Lynn Freed: A Feminist Analysis

Even after Connie and Arnold had an encounter, Connie did not pay much attention to it. Even though she was very naïve, the blame is still on the sick minded people in this world who in this case is represented by

Lizbeth lost her innocence throughout the story and the one act she did made her see how her inmaturtie blurred the fact of what the reality really was .

However, this is countered when Connie notes that “he was much older—thirty, maybe more” (315), a fact that frightens her. What Arnold is to Connie is a challenge of her want to be an adult, and a trail of her ability to deal with adult issue. Such as a man who singles her out sexual reason. Her wish to be an adult is something she seeks while passively avoiding it. Her avoidance is marked by day dreams of puppy love romance, like a typical teenager; yet, her attractive flaunt to be mature is presented as if she seeks to be an

Estelle 's torturer is Garcin 's because he is the only male in the room, and Estelle needs a man to pleasure her. Basically, Estelle wants to be desired by a man because her eighteen-year-old man is dancing with someone else. However, Garcin is more concerned how the people who killed him thinks of him as a coward, or will spread his legacy as one. Garcin is too busy worrying about what others think of him being a coward that he does not please Estelle. Estelle is being tortured because she wants a man 's attention but Garcin isn 't giving it to her.

Jeannette narrowly escapes rape, but because her father exploits her in a way that makes it seem like she would consent to underage sex, she is abused. The sexual abuse Jeannette suffers results in her having more trust in her own intuition as she

(Anderson, 165). In this part of the book melinda is watching an episode of oprah and it's an episode about a girl who's been raped and melinda's subconscious wakes up and makes it seem like oprah is talking to her telling her she was raped, she just started to come to realization that she really was raped at the party and she was getting really overwhelmed and started feeling sick. She already knew she got raped, but she was in doubt and she didn't want it to be true which is why it took so long for her to

He mysteriously knows where Connie lives and invites himself to drive over to her house. Arnold assumes Connie’s friendship by convincing her that he knows everything and everybody, “I know your name and all about you” (Oates 201) when she never told him her name in the first place. He knew her friends, their names as well as what she did the night before. He also knew exactly where Connie’s family was, at a BBQ at Connie’s aunt Tille’s.

“She said that sexual assault was a crime of perception. “If you don’t think you’re hurt, then you aren’t (Walls 184).” Rosemary makes Jeannette feel like she is insignificant to her and doesn’t make the effort to stick up for her child. At this point, Jeannette must feel worthless to her mother, bringing her self-esteem to a low.

Throughout the story, there are many instances: the illogical time and settings, the similarity between Arnold and Connie and the unrealistic events show that the meeting between Connie and Arnold Friend is a dream. The dream is also a preparation for Connie before she steps onto the stage of being an adult. Connie’s dream begins when she refuses to go to her aunt’s house for barbecue party. She stays home, and under the warmness of the sun, she begins her day dreaming about love and the boy she has met the night before. In the beginning, the author writes “Connie sat with her eyes closed in the sun…”

Reluctantly, her parents allow her to stay home alone. A few hours later, a familiar gold jalopy pulls up to her house. The driver announces to Connie that his name is Arnold Friend. His unusual physical appearance, his tone of voice, and what he may symbolize frighten the Connie.

It was by no means from a lack of effort, though. Initially her husband, Bazil, was “convinced that somewhere within his bench briefs, memos, summaries, and decisions lay the identity of the man whose act had nearly severed [Geraldine]’s spirit from her body” (Erdrich 45). And although his cases do lead him to suspect the man who committed the atrocity against Geraldine, the tribal justice system is unable to take any action. Before the assualt, Geraldine remembers a sack being drawn over her head and shoulders that “went down so far… [she] couldn’t see” (159), and because of this visual block, as well as her disorientation and panic during the event, she is unable to provide the location in which the rape occurred; this opens her case up to the confusing and often ineffective system of state, federal, and tribal land

In the nineteenth century, woman had no power over men in society. They were limited in their freedom, as their lives were controlled by their husbands. Some women did not mind this lifestyle, and remained obedient, while some rebelled and demanded their rights. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, are short stories that exposes the lifestyle women lived in the nineteenth century. The protagonists from both stories, Jane and Georgiana, similarly lived a male dominated lifestyle.

Oates’s biography explained her fiction writing as a mixture violence and sexual obsession. The writing style definitely fits the plot point of this story with both of her literary ingredients being present in not only Arnold Friend but in Connie as well. The Protagonist Connie is presented in a very self-centered way. She is obsessed with her looks and often fantasizes about all the boys she meets.

Authors, especially female authors, have long used their writing to emphasize and analyze the feminist issues that characterize society, both in the past and the present. Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Susan Glaspell wrote narratives that best examined feminist movements through the unreliable minds of their characters. In all three stories, “The Story of an Hour”, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and “A Jury of Her Peers”, the authors use characterization, symbolism, and foreshadowing to describe the characters’ apparent psychosis or unreasonable behavior to shed light on the social issues that characterized the late 19th century and early 20th century. Penning many stories that demonstrate her opinions on the social issues of the era,

Rape is something that happens to both men and women every day all around no matter your gender it a very scary experience for people because it can affect them both physically and mentally. It is very traumatizing if the victim knows her abuser because that can make it difficult for a person to trust anyone in life especially the opposite sex. This was seen in Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, where each character dealt with grief in their own unique ways. In the book, the Salmon’s family lost their beloved fourteen Susie, who was kidnapped raped and murdered by her next door neighbor. Each character in this book dealt with grief and trauma in their own way.