The Objectification of Women in “on the Road” a Feminist Criticism

There is a fine distinction in the fabric of DNA that separates men and women- one has the opportunity to give life and one does not. Although beneath skin and flesh is the foundation of a body, the bones. What every human being also shares with each other is the ability to cast emotions. However throughout history, men have been brought up to be seen as if they have little to no feelings at all and women are to be too emotional. Everyone has the potential to feel pain at some point in their lives. Objectification is the central concept dear to feminist thinkers. Many think that objectification is something that remains in history, but it continues to be a problem in modern society. F. Scott Fitzgerald applies this to the characters in his book: The Great Gatsby. The underlying theme of the podcast: Relationship Radio dealt with the objectification of human beings. Aidan Buckner, Olivia Lujan, and Penelope Tucker’s three podcasts: You Can Buy Me Love, Daisy, Money and Usage, and Puppy Love tie the notion of objectification through the relationships: Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, George and Myrtle Wilson, and Tom and Myrtle Wilson through the book The Great Gatsby.

Women are primarily objects of sexual pleasure for the male protagonists. Their characters are always filtered through the men's perspective, with the exception of the maid Bertha, Charlie’s maid, who at times makes fun at either of the brothers. (Perspectives on How Women Internalize the Ideal Beauty Standard, Year Unknown).

It can be argued that men notice girl’s bodies before anything else, however, it becomes creepy when that is all the man focuses on, such as in the case of Sammy and the others in the store. These facts beg the question, are girls really just pieces of meat to be devoured, objects to be observed, or pieces of art to be cherished? On the other hand, these girls did not help themselves much by walking into the store in nothing but their bathing suits. In fact, as Robert Pultier stated, “They are young, but they are also sexual beings, proud, in that often confused way that teenagers are, of their sensuality. They are aware of Sammy watching them and are half self-conscious and half exhilarated by his attention”. These girls seem to be embracing their new role in a man’s mind.

In the socially stagnant post-war United States of the early 1950's, Mary Maloney is content with the routine she has established for herself as a homemaker. She spends each day anticipating the return of her husband, police officer Patrick Maloney. In this waiting period, she tidies up his house, prepares his food, and periodically glances at the clock until he arrives. For Mary Maloney, her husband's return is "always the most blissful time of day" (Dahl 24). Patrick's presence completes Mary, in that she is dependant on him both economically and emotionally.

In the story “Love in L.A.,” throughout the entire story the reader is able to understand and identify gender roles, associations and stereotyped characterization throughout the conversation between the characters, the thoughts of characters, and how Dagoberto Gilb wants us to put our own ideas of the male and female stereotypes. Gender roles are first shown when Jake, one of the main characters, is giving a brilliant sketch of a car he’d rather be driving and have freedom than actually working and living a steady good life. From the description of the car we can see that he is interested in features that would attract and impress any woman, and these same features are not particularly well-matched to him, “the fact was that he’d probably have to change his whole style” (275). Jake

Gender roles have been, and unfortunately still are, evident in our everyday lives for quite sometime. Women are often portrayed as sexual objects, or delicate individuals; a body with no brain or strength. These traits are easily found within many novels and movies- old and new. In Alfred Hitchcock’s films, Rear Window and Strangers on a Train, Hitchcock begins his films representing women with the same characteristics as stated above. They are very stylish, attractive and presented as second-class individuals to males. But after examining these two films, Hitchcock does something that many directors in his time would not have dared to do. By making the women the heroine and arguably the protagonist of the storyline, Hitchcock proves to

The commandment, “women must submit to the dominance of man,” (Roland de Vaux) counseled many societies, western and abroad. The precedence of a submissive woman has dated back to the most basic societies, however with the evolution of cultures and communities, the idea of male dominance was undoubtedly amended; this is where humanity divides uncovering the struggle between the oppression of women and the precedence that has been set forth for centuries. Khaled Hosseini and Nathaniel Hawthorne both comment on this societal disconnect in their domestic narrations of female characters. In Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns the character Mariam depicts a women who endures rape, abuse, and imprisonment in her own home under the hand of her husband. Similarly Hester in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is prosecuted by the male leaders of the puritan society as she is forced into solitude for the sinful act of adultery. Together these seemly different bodies of work challenge and confront society’s censure of women as shown by the revelation of unrealistic social standards of women through distinct religious historical settings, the development of characterization, and the narrative point of view of both novels.

Anderson’s assessment stems from the fact that men found obedience to be a desirable female quality during the eighteenth century. Moreover, according to feminists, society during that time was designed for the pleasure and benefit of men alone. While Feminist criticism works well with Charlotte Temple, it is evident that another concept also deserves attention. Although the majority of novel seems to focus on women, chapters two through five connect almost exclusively to economics. The significance of economics and social class in these opening chapters implies that Charlotte is not only victimized due to her gender, but also due to her class. During the first few chapters, the importance of money and gender are revealed. Mr. Lewis exploits and then proceeds to blackmails Mr. Eldridge for money, thus sending him into financial tragedy. This short background story sets up the theme of class struggle for the novel.

For example, in Paper 1, I discussed how the police were used to illustrate the detective. It seems that The Long Goodbye presents a story about “love and loss,” but in fact, what Chandler tries to depict is the friendships between Detective Marlowe and the mysterious Terry Lennox. In other words, the story is not about love, but about masculinity. For example, Plain points out that even Roger Wade shows his masculinity by “drinking himself into an easily killable stupor” after he feels disappointed and is “refusing to complete a debased cultural product” (p. 81). The main theme of masculinity thus forms the female characters in the novel. The female characters could also be regarded as significant elements for building the traits of the detective and/or the novel, and to differentiate the masculinity that Chandler wishes to illustrate in the

To do so, Levy turns to the experiences of several young women whom she interviews. From her interpretations of these experiences, Levy reaches the conclusion that these women’s sexual nature revolves around their need

Sexual objectification is the act of treating a person as an instrument of sexual pleasure. Miller elucidates this by using milieu of the time period. This sexual objectification of women is mainly used by Willy with his mistress and also with the philandering Happy when he talks about women. This ideology that women are only good for the pleasure of men something that has been prevalent for centuries, stemming from the stereotype that women are objects and/or possessions for a man to exploit. Willy shows no respect to either his wife or his mistress. On his way back to Brooklyn, Willy tells his mistress to “keep [her] pores open” (1.39). This degrading statement gives insight on how Willy views women. He does not view women as people who have identities of their own, but objects that he can use for his own pleasure. Not only does this statement give insight on Willy’s views on women, but also how the mistress views herself. Her response to this statement was “Oh, Willy (1.39)”, and starts to burst out laughing. This depicts how in this time men treated women with no respect, and there were no repercussions. Linda never stood up to Willy in Brooklyn, and neither did his mistress in New England. Willy’s insolence towards women definitely rubbed off onto Happy. Happy, a philanderer, had an “If I want it, then I will get it” attitude towards women. This attitude is demonstrated when he states that, “...I don’t want the girl, and still I take it and- I love it” (1.25). This statement is the epitome of sexual objectification towards women. Happy doesn’t view women as people, but instead just as things that he can “take”.

Sexual experimentation is another theme that foreshadows part of the 1960s counterculture. Free love and multiple sexual partners was a large part of the Hippie culture and these practices have had a big impact on today's culture as well. The conservative idea of one person for everyone and repressed sexual urges were thrown out the window by the young men and women of the Hippie culture. This novel is an account of the beginning of these practices, showing Dean with multiple partners like Marylou and Camille. Sal also expresses his desire to meet and sleep with several women throughout the novel.

       The women in Jack Kerouac's On The Road were, it seems, not afforded the same depth in character which the author gave the men. The treatment of the women characters in both word and action by Sal and Dean seems to show that women could only be a virgin/mother figure or a whore. Throughout the novel there are many instances in which women and their feelings or actions are either referred to flippantly or blatantly degraded. It can be said, however, that Sal (Kerouac) did not necessarily agree with this narrow female identity, and there is evidence to support this claim. The novel also shows though that Sal did participate in this male forced female stereotyping whether he

behavior and a cry for the recognition of women's rights ( ). Instead its theme

Lastly, “femininity” refers to behavioural activities or interests that are assigned to the female sex, such as cleaning and cooking (Beauvoir, 617). Although many critics have read her text and become confused due to her stylistic choice to fuse her voice with the voices of famous men, it can be said that the text ultimately leads the reader to begin to question what society sees as a woman (Zerilli, 1-2). Despite Beauvoir’s The Second Sex appearing to recognize the oppression of women throughout the world without giving an actual solution, I will argue that Beauvoir’s evaluation of each “natural” aspect of female oppression allows readers to recognize that the only thing holding themselves back as a woman is society’s unnatural definition of their body, relation to men, and personal freedoms. Of course, when it comes to one's freedom, it is difficult to obtain when your body feels like a