The Girls In Their Summer Dresses

757 Words4 Pages
In today’s male dominant society, women are often objectified through the eyes of their counterpart. In the short story “The Girls In Their Summer Dresses” by the late Irwin Shaw, we can see several instances where and how women are objectified. I will show four objectifications found in the story, namely, women as objects worth risking one’s life, women as piece of art and food on a picnic table, women as sexual objects. . As shown in Mr. Shaw’s short story, women are objectified as an object one is willing to risk his or her own well-being to enjoy. ”You’ll break your neck.” This quote seems to make an object out of the lady they are discussing in their conversation. The husband is looking around and has his eyes fixed on a lady who was passing by as they are crossing the street. This shows that Frances is jealous at her husband for looking at other female, and at the same time it also shows that her husband, Michael, is primarily focused his attention at the ladies around him. His blatant disregard of his own life when it comes to lady watching further demonstrates that he will do whatever it takes to look or enjoy the sight of other women. Hence according to the short story, the author conveys that women are being objectified as something a man can risk his own life just to get a look at her. “She’s not so pretty,” Frances said. “Anyway, not pretty enough to take a chance of breaking your neck.” This quote seems that Frances is trying to justify for her husband why he should not waste his time or risk his life for that woman. There is a hint of jealousy in her tone. However, it seems this is typical of how men are willing to do anything just to get a glimpse of what he thinks is beautiful. According to the short story, the second objectification occurred when Michael compares women to art paintings and picnic food. When Frances was asking her
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