NASHA MERI

NASHA MERI

Comics as a medium has come to be known for sharing controversial material (Rifas 37-38). For Uncle’s Book to have included the perspective of a young Ukrainian woman’s life would have been provocative. The subject matter undoubtedly stirred public opinion. In Wedded to the Cause, Frances Swyripa cites numerous articles and letters published at the time, commenting on the lives of young female Ukrainian immigrants. From the following notes, it becomes apparent that young women were challenging old traditions, and their roles in their new home country were hotly debated.

From Український голос [Ukrainskiy holos/Ukrainian Voice] May 31 1916, as published by Swyripa (1993,64):

Just look at such a girl. She plants on her head a hat that an intelligent girl wouldn’t even touch. She wears gaudy clothes that are as wide as a haystack. She says that it’s the style - but it’s well known that no one is interested in fashion like ignorant and stupid women and girls. It’s the most important thing in the world to them, but they’re the ones who have the least understanding of real beauty.

What’s more, you see how such a girl puts on powder, by the shovelful. And it runs down her face, disgusting to look at.

Third, the gum. Wherever she goes – in the street, on the street-car, in church – she munches like a cow in the pasture.

Fourth, to top it off, the English language. Having learned a little English, she doesn’t even bother with her own language. Everything in English, especially how she twists her mouth and laughs. Already you have the complete Katie …

You don’t call such a girl anything else, for she’s no longer our intelligent, honourable, think girl – the daughter of her parents and the daughter of her people; likewise, she isn’t a proper English girl; she falls into the category of those who live in darkness … and consort only with … low and characterless people.

The 1920s and 30s were also a time of assimilation into North American culture. Maydanyk incorporated several stories that visibly marked the transition of men and women into a new Canadian lifestyle. For example, in Comic #3, Вуйко Спроваджує кобіту Явдоху [Uncle brings over his wife Yavdokha] (15-20), he drew attention to the Eastern European rite of passage, which dictated that married women should cover their heads with a kerchief. However, the comic sided with the North American women who favoured short bobbed hair or the donning of extravagant hats as worn by suffragettes. Although Maydanyk did not comment on it directly, he also mirrored the latest fashion trend that saw loose, shapeless garments replaced by fitted short dresses, as depicted by Yavdokha’s change in fashion sense in that same comic strip.

In contrast to Uncle Shtif, Maydanyk makes minimal reference to Nasha Meri in his interviews. Farkavec suggests that the strips were probably created to fill space and balance the layout on the pages (33). But, being the businessman he was, I also thought Maydanyk’s thoughts may have been on increasing sales to a female audience. Nasha Meri may have also been Maydanyk’s first attempt to contextualize Uncle Shtif’s world within a contemporary heterogeneous environment. Uncle Shtif didn’t live in isolation. Although the early 1920s was a male-dominated environment, women undoubtedly existed on the prairies, and many of them were single when they immigrated (Swyrypa 11).

Maydanyk never spoke precisely about how he came to name Meri. The closest reference comes directly from the first Nasha Meri comic strip at the bottom of page 3. The reader learns from the narrative box that the character’s name, “Meri Porridge,” was a variation of her original name, ‘Maria Perih.”[1] The comment directly references the many immigrants who came to Canada and anglicized their names to ease assimilation. At the time, there was a strong correlation between having an English name and an increased chance of being hired (Swyrypa 64). Maydanyk’s text and imagery show us that, upon arrival, Maria Perih changed her name and appearance to fit in with the dominant Canadian culture of the time.

Whether or not a specific person inspired the character is also unknown. But several women in Maydanyk’s life may have influenced him, including his wife Katherine, who, as his business partner and ‘domestic manager’, projected a degree of independence. Also, his daughters were born by 1930 and may have shaped his thoughts about the role of women in society. I believe, however, that the media, particularly newspapers and letters to the editors, likely influenced him the most. As an editor, publisher, and contributor to many periodicals, Maydanyk had continual access to the news. His many editorial cartoons also suggest that he read the papers and was aware of current events in Canada and abroad. So, in 1929, he would have known of the plight of the suffragettes. They were making headlines at the time, as was the Canadian ‘Persons Case’ championed by Nellie McClung of Winnipeg. It was a controversial constitutional ruling that established a women’s right to be appointed to the Senate. With the attention of the media, Maydanyk could not have avoided it.

In contrast to the uniform visualization of Uncle Shtif Tabachniuk, Nasha Meri’s appearance frequently changes throughout the comic book. Although her physical features remain consistent within each story, they vary significantly from one narrative to the next. For the most part, Maydanyk depicts Meri as a tall, slim woman, but her hair colour, length, and the styling of her clothes differ from one story to the next. In addition, the abode in which she resides changes; sometimes, she is living with her parents, other times, a main floor suite, and still other narratives are set in a basement suite. Whether this was intentional is not definitively known. Still, it is possible that the illustrative variety within the “Meri narratives” was purposely done by Maydanyk to indicate that “Meri” represented a type of woman - not necessarily the same woman. A contemporary example would be how the name “Karen” emerged in the media in 2020 to identify a specific character type[2].

Maydanyk’s frequent changes to Nasha Meri’s setting may have mirrored the nomadic early stages of immigrant resettlement. Young immigrants often drifted from one job to another and took up residence in various living quarters. Their choice of abode depended on employment situation and income; living in boarding houses or servants’ quarters was not uncommon (Swypripa 64-65).

Historian Frances Swirypa has noted that, from her perspective, two different female characters represented young women of Ukrainian heritage in the early 1900s. There was “Meri”, born in Ukraine, and her Canadian-born sister “Katie”. Together, the women were testing the freedoms and attractions of the new country. However, their lives represented the undesirable effects of uprooting and transplanting, and the tales by Maydanyk reflected how young Ukrainian women groped to reconcile the ways of two worlds (Swyrypa, 64). Maydanyk’s 1920s characters were immigrants exploring their new cultural and social conventions, including frequent changes in hairstyles and fashions. The women also challenged traditional social norms by defying expected family responsibilities and marital obligations in favour of independence and careers. In this light, an interpretation would be that the variations between the Meris represented different lifestyles of single women at that time.

[1] A reference to the popular Ukrainian food commonly called ‘perogies’ – and described by some as dough dumplings stuffed with cheese, cabbage, poppy seeds, prunes, or other delicacies.

[2] The name “Karen” is a pejorative slang term for an obnoxious, angry, entitled, and often racist middle-aged white woman who uses her privilege to get her way or police other people’s behaviours. The origin of the meme is hard to pin down. The term went viral on social media in 2020 with the sharing of confrontational events related to Covid-19.