Popular Culture Review Vol. 5, No. 1, February 1994 | Page 145
The Women of Norman Lear
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meals. Her rewards for these accomplishments were usually
complaints and insults.
Edith's secondary status was a frequent topic of conversation on
the show. In one episode, when Archie suffered a back injury, he
complained that he had been reduced to using Edith's chair. In
another, when Edith told Archie that she was having a private
conversation on the phone, Archie's response was as follows:
"Private? This is my house, my living room, and that's my phone. I
am in on all the privates in this house." Moreover, when trying to
prove a point to Archie, Edith often followed immediately behind
him with a shuffle and a high-pitched voice reminiscent of a child
seeking approval and acceptance from an adult.
Despite her second-rate status in the Bunker household, Edith
represented a woman of virtue whose goodness and selflessness guided
the entire family. She was the perfect contrast to her husband. She
was open and accepting of others when Archie practiced bigotry; she
was honest when Archie was crooked; she was less moralistic when
Archie was judgmental. Often, she served as the foil for Archie's
shady deals and questionable schemes. Edith's virtue was her own
reward. She took things at face value and was often protected from
personal hurt by her own naivete and the optimistic outlook that
human beings were basically good (Meehan 48).
As "All in the Family" develop ed, so did the character of Edith
Bunker. Edith gradually began to assert herself and forge a life
separate from the one that she shared with Archie. Edith slowly
discovered that she could always count on someone—that someone
being herself. In 1974, Jean Stapleton, the actress who played Edith,
conunented on her character's gradual blossoming:
I couldn't be more thrilled with the effects of women's
lib—all that consciousness-raising. But we can't hide
the kind of woman who is restricted by her domestic
life. She exists. And I think that by showing Edith
as she really is, we are doing more good than an
in stant ou t-of-character liberation ist would
accomplish. There's a slow development going on
with Edith and that's the way it's really going to
happen in this country. (McCrohan 217)