Character Analysis Of Luisa In 'Half-Lives'

3. Luisa as a Character

The second-wave of feminism arose in the 1960s and 1970s in Western societies (Kroløkke and Sørensen 7). It aimed to draw attention to various issues women faced, such as, the dissatisfaction with the traditional roles of women as housewives and mothers as well as the discrimination and harassment of women based on sex (Nicholson 1-2). Within the movement, different branches of feminism arose that took different approaches to aim to improve the situation of women (Nicholson 3). Two of these branches are the liberal and the radical femi-nist movement: Liberal feminists believed men and women to be the same and aimed to eliminate inequalities of men and women in the public sphere (Nicholson 3). In contrast, radi-cal feminists

In fact, in 1975 the average marriage age of women was 21 in the United States (“Marital Status”). However, Luisa is 26 years old and is not married and, hence, she does not meet the expectations held by society. For instance, when Luisa attends her mother’s fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, she is approached by a female guest of her age who asks whether it is true that Luisa is not married yet: “’I certainly am not,’ is Luisa’s crisp reply. ‘Are you?’” (CA 419; emphasis in original). On the one hand, this firm answer underlines the fact that Luisa does not want to meet the expectations and, on the other hand, shows that she aims to challenge them. How-ever, her mother wants her to marry as she tries to set her up with various acquaintances she invited to her fundraiser (CA 112). She stresses that the three men are unattached and pursue academic careers cardiologists, gynaecologists and lobotomists and, thus, seems to deem each of them to be a suitable husband for Luisa (CA 112). But, Luisa rejects them and her mother claims that her “rebellion issues are getting worse” (CA 420). However, Luisa emphasises that she is content and though she may be alone, she has never complained about it (CA