The short story, “A Woman on a Roof,” by Doris Lessing may seem to be about a few men who become annoyed with a woman because she suns herself out on her roof. The men feel that she is a distraction and are obviously bothered by her presence. They are not happy that this sunbather is out there on display and illustrate these feelings of discontent by constantly whistling and yelling at her. The men also make several rude and sexist comments to her throughout the story. In a time period such as the one this story takes place in, males were considered far superior to women, and comments such as the ones the men make would not be considered out of the ordinary. What is extremely surprising, and quite out of the ordinary, however, is the fact that this woman did not even seem bothered by their actions. When this is taken into consideration, it is revealed that the real source of the men’s anger toward the woman is not simply because she was sunning herself, but rather, was due to the fact that she showed indigence toward them in a time when women were expected to submit to men’s demands.
The men in this story obviously have strong feelings of superiority and power over the opposite sex, and expect that women will naturally give in to their demands. These feelings are illustrated as early as in the opening paragraph, when they see the woman for the first time. While working, “They made jokes about getting an egg from some woman in the flats under them, to poach it for dinner” (Lessing 856). Such a comment demonstrates the men’s beliefs about gender roles: that women will be home, not working, and eager to serve men. The comments continue; later on, when referring to the woman as …
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…woman And, while she may not have earned women the right to vote or gained women admission into institutes of higher education, she stood up for herself in a normal everyday situation, and that’s a start. She is a woman who was one of the exceptions in her era; she was not just a woman on a roof, but rather a hero of her generation.
Works Cited
Allen, Orphia Jane. “Doris Lessing.” Short Story Criticism, vol. 6. Ed. Thomas Votteler. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990.
Atack, Margaret. “Doris Lessing.” Short Story Criticism, vol. 6. Ed. Thomas Votteler. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990.
Lessing, Doris. “A Woman on a Roof.” The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Harper Collins, 1991. 856-862.
Works Consulted
Baron, Mary. “Doris Lessing.” Critical Survey of Short Fiction, vol. 4. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1993.
Essay on the Selfish Mrs. Mallard in Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour
Selfish Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour
Kate Chopin’s story, “The Story of an Hour,” may seem to be about Mrs. Mallard’s unexpected and ironic reactions to the news of her husband’s untimely death due to a railroad disaster. At least that’s what I thought when I read the story. It seemed to me that she led a normal life with a normal marriage. She had a stable home life with a kind, loving husband who cared for her. She seemed to love him, sometimes. She had some kind of “heart trouble” (Chopin 25) that didn’t really affect her physically, until the very end. I thought Mrs. Mallard would have been saddened and filled with grief for an adequate period of time after her spouse died, but her grief passed quickly, and she embraced a new life that she seemed to be content with. Therefore I believe there is good evidence that Mrs. Mallard was an ungrateful woman who did not appreciate her husband or his love for her. That evidence is found in her selfish behavior after the death of her husband, Brently Mallard.
Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to the sad news was natural, but her time spent to overcome her melancholy feelings passed too rapidly. All of a sudden she was eager to start her widowed life. Immediately after she heard the sad news of her husband’s death, “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (Chopin 25). This is acceptable and understandable to me because I feel that anyone who had just lost his/her spouse would want to be comforted by a close family member. The story then reads, “When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her” (Chopin 25). I found it to be odd that she would just get up and head straight for her room. The t…
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…ishness that got its just reward?
Work Cited
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
Works Consulted
Bender, Bert. “Kate Chopin.” Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1991. 20 vols.
Ewell, Barbara C. “Kate Chopin.” Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1991. 20 vols.
Magill, Frank N., ed. Critical Survey of Short Fiction. Revised ed. Vol. 2. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1993. 7 vols.
Seyersted, Per. “Kate Chopin.” Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Eds. James E. Person, Jr. and Dennis Poupard. Vol. 14. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1984. 60 vols.
Skaggs, Peggy. “Kate Chopin.” Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1991. 20 vols.