Literature Is Good: Kristen-Paige Madonia's "Free Weights"
Occasionally, a member of the Boulevard staff wishes to celebrate particular aspects of a piece we’ve published and share their reflections with our readers, in hopes of giving some insight into our editorial considerations when selecting new work. We are calling this feature “Literature Is Good.”
by Molly Harris, Associate Editor
Women are often trapped in literature. We, as readers, know this. The young woman from “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Mamacita, Rafaela, Minerva, and Sally from The House on Mango Street. Bertha Mason, Jane Eyre. In “Free Weights” by Kristen-Paige Madonia, the main characters, Beth and Ashton, are trapped as well. Their boyfriends leave them behind for the summer, and they find themselves often alone in Beth’s brother’s (who is also Ashton’s boyfriend) old room, counting down the days until their boys return. Most of the time in stories with captive women, the women go mad and lose their agency and autonomy; however, in “Free Weights,” Beth and Ashton use their captivity to their advantage. They vow to become stronger using free weights, and they do. Beth and Ashton’s bodies change by the end of the story—they become stronger and leaner, replacing baby fat with toned muscles.
One of the many delightful aspects of “Free Weights” is that Madonia isn’t afraid to get physical with her characters. The story starts with the two girls “punching the air,” doing “deadlifts,” and “squats,” and as the story continues, “[b]ruises bloom on their hip bones” and “their muscles grow longer and stronger and sorer.” So much of the story is dedicated to showcasing these women’s changing bodies, and not without purpose. Through their physical changes, readers see their psychological changes. Not only does their “calf muscles…tighten” and harden, so does how they approach and view the world, especially when it comes to men and their relationships with them.
Madonia is able to showcase the emotional with the physical with sex as well, especially with the character Beth. In one particularly strong scene, Beth’s mind wanders while having sex with her boyfriend, Jason. Instead of being mindful of the scene in front of her, she imagines driving. In her imagination, she becomes the one “controlling the speed of the engine.” In her fantasy, she’s the one in control, and throughout the narrative, she fights to regain her control of sex, of her physical body, and in her role as a woman in society.
The writing also feels lush, filled with cinematic descriptions. One scene in particular feels straight out of a 1990s coming-of-age film, but the themes within are still relevant today. A storm comes in on the Friday that the boys leave for the summer, and “the rain dru[ms] the driveways” as the boys “sprinted suitcases from their houses to the back beds of their trucks.” The scene fleshes out and becomes fuller with the next line: “The girls watched from front stoops and covered porches, their small town dripping and backdropped by lightening.” Madonia’s descriptions fully place the reader into this moment—we can hear the rain hitting the top of their trucks; we can smell the petrichor. This scene serves as more than just a descriptor, however. The lasting image shows the girls standing physically apart from the boys, ultimately leaving them behind. This serves as the catalyst for the story. From this moment on, neither the girls nor boys will be the same; however, Beth and Ashton grow stronger through this abandonment.
As editors, we see a lot of coming-of-age stories. We also get a fair share of trapped-women stories. “Free Weights,” however, is different. While both characters do not come out unscathed by the oppression and brutality of a patriarchal society, and Ashton does suffer the unconscionable, Beth and Ashton are able to claim some autonomy during their purgatory, able to find companionship, and at the very end, Beth valiantly tries to settle the score. “Free Weights” by Kristen-Paige Madonia transcends the typical initiation story effortlessly and leaves the reader with feelings of nostalgia, melancholy, heartbreak, and rage.