No, Thank you, John by Christina Rossetti

In ‘No, Thank you, John’ by Christina Rossetti the prominent patriarchal society in 1862 is being continuously challenged. Rossetti creates a persona that refuses to conform to stereotypical relationships where the man has controls the woman. The persona belittles ‘John’ to diminish the power he has “use your common sense”. This phrase has been used to show his stupidity, its made clear he really hasn’t thought this through. It could also imply his arrogance by suggesting he thinks he can have whatever he wants simply because he’s male. The typical male – female roles have been switched.

This has also been inferred by the repetition of words such as ‘day’. “Day by day” implies how exhausted the person is by his pointless persistence. The repetition also indicates boredom because when you do something too many times, “day by day” for example, you grow extremely bored of everyday just being the same.  It mocks ‘John’ as well showing his unimaginative, repetitive and desperation to eventually get the persona Rossetti has created. The repetition also creates a rhythm and helps the poem flow; it also could show how the persona is writing down their thoughts in the moment.

Rossetti contradicts society by mocking men, which would’ve been unheard of during the 1800’s due to the power and control men held over women. By challenging this Rossetti is going against the traditional behaviour and altering the way relationships between men and women are viewed.

I think Rossetti also uses the persona and ‘John’ to show the loveless or business-like relationships that were particularly prominent in the Victorian era. Its clear that the persona has never expressed a love for John “ I never said I loved you John” but he felt that even if he proposed she would accept without considering the way she feels. This is a typical mindset of a man within a patriarchal society – his feelings are the only ones that are relevant or important.  This is probably the most negative element to a society like this because men believe they are the ones that matter and it’s the woman’s job to take care of him regardless of her personal feeling towards this. It would seem John needed a wife and Rossetti’s persona fitted, whether she thought so or not. This again highlights the arrogance and ignorance of men within a patriarchal society.

Male ignorance is again heeded with the use of caesura.  There is lots of caesura with long pauses “I have no heart?  - Perhaps I have not”. Having a question in the middle of a sentence causes a strong pause and breaks the steady rhythm, this creates a moment where its clear to the reader that the persona is in amazement or disbelief as to what’s been said due to his astounding naivety. The pause also causes the reader to contemplate it too, giving a further understanding to the persona and poem in general.

Rossetti has used the persona to take the stereotypical role of the male in this relationship “strike” implies an unusual assertion and accession for a female towards a male. The persona is taking control, which is not common in the 1800’s. It could also suggest her forcing him into a friendship rather than marriage.