While reading In Dubious Battle a reader will rarely come across any mention of females. Only a few points during this read will a woman come into play. The first mention of a women was in the very beginning of the novel, Jim's landlady, Mrs. Meer. Her role was almost motherly towards Jim. She even offers him a place to stay if he were to ever come back.
Dakins wife truly shows how women were separated from men. Jim and Mac came to Dakin's home wanting to ask him if he would come and join the strike. Now, even though his wife probably would not have told anyone their plans of strike, she was still ask to go aside when a conversation went on between the men. She also takes the children with her, something a women was expected to do at this time. John Steinbeck describes her as, "…a fine, big-bosomed woman with a full face, with little red spots of rouge on her cheeks…" (61). He describe her mainly by her "womanly" features, in a way that he never describes any of the men in this book. It's almost as if she is just used as an image in the novel and not as a source information or relevance to the meaning of the plot.
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about the womans position in the story but now i realize how they were treated by reading your blog. I think they women took their position as the cook, cleaner, the child care provider.
Sheila S
Great points here. Yes, this book really shows how far we have come in our society as far as women's rights. The women in this book exemplify the era when women were given little consideration outside of the sphere of domesticity and/or as sexualized objects.
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