This story is published in the era, which is considered male dominated. Men think that they are superior to woman in the sense that the women stay in the kitchen and are only there for the men to “escape the charge of sneaking” (Fetterley 287). The attitudes of the Sheriff and the County Attorney are so locked into their preconceptions of women, which they fail to recognize Minnie Foster has murdered her husband. When they first enter the house, the county attorney makes a joke about the kitchen not having anything of magnitude. He seems to talk down to the women during the entire story.
For instance, while the county attorney and sheriff are making their observations of the home, they do not take into consideration the awful state of the house as a possible clue of the everyday struggles in Mrs. Wright’s life. Instead, they blame Mrs. Wright right away for "not being a good housekeeper". Also, the men laugh at the women's assumptions in a way that seems pretty rude. This is also because, to the women, this is a normal form of treatment: they are simply to be seen and not heard; they are pretty much invisible. There is definitely a tendency to mock the remarks made by the females of the play just because they are women.
Hugh leaves his house without anyone knowing, so Jean tries to find him by calling the hospital first because that’s the only place she would expect him to be. She then finds Hugh at a restaurant awaiting her arrival, as a surprise. She accepts this because she knows that her husband does not love her anymore, so she wants to look elsewhere. The outcome of this story is both positive and negative. The good side being that Jean has found someone who actually loves her, but it is negative because Jean and Hugh do not know how to live independently or provide for
Peters and Mrs. Hale find the birdcage hidden in the kitchen cabinets, it is a form of symbolism to the confinement Minne was experiencing in her own home. Mrs. Hale also makes a point to the men that she doesn’t communicate with her neighbor as much as she would have liked because the house “never seemed a cheerful place.” The lack of communication to those outside of her house may have lead Minnie to her decision to murder her husband. The broken hinge on the birdcage and the dead bird leads the reader to believe that Mr. Wright was an abusive husband. The bird symbolizes the true essence of Minne’s spirit and happiness. Just like Mr. Wright killed the bird, he also “killed” his wife’s singing spirit.
Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale decide to hide the evidence and the men are unable to find any evidence from the murder. Before the first dialogue the entrance of each character demonstrates and highlights the superior and firm outlooks of the men. The women are given weak physical and emotional features “the two women—the Sheriff's Wife first; she is a slight wiry woman, a thin nervous face. Mrs. Hale is larger and would ordinarily be called more comfortable looking, but she is disturbed now and looks fearfully about as she enters.” The men unlike the women are buddle up and go straight to the stove with no nervous feelings except keeping warm near the oven. The men cause the women to defend not only Mrs. Wright by their comments “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” but they also defend themselves and how they are observed.
Women faced economic social and freedom of rights barricades. Men's interests and efforts were towards the important people; themselves. We see this when the narrator is genuinely concerned about something strange in the house. John shows no empathy or support towards his own wife. Alternatively john responds by telling her it "was a draught, and shut the window" (Gilman 34).
Their social class is also revealed when they are talking about Eva Smith. Mrs Birling calls her “girls of that class.” And Mr Birling sees her as just “one of my employees” not important and worth worrying about, which conveys that they think they are too good for people like her and that is her own fault for the things that happened to her. Both characters try to use their social status to influence or threaten the Inspector. Mr Birling tries to impress how important he is and intimidates the Inspector by saying “I was an alderman for years,” and that he knows the Brumley police officers well. He also becomes threatening when he says that he knows the Chief Constable “I ought to warn you that he’s an old friend of mine.” The word warn evidently indicates that he is trying to threaten the Inspector.
The difference between the genders of the two is obvious, but the roles they play in both stories are huge. The female narrator in “Boys and Girls” is criticised for the way she’d rather stay outside and fetch water the foxes, or secretly watch the horses get shot. She is expected to work in the house canning fruits, cleaning and cooking with her mother, though this does not appeal to her at all. She is not treated as an equal as “she’s only a girl”, she is viewed as a disposable next to her brother, Laird, who would eventually become her replacement. The already fragile relationship she shares with her father is solely based around the interest she shows in his line of work, losing the work means losing what little relationship they
She could have been named Mary or any other name. The mere fact the author did not give her a name shows alienation in a sense that she is different and separated from the other characters in the book. Numerous activities on the ranch also point that indeed Curley’s wife is alienated from her society, firstly, the men on the ranch seem to dislike her as every time after she has spoken to them, they say negative or rather immoral things about her, for instance Whit called her a “looloo” after she came to the bunk looking for her husband and Candy confessed that she is pretty but “she got the eyes”. This led to George instructing Lennie to stay away from her because he does not him to be in trouble, this idea shows that the men on the ranch really disliked her and thus she was alienated from her society. Secondly, alienation is also portrayed by her position as the lone woman on the ranch, this means that she has no one to share her feelings with, to talk to and get to joke around with, she does not have a female friend which explains why half the time she flirts with the ranch workers.
When Mrs. Mooney is observing Polly’s interactions with young men, she becomes frustrated that “none of [the men] meant business” and considers sending Polly back to her previous job (63). Mrs. Mooney is highly focused on her own aspirations, and therefore compromises her sense of empathy. Mrs. Mooney is a heavy influence on Polly’s actions. Mrs. Mooney acts as if she is unaware of Polly’s affair with Bob Doran; however, Mrs. Mooney and Polly share an unspoken understanding. Mrs. Mooney is the ringleader of Polly’s indecency, and manages Polly under implicit control.