Magical Realism and Feminism in “The Husband Stitch” and “Scenes From The Fall Fashion Catalogue”

“The Husband Stitch” by Carmen Maria Machado and “Scenes From The Fall Fashion Catalogue” by Judy Budnitz are short stories within the magical realist genre. They both invert traditional forms of storytelling to subvert the idea that realism in literature is achievable. Despite the misleading terminology, magical realism “is not [about] the creation of imaginary beings or worlds but the discovery of the mysterious relationship between man and his circumstances” (Luis Leal, Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature. Magical Realism. Ed. Zamora and Faris, p.119-123). These stories explore and attempt to deconstruct the dichotomy between real and not real. Machado and Budnitz successfully humanize their protagonists in spite of the character’s “irrational” actions. The self-reflexive nature of the stories further complicates the relationship between the real and the unreal by encouraging the reader to reflect on their experience reading a piece of work that acknowledges its own fictionality. This type of narration provides the authors and female protagonists with a sense of agency, as they are not confined by traditional literary conventions or storytelling rules. The dissolution of the real/unreal dichotomy creates a space that is not bound by the rules that supposedly dictate “reality.” This allows for the subsequent dissolution of other dichotomies, particularly the rational/irrational and the masculine/feminine. In addition to narrative style, the protagonists reclaim power through their sexuality. However, the agency that the female protagonists reclaim through narration and sexuality is circumscribed by patriarchal dominance. Even the spaces that seem to exist independently of men are under men’s jurisdiction. The genre of magical realism provides an alternative to this masculine dominated notion of reality by blending the “magical” and the “real.” When magical realism texts are read in conjunction with feminist literature, they show that the dissolution of dichotomies is not enough to escape the patriarchal bounds of society. Escape will require self-sacrifice, and reforming the current system is not adequate. Rather, a new structure altogether must be instituted. This paper will reference Valerie Henitiuk’s literary analysis of Night At the Circus entitled “Step into My Parlour: Magical Realism and the Creation of a Feminist Space” to articulate specific literary techniques used to foster the successful interplay between magical realism and feminist literature.

Machado and Budnitz both incorporate self-reflexive narration to critique the popular belief that there is a firm distinction between the real and the unreal. Within both stories, “...the emphasis is displaced from the magic to the act of narration itself, underscoring the incontrovertible, albeit occasionally ignored, fact that none of what takes place within the fictional world is in fact ‘natural,’ although certain elements may be realistically rendered” (Henitiuk 416). The authors’ narration style is in line with this quote; they admit their works are “unreal” rather than clinging onto the misnomer of realism. Machado’s unnamed narrator plays into this dichotomy in order to highlight its absurdity. While telling the reader a story she says, “of all the stories I know about mothers, this one is the most real” (Machado 13). There is nothing inherently more real about that particular story besides the fact that people feel as if they can relate to the main character, which does not make it any more or less real. Differing levels of “realness” are incorporated into both of the stories to further blur the distinction. In “Scenes From The Fall Fashion Catalogue,” the narrator recounts the traditional damsel in distress narrative. Afterwards the narrator states, “the funny thing is that almost no one knows the beginning of the story” (Budnitz 34). The conversational tone allows Budnitz to humanize the narrator, making the narrator seem more reliable while constantly reminding the reader that the narrator does not exist. If the narrator’s explanation of the story reveals the “real” story, then does that make the story we are familiar with “unreal?” This question is invoked but remains purposefully unanswered, leaving the reader to answer this for themselves. Prior to sharing various “fictional” stories, the narrator in “The Husband Stitch” states “everyone knows these stories-that is, everyone tells them-but no one believes them” (Machado 3). This develops a multi-dimensional depiction of storytelling, as there are the stories she tells us that no one believes and then the story we are being told about her. If no one believes the stories she tells, does that mean we inherently do not believe the story about her? The use of metafiction here encourages the reader to explore the relationship between storytelling and reality. 

The reader is both immersed in the “non-realness” of the fictional story, while reminded of their own reality outside of it. Thus, they are caught in the ambiguity between the real and not real. Arguably the power of stories alone can be enough to make them real.  Even though the narrators themselves are not “real” and tangible, the reader partakes in a purely individual experience as they are reading the story. In “The Husband Stitch,” the narrator tells a story about a girl who does not believe a “myth” about standing on a grave in the dark and being pulled under by a dead body. The girl tries to prove this myth is false by standing on a grave at night, and brings a knife to prove her presence. The next day she is lying dead on the ground.There was “something clutching at her clothes” and her friends saw the “blade pinning the sturdy wool of her skirt to the ground” (Machado 7). In this way, the fear of the story alone was enough to kill her. In the above story story, the fear of the “unreal” alone caused the girl’s very “real” death, further complicating this binary.

Works of “literary realism” are only considered successful if they relate to a large number of people. This suggests that there is something inherently “unreal” about a work that only connects to the experiences of one or a few. This is in line with popular scientific thought which suggests that real knowledge can be affirmed through a systematic, reproducible procedure. When something happens only once, it is treated as anecdotal and purely conjecture, as it has not been confirmed through the scientific process. Both realism literature and rationality as we understand it scorn purely individual experiences as somehow less real. Alternatively, magical realism spotlights individual experience, normally placing characters whose mere existence opposes the rational rules of the world in opposition to characters that represent the excessively rational. Even the creation of the genre “magical realism” points to the human desire to try to find order in worldly chaos: “...readers could assign [the author’s] fusion of fantasy and realism to an intelligible genre, and so feel more secure” (411). 

In “The Husband Stitch,” the narrator is carried out of the grocery store as a child by her mother for claiming she saw toes in the produce aisle. Her father replies by asking her a series of questions, such as “why would Mr Barns sell toes?” and “where would he get them?” (Machado 5). Machado’s use of magical realism allows her to criticize the father’s reliance on logic, as he is unwilling to believe anything that might undermine his sense of order. In this scene, her father symbolizes the oppressive patriarchy, silencing her because her perception of the world differs from his own. She says she “had seen them with [her] own eyes. But beneath the sunbeams of [her] father’s logic, [she] felt [her] doubt unfurling” (Machado 5). The visual imagery of light is associated with knowledge bestowed by her father, which causes her to adopt his doubt. The narrator internalizes his sense of rationality, and learns to discredit her own observations, which Machado uses to critique women’s internalized inferiority. The father’s actions mirror that of the reader’s, as “...neither [the reader] nor [her father] accept[s] without demur what should logically be impossible” (Henitiuk 413). Similarly, when the narrator’s son is young, he accepts her stories unquestioningly, but as he grows up he begins to ask questions that mirror those of her father. Her brother “cut[s] his hand with a pair of scissors” and thereafter refuses to accept one of her stories about “the sensation of fins splitting to feet being anything less than agonizing” (Machado 18). The son learns to accept the world only in the context of his own experiences and his own sense of rationality, which magical realism rejects. 

The authors present the unreal unquestionably and the real as shocking to further deconstruct the rational/irrational dichotomy. In “Scenes From The Fall Fashion Catalogue,” the narrator states that the blonde woman in the first story “stretches her neck in silent entreaty, but everyone knows brakes are useless at such a speed” (Budnitz 32). This quote plays with the concept of certainty, assuming the reader could not possibly believe the damsel was not hit by the train. This is contrasted with the subsequent description of the male “hero” who arrives “galloping twice as fast as the train” (35, 33). The detached tone is used to make the statement appear purely factual, while this description appears even less rational than the one prior. Additionally, after the hijackers enter the plane in “Travel Wear” from “Scenes From The Fall Fashion Catalogue,” the narrator’s “head is ringing. [She] [is] in denial. [She] [is] thinking, No, this can’t be happening...” (Budnitz 42). The truncated sentence generates a sense of urgency, revealing the narrator’s attempt to process the unfolding events that do not seem fantastic or irrational to the reader. The events which cofound her above are contrasted with her apathetic descriptions of taking off “...blobs of cellulite, breast implants like two clear disks of Jell-O. Scars, tattoos, an IUD” (Budnitz 44). Her shock in regards to the presence of the hijackers is juxtaposed with her indifference to stripping herself of cellulite and scars to invert our prior conceptions of the rational and absurd.

In addition to deconstructing the real/unreal and rational/irrational dichotomies, Machado and Budnitz use self-reflexive narration to challenge the masculine/feminine dichotomy. The patriarchal society is constructed in such a way that women are constantly concerned with pleasing men, both emotionally and physically. Machado and Budnitz use different forms of self-reflexive narration to prevent the reader from getting pleasure from watching female pain in the stories. Machado occasionally breaks from her tangential stories to give the reader commands, enabling them to share in the experience she’s describing. After she gives birth she tells the reader to “give a paring knife to the listener and ask them to cut the tender flap of skin between your index finger and thumb” (11). Her specific focus on the “tender flap” emphasizes the pain she wants the reader to experience. Later when she feels as if she betrays her son, she wants the reader to betray the person closest to them and “notice how they never look at you in exactly the same way for the rest of your days” (15). The emphasis on “the rest of your days” suggests that she does not want the reader to understand her pain temporarily, but to understand the daily emotional burden of living as a woman. Neither Machado nor her narrator wants the experience of reading to be passive; the narrator wants the reader to share in her pain and Machado wants the reader to question the truths they take as self-evident. 

Budnitz prevents the reader from assuming a voyeuristic perspective through both her sentence structure and graphic imagery. Budnitz elongates the sentence in “Circus Wear” prior to The Lady Who Hangs By Her Hair’s accident. Budnitz states “she twirls high above the floor; then swings to and fro, to and fro, toes pointed, with a dreamy, pendulous motion” (38) The repetition and broken up sentence structure mirrors the pendulous motion that is being described. Thus, the reader too is alarmed when The Lady Who Hangs By Her Hair falls to the ground. Additionally, the Fat Lady’s body is described as “all one large rippling mass, rubbery and inflated” (36). The vulgar diction and derogatory tone contribute to an uncomfortable mood, making it difficult for the reader to find pleasure in Budnitz’s descriptions of the circus. Additionally, when The Lady Who Hangs By Her Hair falls, “shreds of sawdust and elephant dung cling to her skin” (38). The inclusion of obscene bodily functions repulses the reader rather than captivates them. By preventing the reader from obtaining joy from the female characters’ pain, both Machado and Budnitz “weave together elements of the carnivalesque and fantastic with those of harsh material realism as vehicles for feminist aims” (Henitiuk 416).

The self-reflexive narration allows the narrator to obtain agency by breaking traditional conventions of storytelling. This mirrors the authors’ literary techniques which break from literary conventions. Both the “damsel in distress” narrative and the girl with the ribbon on her neck folktale are well-known stories. Budnitz and Machado attempt to rewrite these stories as a way to reclaim power over a masculine dominated narrative. The power that they demonstrate to “render someone else in language” “frustrates this hegemony of masculine/real over the feminine/magical throughout the novel” (Henitiuk 415).  In the beginning of “The Husband Stitch”, the female narrator states “this isn’t how things are done but this is how I am going to do them” (2). Her direct tone immediately contrasts to the perception of females as subservient, as she acknowledges and proceeds to reject the norm. The ambiguity in the quote leaves the nature of the specific “things” initially unknown. However, as the story progresses the narrator begins to reject one norm after another such as literary norms, storytelling norms, and gender norms. In this way, the rejection of one establishes an environment conducive to the dissolution of all norms. When the narrator breaks from the story to instruct the reader how to reproduce the sounds around her, she tells them to take a deep breath then release. She tells them to “do this again, and again” (5). The commanding tone allows her to both claim control over the narrative and attempt to gain control over the reader. Additionally, the narrator often interrupts the primary story through side notes and tangential shorter stories, interfering with the reader’s ability to enjoy the story. Towards the end of the story, the narrator states “there’s a classic, a real classic, that I haven't told you yet,” acknowledging her power to withhold information (20). 

In “Scenes From The Fall Fashion Catalogue,” the narrator tells the reader to “rewind the film,” presented earlier to dismantle the traditional masculine heroic-narrative (34). The third person narration gives her the ability to change perspectives between the initial telling and retelling. Initially, she focuses on both the woman and the man from an outsider’s perspective, concentrating on the moment the “damsel” is tied to the tracks. During the rewind, the narrator assumes a third person limited narration which follows the girl’s days before she is tied down. The narrator provides the reader with insight that is excluded from the traditional story, such as the damsel “scream[ing] at [the hero] to leave her alone” and the damsel’s desire to “rip his eyes out” which is misconstrued as an attempt to embrace him (36). In this way, the narrative technique allows her to give a voice to a previously silenced character and forces the reader to reconsider all the traditional masculine heroic-narratives that had been previously accepted. 

The protagonists also reclaim power through their sexuality. In “The Husband Stitch,” Machado graphically describes the protagonist’s sexual desires and inverts the typical associations between motherhood and powerlessness. The narrator states “ I pull and moan and ride out the crest of sensation slowly and evenly, biting my tongue all the while” (3). Machado explicitly describes female masturbation, a topic often avoided in literature. The thematic concern is reflected in the elongated sentence structure, as the repetitive use of “and” and suspended syntax forces the reader to read slowly, riding out the lingual sensation. After the protagonist loses her virginity to her husband, her “blood [is] slicking him down” (3). This inverts the traditional idea that when a girl loses her virginity to a man, he has “taken” it from her. The visual imagery suggests that she marks him with her blood, assuming a dominant position in the relationship. When the narrator becomes pregnant she is “marked by a new and ferocious want” (10). The erotic diction of ferocious implies an aggression and desire that cannot be tamed, both of which are diametrically opposed to the conventional associations of motherhood.

In “Travel Wear” from “Scenes From The Fall Fashion Catalogue,” the narrator utilizes her sexuality to deceive the hijacker. She lures him into her game, and then begins to “pluck out the deeper things” that scare him away. She is animalized in the quote, “I chase after him, scratching at his back with rough-bitten nails” (44). The visual imagery suggests a predator-prey relationship, and the narrator assumes the predatory role by relying on her sex appeal. In “Kitchen Wear,” the mother and aunt are described as “hunters,” who use their feminine weapons as tools to control men (40). The women know that men cannot resist their temptations, and thus, use their feminine wiles as a way to “trap” them (40).

The agency that the female protagonists reclaim through sexuality and self-reflexive narration is circumscribed by the patriarchy. After the narrator in “The Husband Stitch” reclaims power through her atypical characterization during pregnancy, she states “my husband has a list in his mind of things he desires from me, and I am willing to provide them more and more” (10). The more she reclaims her sexuality, the more she wants to provide for her husband. In a sex scene between the narrator and her husband, Machado juxtaposes the ideas of sexuality as power, and sexuality as subservience. The narrator says “I dig my nails…”, “I pull him through the trees…”, “I shimmy off my pantyhose, and then she “offer[s] herself up to him” (4). The use of active voice initially indicates that the narrator is controlling the action, reclaiming her sexuality. However, all of these actions culminate in her relinquishing command of her body to her husband. She feels sexually and emotionally gratified knowing her husband feels satisfied, centering the sexual experience around her husband’s desires. The fact that her pleasure is so dependent on her husband’s experience demonstrates the way the patriarchal system has shaped women’s understandings of their own desires.

Similarly, The Knife Thrower’s assistant in “Scenes From The Fall Fashion Catalogue” “thrusts out her belly-button bull’s eye” (38). The alliteration highlights the way her sexualization, illustrated by her bare belly-button, becomes the target for the male Knife Thrower. She is “applaud[ed] for her courage,” but this courage merely consists of her allowing a man to throw knives at her (37). This illustrates how her sense of power is derived from her subservience to a man. Additionally in “Travel Wear,” the narrator uses her sexuality to save herself and the other passengers from the hijacker, which could be seen as an act of empowerment. However Budnitz proceeds to dismantle this idea of empowerment, as the man sitting next to the narrator is given all the credit for defeating the hijacker, and her accomplishments go unrecognized. Lastly, while reading “Kitchen Wear” it is important to remember that the story is written in a supposed fashion catalogue, and each section constructs an image the company is hoping the audience buys into. The women are described as “hunters” to convince the female buyers that buying an apron will empower them. However, the actions of the “father pat[ting] his stomach” and the “man on the dance floor “pat[ting] your aunt’s hips,” suggest that the term “hunters” is misrepresentative, as it is ultimately the men who benefit from the women’s “trap.” Women owning their sexuality gives them a false sense of agency within the patriarchal realm.

The narration in both stories is limited both through their content and form. The reader knows the ending of the damsel in distress story and the girl with the ribbon on her neck folktale. Machado and Budnitz create magical temporal spaces where the female protagonists are not constrained by “linear time” or “reality” as it is understood. They successfully rewrite the beginning of the stories, giving a voice to the previously silenced female. While this might help change the reader’s perspective of the story, the ending is and always will be the same. 

Additionally, Machado and Budnitz use different means to construct a frame around each of their stories, creating an illusion of entrapment. Budnitz traps the woman in her stories within the structure of a fashion catalogue, as they are confined to the physical pages. In “The Husband Stitch,” the content in the beginning and end mirrors each other. Budnitz describes a moment between the narrator and her husband in the beginning of the story which is then altered slightly and told as a fictitious story towards the end. Her use of mirroring establishes a feeling of confinement. It is not until we read the “fictitious” story that we begin to question the veracity of the original, despite knowing that neither are true. In this way, Machado both traps us in the narrative and encourages us to look outside of it to understand what is trapping us. 

Machado establishes an entirely female space where the feminine/masculine dichotomy seems to successfully dissolve and women can reclaim control over their bodies outside of the male gaze. Machado makes the connection between the women in the art class tangible, as they are all wearing ribbons. As the reader learns at the end, the ribbon is necessary to tie two parts of a woman’s body together, making her incredibly vulnerable. Accordingly, magical realism is a medium that can make a women’s vulnerability in society palpable. Machado describes her amazement regarding how much there is to see “on a strange woman’s naked form” (15). The word strange shows the disconnect between women and the female body. Historically women were not allowed to express desires of their own, as the goal of the female body was to satisfy men and have children. Here, Machado argues that women’s femininity can only be reclaimed in their own space where they have the power to depict the female body in their own mediums. The creation of artwork is similar to the art of storytelling, in that women have the power to textualize their perceptions. In this space, women are not confined to the traditional feminine ideal. One women has “a trail of dark hair [that] runs from her belly button to her mons,” which the narrator finds both alluring and attractive (15) Henitiuk explains how a “fictional space, which is simultaneously realistic and unrealistic allows a web of new, previously unimagined, and subversive possibilities to be spin and subsequently explored” (418). The power within the space reveals a world of possibilities that do not translate out of the private sphere. The narrator uses her pencil to “trace [the female model’s] contours” (15). Using her pencil, she explores her sexual attraction to this woman which challenges the masculine/feminine dichotomy. The narrator “is not even certain how such a thing would happen, but the possibilities incense [her] to near madness” (15). This quote highlights the disconnect between a woman’s possibilities within a feminine space and the opportunities available to them outside of one.

Even the feminine space is tainted by overarching male authority. The narrator explains that “the male nudes are kept from our eyes in some deference to propriety...” (15). This quote suggests that access to male nudes would deprive women of their necessary purity, despite being adults with families and children of their own. In this situation, the male authority figures have decided that while it would be improper for women to see male nudes, it is acceptable for them to depict each other naked. The irony of these arbitrary double standards is highlighted in the magical realist setting, where dichotomies are abolished and norms are inverted. Additionally, the narrator develops a physical and emotional attraction to another woman in her class. When she confesses this to her husband and describes the woman’s ribbon, her husband feels invited to share his own sexual fantasy. This highlights the way a woman’s feelings of vulnerability are sexualized by men as a way to make them feel physically dominant. This ruins her ability to find solace in the feminine space, which reveals the extent to which the patriarchy infiltrates all seemingly safe spaces for women.

Ultimately, in “The Husband Stitch,”  “Prairie Dresses” and “Travel Wear,”  the female protagonists willingly sacrifice themselves. The use of magical realism allows Machado to explore the way patriarchal society literally wounds women. Unlike literary realism, this idea is not metaphorical or symbolic, but rather, tangible. She first does this by exploring the relationship between sacrifice and motherhood. The narrator tells a story about a girl who is raised by wolves and adopts animal behavior, “baring her teeth and howling” (9). The initial tone of liberation shifts, as she suckles two of her wolf cub children who “certainly bloodied her breasts, but she did not mind because they were hers and only hers” (9). Not only does this highlight the relationship between sacrifice and motherhood, but it shows the lengths women must go to own something of their own. Although the story of the wolf-cubs does not seem “rational,” women do physically sacrifice their bodies during pregnancy. Machado uses magical realism to encourage the reader to dive deeper into issues that are normally explored through metaphor and simile. Machado does not develop figurative comparisons but rather examines instances of literal sacrifice: “The interpenetration of the magic and the real is no longer metaphorical but literal; the landscape is no longer passive but active-invading, trapping dragging away, etc” (423). 

Additionally, the narrator shares the story of a woman who cooks for her husband and then eats the food herself. Her fear of his wrath causes her to “[steal] [a] liver from [a] corpse” in the church next door (17). At the end of the story she “looked down at her abdomen, remembering now, how she carved into her own belly” (17). The juxtaposition of her blood on the mattress next to “her husband slumber[ing] on,” reveals the extent to which she sacrifices to ensure her husband’s contentment. It also highlights the way a woman’s preoccupation with her partner’s happiness causes a disconnect between her internal and external self. 

At the end of the story when the husband unties the narrator’s ribbon, which causes her death, the narrator does nothing to prevent him from untying it. Her passivity contrasts to her husband’s inability to control his compulsion. Throughout the story he continuously nags his wife about her ribbon, the one part of her she makes clear is off limits to him. In this final scene, she knows that untying the ribbon will kill her but tells her husband to “do what [he] want[s] (21). She does not fight for her life and prevent him from untying it, but leaves the final decision to him. It is not until it is too late that he realizes he kills her and only has himself to blame. In this way, her ultimate power is not just self-sacrifice, but by making the cause of her death irrefutably her husband’s inability to resist his compulsion to access all of her. 

The narrator says “I love you” to her husband, as he pulls her ribbon and her head rolls off her neck (121). Even as he murders her, she wants to leave him with her love. As her severed head lays on the ground, she  “feel[s] as lonely as [she] [has] ever been” (22). She gives everything she has to her husband and even that is not enough to rid her of her loneliness. Through this, Machado suggests that women who spend their lives isolated from themselves in an attempt to fulfill the role of committed wife and mother will never feel fulfilled. The patriarchal system is constructed to ensure women look to men for validation and will go to great lengths to get it. This will not lead to true intimacy and leave a woman feeling empty, isolated from both herself and her partner.

Budnitz takes this argument one step further, demonstrating that even self-sacrifice is not enough to escape the patriarchy. In “Prairie Dresses,” the damsel runs from town to town, unable to escape “men who proposition her” and women who “tell her to pinch her cheeks rosier” (35). This shows how it is not men she is running from specifically, but the effects of the patriarchal system, which is often perpetuated by women. Her one act of agency is in her ability to commit suicide and even that is taken from her by the “hero.” Not only does she lose her ability to choose death, but she loses her right to a voice, as she is permanently textualized as the lucky damsel saved by the brave hero. 

In “Travel Wear,” the narrator willingly sacrifices herself to the hijacker in an attempt to save the young Girl Scouts from death. Even though her sacrifice saves the passengers, it by no means dismantles the patriarchal system. Once she defeats the hijacker, her body reverts back to a sexualized object, as “[her] blouse pops open and men are staring at [her] breasts” (45). Immediately after, Budnitz declares that “framed in the window is a sunset, with the words The End sketched across the sky” (46). This ending mirrors a traditional movie, which often follows a vulnerable woman and a conventional male hero, a narrative the protagonist cannot seem to escape. This also highlights the self-referential nature of the work, reminding the reader that this is a story by comparing it to a movie. Immediately afterwards, the Girl Scouts parachute out of the plane, “sailing free and brave in the wide open sky” (45). This quote, in conjunction with the one before it, suggests that there is no escape from the patriarchal system that exists, except through death. The jump out of the plane symbolizes the girls’ rejection of the patriarchal space, as they leap into an entirely new environment. It is not enough to change the system from within, but an entirely new social structure must be established. Budnitz ends the story on a hopeful note, arguing in the possibility that a new system will be created absent of the dichotomies that entrap women.

By rejecting storytelling and literary conventions, Budnitz and Machado attempt to deconstruct arbitrary dichotomies that give the illusion that life must be rational. They encourage the reader to embrace the unexplained, rather than trying to align the world with their preconceived ideas. Budnitz and Machado criticize patriarchal systems but neither offers a solution nor an alternative. This would undermine their argument for abandoning dichotomies and the belief in “universal” truths. They want the reader to determine their own truths free from arbitrary mainstream narratives developed by the patriarchy. Machado argues that “being a woman is inherently uncanny,” a mystery that challenges the roles prescribed by society (Kuhn). Magical realism allows the author to rewrite the women’s roles, and in doing so, reclaim the narrative.