Theme of Feminism in The Women Who Walked into Doors

The Women Who Walked Into Doors

The Feminist lens allows us to view a piece of literature from a different perspective. It applies the perspective of feminism to a certain piece of literature. There are a large number of feminism literary theories and all with a different angle of viewing the literature. Some theories look at the way words and symbols in the book are gendered. Other theories show the difference of writing between male and female authors. Many theories also focus on stereotypes and inequalities of women’s rights and how they are symbolized in a book. Basically the feminist lens helps you analyze a book based on the philosophies and views of modern day feminism the any piece of literature. The Women Who Walked into Doors is a book about a woman named Paula and her struggle against her abusive husband that spent the 17 years of their marriage beating and abusing her. I am pretty sure that everyone who has read this book agrees that it is really a feminist novel with Roddy Doyle, the author, really trying to explore the life a woman’s mind under abuse. The first signs of feminism come early in the book. Paula seems to be attracted to a guy named Charlo Spencer who is considered to be a “ride”, a term used to define an attracting looking person. We see the idea that women are into “bad boys” demonstrated by Paula when she falls for Charlo. She states how he looks sexy with his cigarette, a leather jacket, and blue denim jeans. This was a typical description of a “bad boy” in the 90’s. She also stated that he had a criminal record as if it were a good thing and rather attractive. As the novel progresses a lot of feminist theories are presented such as the audacity is young women in the 90’s and even in current times. Paula is a risk taker and likes to explore around and not really afraid of consequences. This again touches on the feminist theory that women tend to be irrational decision makers in their late teenage hood. A perfect example from the book is when Paula ignored her father’s view on Charlo when he made it obvious he hated Charlo and said he is a criminal. However later in the novel as she grows older she realizes her father was right and only trying to protect her. This again supports the idea that during a stage of their life, women tend to make stupid decisions that they will regret later on in life. After Paula gets married to Charlo and the abuse and beatings start Roddy Doyle really starts to push some strong feminist theories through. One of the most important being the reliance that a woman has towards a man and really takes this idea to its peaks. This is portrayed by Paula throughout most of the novel, even though Charlo beats, rapes, and abuses her she still says she loves him and she can’t leave him. For the sake of her own safety and well being she was not willing to let go of the man who she loved yet who abused her. This is supposed to show how women are dependent on men and being beat by a man is better than not having one. Finally the most important theory being presented I believe is the imbalance of power between men and women and the breaking point of a woman’s tolerance towards abusive behavior. Throughout their marriage Paula has been powerless by not being able to make any choices or have any say in how things are done, because if she were to speak up she would likely get beaten by Charlo. This shows the imbalance in power and inequality in women’s rights in the 90’s when this book was written. Also even if Paula wanted to leave Charlo she did not have the power to on her own. However the idea presented is that women behave only like this is the problem is between husband and wife, in the novel, when Charlo looks at Nicola, his oldest daughter, in a dirty way as if he wants to harm her is when Paula’s breaking point is reached. She takes a frying pan and beats him down in the kitchen then kicks him out of the house for good. This brings us to the idea that when women’s will not stand up for themselves but when their children are targeted they do the unthinkable to protect them. The fact that this book was written by a male author is really impressive for how he constructed the book from a females perspective and make it so effective in sending its messages and impacting on the reader.