A Feminist Perspective of Fern Leaves from Fanny's PortfolioJudith Fetterly describes Fanny Fern's fiction as fundamentally conservative due to the apparent resignation to institution of marriage. She says Parton's work is safe and poses only small challenges to the patriarchal institutions of her time. I don't see that in my reading of "Fern Leaves from Fanny's Portfolio." I hear the voice of a woman who recognizes the problems of patriarchy and who does not hesitate to reveal them. I found his writing bold and even angry in places. Rather than Fetterly's interpretation, I identify more with Hawthorne's assessment that Parton "writes as if the Devil were in her" (244). I think her anonymity as Fanny Fern allowed her greater freedom to criticize society. Her status as a widow freed her from many Victorian constraints, as she enjoyed the benefits of independence but the permission to be conscious of her sexuality and gender relations. Furthermore, she had the excuse that her work was fiction and therefore “safe.” This set of circumstances allowed her to use the Devil within her to describe and decry the Devil around her, namely patriarchal society. Behind the veil of fiction and her pseudonym, Sara Willis Parton critiques traditional gender roles by showing the folly of men, the wisdom of women and the flawed nature of patriarchy. The madness of men is a persistent feature of the short stories in the collection. Men are portrayed as condescending and oblivious at best, tyrannical and unfaithful at worst. The husbands and lovers in these stories behave so badly that they elicit a defensive reaction from me as a male reader. I really want to relegate their behavior to the middle of paper...forever", "true love sails" or something my mother would have written in her high school yearbook. Instead, I found a crude, albeit comical, depiction of the patriarchy Even today my mother blushed like in the photo and apologized to the groomsmen saying “we were young it was the 70s.” The stories I have chosen to discuss are not conservative creations designed to appeal to male editors and readers. These are poignant descriptions of women's suffering. Their fictional nature makes them acceptable, but their generality makes them applicable. Parton uses her art to create popularly acceptable critiques of sexual injustice. I believe this struggle gives a mimetic quality to his work. Because of the generality of his characters and the continued oppression of patriarchal society, his stories are as relevant today as they were then. writing.