a profiteer with malicious intent who was working with the Germans. To collect information, Gardiner would have to sleep with Bordelon countless times. This is a serious sacrifice and often overlooked in history, as spy work seems masculine and bold. Women, however, were forced to use intimacy in such work since it was really the only effective way for them to access information. Gardiner hated how this was the way to get Bordelon to talk: “A physical response unrelated to the head or the heart is what m-marks a whore” (Quinn, 247). As a spy, Gardiner had not thought that sexual interaction would be so common, however, it became an unavoidable reality for many female spies at the time. Although they were completing their missions, these occurrences made them feel belittled, exploited and violated. Despite such tragic scenarios, female spies often did a good job and were generally more effective than men at extracting information. The targeted officials and soldiers did not suspect women to be involved in such high-stakes operations. They, indeed, underestimated women, and that allowed women to thrive in espionage. The example of Edith Cavell (1865- 1915), who was a British nurse and spy, told such a story. After the Battle of Mons in 1914, the Germans occupied Brussels. Many soldiers were wounded and on the verge of death after the battle, but Cavell and a group of nurses secretly treated the soldiers and sneaked them out into the Netherlands. Like Cavell and the fictional Gardiner, many women who were not allowed at the front lines during the war opted for espionage and secretive tasks. These assignments created perilous situations for these women, who were deprived of rightful acknowledgment.
Historical events caused many women to act very ‘masculine’. Espionage aside, there were actually women in the war who assumed very gruesome assignments. A prime example of this would be Anneliese Weber (Die Jägerin), a Nazi murderess (an actual huntress), whose account is shared in ‘The Huntress’ by Kate Quinn. Anneliese has a unique story, as most of the time women were not allowed to engage in battle. Her story is, historically, shared with many others. After World War II, 53 Nazi war criminals secretly moved to the United States of America to flee war crime charges. These Nazis would marry into American families, hoping to cover criminal pasts. However, as relayed in the book, their lies would often catch up to them, and, eventually, justice would be served. ‘The Huntress’ is based on the real lives of Hermine Braunsteiner and Erna Petri. Braunsteiner was a Nazi camp guard at Ravensbrück and Majdanek. She served a sentence but afterward moved to Queens, New York, and became an American citizen. Almost half a century later, she was caught, and it was determined that she had been lying to her family the whole time. Petri’s story was different, but the events that she was involved with were just as cruel. Petri, the wife of a Nazi officer, one day found six Jewish kids who had escaped from a nearby camp. She invited them in for food and then proceeded to shoot and kill them all. Both of these examples prove that women were much more actively engaged in wartime activities than reported in history. Women did commit war crimes and displayed very strong and fierce qualities that are usually associated with the description of men in such conflict situations. At the turn of the 20th century, men dominated the world. Women were often kept at home to take care of the family; they were definitely not assigned to battles. However, the ones that were in battle often had large roles and were generally underestimated. In this respect, the Huntress was quite literally a huntress as she hunted down and killed anyone who was not German. Quinn’s novel gives the Huntress a fearless, masculine spotlight that most novels fail to assign to their female protagonists. Although playing the ‘villain’ in the novel, the Huntress makes a strong case for all females in the war. The Huntress proved that women could be just as fierce, ruthless, and brave as men. This is despite the fact that throughout this period, women were very marginalized. For example, the women who had returned from war were not allowed to receive benefits such as the G.I. Bill. On the other hand, women, like the Huntress, worked to break stereotypes, receive education, get real jobs, and finally become equal to men.
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In both of Quinn’s novels, there is an intriguing generational exchange between the protagonists that is designed in a post-war setting. This clever plot allows for an in-depth comparison of the generational differences between these women. In ‘The Alice Network’, Quinn introduces the reader to Charlie St. Clair. Charlie’s story is set in 1947, 32 years after Evelyn Gardiner’s story. Interestingly, they work together to get revenge on the same man, obviously for different reasons. Charlie is an American schoolgirl who travels to England to get an abortion. However, when she arrives in England, she starts to search for her long-lost cousin, Rose. This is the moment where her path crosses with Gardiner, and then they uncover the truth. As Charlie and Gardiner bond and share their stories, they become aware of the similarity in their respective experience. The most obvious was that they were both exploited by men and got pregnant out of wedlock. Gardiner decided to get an abortion, which was highly illegal in the early 1900s. She almost died in the process. Charlie St. Clair, on the other hand, decided to keep her child, even though she was not married. This particular example shows how women became more resilient and independent in a matter of several decades. Charlie made her own decision to keep her child, even though her social reputation would be ruined. At one point in her story, Charlie had a memory of Rose, her lost cousin, commenting on the equality gap between men and women. “But when people meet our brothers, they don’t just comment on their looks, they ask, ‘How do you do in school?’ or ‘Do you play football?’. No one ever does that with us” (Quinn, 87). This quote proves that even at such a young age, these girls realized how inferior they were to men in the eyes of society. Fortunately, instead of accepting this situation as a reality, women took it upon themselves to run their families when their husbands left for war. Women started to learn what society deemed ‘masculine”’, jobs, such as repairing a car or fixing a fence. These circumstances were extremely liberating for the women of the time and allowed them to take control over their self-identities. Similarly, in ‘The Huntress’, Quinn introduces Jordan McBride, who is in post-war Boston. Quinn focuses, like Charlie, on the issue of standards between men and women in Jordan’s story. Jordan is crafted to be a motivated and self-reliant young woman in the 1950s. However, she faces issues regarding her future. Engaged at a young age, she sees that her fiancé is getting an education, while she just works at her father’s shop. Interestingly, this is where Anneliese, the Nazi stepmother, although a very cruel person, shines a light on Jordan’s young mind. She tells Jordan not to listen to men and to focus on her own passions and dreams. This is a very significant moment in the novel as Quinn demonstrates the start of the movement of women in the 1950s and 1960s to unite. With these young women of the future, Quinn foreshadows the 1960s Women's Liberation Movement, which was one of the biggest protests for women's rights in history. Women, back then, fought for equality and against predetermined roles in society, which Quinn supports with the characterization of these strong young women.
In ‘The Huntress’, Quinn’s second protagonist is Nina Markova, a female fighter pilot who defies all odds to pursue her dream of serving in World War II. She comes from a poor family in Soviet Russia, where she can only imagine what it is like to have goals. She has negativity all around her, but one day that all changes. Nina is given an opportunity to become a fighter pilot, and without hesitation she takes it. Although a very motivated and focused woman, Nina is still limited by society’s boundaries. For example, when Nina meets her father after many months, he says: “It was easier letting you fill the stewpot when you were home – girls are supposed to look after their fathers” (Quinn, 92). The disappointment of Nina’s father in her chasing her dreams and achieving something with her life really depicts the struggle of women at the time. As Nina’s story goes on, however, Quinn builds her into a much more fierce character. Nina teams up with two males, Ian and Tony, to capture the Huntress. When they finally track down the actual Huntress, Nina takes control of the whole operation and captures the Huntress herself. She had to swim through a lake, which was her biggest fear: “And she dived into the arms of the lake” (Quinn, 502). Quinn made Nina Markova so powerful and determined and toughened her up throughout the story to demonstrate that in history women were just as fearless and courageous as men. Nina served as just one example for the small but fearless group of female soldiers.
Until recently, women had been quite marginalized. They had been stereotyped in ways that were unjust in terms of their roles, responsibilities, and abilities. For the longest time, they were underestimated, oppressed, and restricted. Kate Quinn’s novels ‘The Alice Network’ and ‘The Huntress’ explore how such labels have adversely affected women in history, specifically during World War I and World War II. Significant progress was made since the early 20th century in the area of women's rights, and Quinn’s novels explore the stories of female protagonists that characterize strong and high-achieving women who had a larger role than acknowledged and succeeded in transforming women from marginalized people in history to equal ranking members of society.
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