Small Changes is a novel by Marge Piercy published in 1973. It was called visionary, powerful, and absorbing, and it was recognized as emerging from the new feminist consciousness.
Among the themes in Small Changes, Marge Piercy explores how women might lose their identity in marriage or other relationships. She evokes the desperation some women feel as they step into predetermined roles.
The Plot of Small Changes
Small Changes follow the paths of two women, Miriam and Beth, and other characters with whom they live, interact, and have relationships. The novel is divided into sections of “Beth,” “Miriam,” and “Both in Turn.”
Miriam, educated and political, gives up her doctorate-level career for “security.” However, her marriage may end up being a mistake that will hurt her in the end. Beth, the other heroine, longs for something more than her marriage. She plunges into a new and different world, where she discovers lesbian relationships and lives in a women’s commune.
The novel begins on Beth’s wedding day. The opening chapter, called “The Happiest Day of a Woman’s Life,” finds Beth looking into a mirror that can make her image disappear. Marge Piercy then describes a “bride” as “a dress wearing a girl.”
Openly Discussing Women’s Lives
Like other feminist novels of the early 1970s, Small Changes was a kind of consciousness-raising through literature. Marge Piercy wrote openly about women’s sex lives and emotions. When women discovered that they had shared experiences, they moved from thinking they just had personal problems to believing in the possibility of change. This was the idea behind consciousness-raising. It is reflected in the novel when the characters try new things, as well as in the real-life effect Small Changes had on female readers who struggled for liberation.
Small Changes and other feminist novels were sometimes called trashy or seen as scandalous because they talked frankly about sex. They also had great success on the bestseller list. Some feminists argued that any attempt to openly discussing women’s sex lives was dismissed or criticized by society, no matter how widely it resonated with women.
Pivotal Feminist Ideas
To later generations of readers, Small Changes may seem overly earnest. It may also be less than shocking, now that women’s sexuality is more often discussed openly. However, many of its themes and issues persist: questions of image and self-identity, satisfaction in marriage, selling the wedding/bridal fantasy, and choices regarding family.
Marge Piercy has spoken about her desire early in her writing career to write “political” novels, books that would depict women’s true experiences. She was influenced by Simone de Beauvoir's groundbreaking book The Second Sex.
Set against the backdrop of the feminist revolution, Small Changes contemplates the conflict between newfound freedom and the negative effects of the sexual revolution. The women in Marge Piercy’s book must come to terms with their ideals. In the end, the idea of political solidarity among women provides hope for eventual success in their struggles.