The Hatchet, part 2

This novel was a page-turner. Sadoveanu's skill shone through, especially in developing the main character and creating suspense. I took thorough notes on Vitoria Lipan, for she is an anomaly in Romanian literature, so far as I can find. In a culture where women are considered second-class citizens, Vitoria Lipan rises above those of her sex and shows the men just how revenge is done. She is intelligent, beautiful, witty, and sly.

The Hatchet is the story of a woman who subverts patriarchy, seeking to avenge her husband's death and--in the process--asserting her equality with any man. Her husband's death propels her into a new and strange world (32) but rather than withdrwaing timidly, Vitoria welcomes the challenge and sets to work. She discovers her own inner strength and resolves to wield her way amongst the male-dominated culture in order to set her husband's soul at peace. In doing so, she upsets many conventions and aggravates the men whom she challenges. Yet, as strong a woman as she is, Vitoria still needs someone to provide friendship and solidarity in the most trying moments of the adventure--uncovering the corpse and prosecuting the criminals.

I find it interesting that throughout two-thirds of the novel Vitoria Lipan works by herself (aided by her son) and does not indicate that she needs community. Yet toward the end, she inexplicably clings to one of the villagers, and the two plot together how to make guilty confess. I find it fascinating that this change in character occurs at such an important moment in the novel, and am quite certain I want to further explore it in my final paper.

I am looking to analyze the relational support Vitoria Lipan finds in Maria Vasiliu at the end of her quest to discover her husband's murderers, when she needed support the most. I would like to contrast this relationship with that of the other two women, Gafita and Ileana, and also examine Vitoria's stoicism at the beginning of the novel compared to her need for friendship at the end.