Oryx-Embodied The Male Fantasy

Oryx embodied the male fantasy. In the book, Oryx was pliant. She told jimmy what he wanted to hear, and even said “You want me to pretend? You want me to make something up?” (Atwood 111). She’s beautiful, and unmarred by her past, and doesn’t have to work at it, eating pizza and fries, drinking coca-cola in bed. Her past is tragic and something that she needs saving from. Her mother sold her when she was a child, she had to let men take her into hotel rooms and then allow them to almost take advantage of her, before Uncle En, the man who had bought her, would burst in and blackmail the men into giving him money, and when he died, she was sold into child pornography. This quote, “Another woman in her place would have crumpled up the picture,
cried denounced him as a criminal, told him he understood nothing about her life, made a general scene.” (Atwood 110) stands out. It’s worded in such a way that shows Jimmy doesn’t think she’s like those other women, the ones who’d make a scene by being over-emotional. She's different and better.