Children's Mom By Jane O Connor

I believe this story is full of examples of women being treated as if they were the lesser sex, but there are two examples that really stand out to me. The first example is how the children’s mother is treated. She is proven to be the lesser sex multiple times subtly throughout this piece. She is shown as the primary care taker of the children not the father, Bailey. The mother isn’t driving the car that the family took on their trip, but instead, Bailey is (O’Connor 297). Also the mother is holding the baby, which in an antifeminist society is the woman’s job. The author also oppresses the mother because she provides her with barely any dialogue to either help or hinder the story. Even as her children are led to their apparent death, she stays
silenced. The other example I found came when the family stopped to grab a bite to eat. They ate at a restaurant run by a guy named Red Sammy and his wife. Just like the mother of the children, Sammy's wife blends into background. His wife attempts to show curiosity in one of the children’s dancing and when everyone in the restaurant is talking about The Misfit, but each time, her superior husband, Red Sammy, puts her down. She then walks into the back of the restaurant without saying anything else to anyone. Red Sammy appeared to be the face of this operation, whereas his wife was everything else. This became extremely apparent when Red Sammy started bossing his wife around. He told her to stop lounging around, get the family their sodas, and get their food too (O’Connor 300). She cooked, cleaned, and served, and all Red Sammy did was talk to the customers and boss her around. Her roles within the business prove to me that she is the lesser sex because the male isn’t being expected to do anything but run the business. It is strongly implied that the male is too good to cook and or clean. Both of these examples really show the female voice getting oppressed by the superior male.