53 pages • 1 hour read
Clare ChambersA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The novel’s women characters are expected to perform their gender by inhibiting their own exploration of desire and pleasure. Jean, though freer than her mother, has lived in a repressed society: “A lifetime of quiet watchfulness” has “convinced her that the truth about people was seldom to be found in the things they freely admitted. There was always more below the surface than above” (34). Jean sees this pervasive self-negation in the men with whom she works, the women she interviews and passes on the street and, of course, within herself.
Jean disallows indulgence in cosmetics and clothes—Jean is practical and not lavish. As the novel opens, Jean spills veal blood on her woolen skirt, which makes her furious because it was such an excellent skirt for riding her bike. Similarly, she feels that “cosmetics had always made her look painted and clownish, and they were now consigned to her drawer of treasures, to be admired as artifacts but never displayed” (180). Jean’s emphasis on efficiency rather than luxury is not complete, however: Though Jean doesn’t wear makeup, she still holds onto products she describes as “treasures”—language that makes clear that the desire for sensual enjoyment cannot be fully eradicated.
Beauty
View Collection
Books that Feature the Theme of...
View Collection
Community
View Collection
LGBTQ Literature
View Collection
Marriage
View Collection
Mothers
View Collection
Popular Book Club Picks
View Collection
Pride Month Reads
View Collection
Pride & Shame
View Collection
Romance
View Collection
Truth & Lies
View Collection
Valentine's Day Reads: The Theme of Love
View Collection