Žemaitė' Žemaitė'

I cannot really say that I enjoyed this story, the reason being that it is very gloomy and depressing. Nevertheless, it is interesting and worth reading. It is a short tale about a young peasant woman called Zosė, who works as a maid on an estate. She is caught up in a web of miseries. At first she is deeply in love with Tofylis, the dazzling huntsman, but when he finally marries her, the marriage is a deeply unhappy one. In addition, Zosė is pursued by her employer and her mother blames her instead of supporting her.
The story is mainly told in inner monologues and dialogues, which makes it a bit constructed at times and hems the reading flow a bit. On the other hand, like this Zosė's pain and loss of hope is presented in a direct, unembellished style. She is caught within the constraints of her class and her gender, and the author makes this clear in an unmediated way.… (mehr)