Lynn Freed: A Feminist Analysis

The twentieth century introduced many women writers defending feminist goals that included the struggles for political rights, freedom and education, as well as, freedom of sexual expression. The sexual revolution of the sixties further opened the door for writers to deal with the developing issues of a male dominated society that embraced female sexuality and the backlash thereof. In a culture that promotes the overt sexualization of adolescents and a society where sex becomes mainstream in various forms of media, women writers found an interesting platform from which to write short stories. Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood and Lynn Freed tackle the vital issues of female naivety toward males and/or sex, sexual curiosity and victimization

The night Connie attracts the attention of Arnold Friend he immediately stakes his claim on her by declaring to her, “Gonna get you, baby” (Oates 1193). Some days later when he arrives in her driveway, he matter-of-factly informs her that he is her lover and proceeds to say, “I’ll hold you so tight you won’t think you have to try to get away or pretend anything because you’ll know you can’t” (Oates 1199). Her childish daydreams immediately turn into a nightmare with the realization that she has suddenly become a victim. Arnold asserts domination over Connie and her actions when he says, “I’m the boy for you…you come out here nice like a lady and give me your hand, and nobody else gets hurt” (Oates 1201). Connie ultimately loses all will and power at the hands of her captor. Estelle does not physically become a victim but her delusions toward the true definition of rape make her more susceptible to becoming a victim. She believes that “rape is when they’ve got a knife or something and you don’t want to” have sexual intercourse with that person (Atwood 1213). Estelle fails to realize that rape is not simply a physical act of aggression; it is complete physical and psychological domination over a person. The reader more clearly sees the misconception in Estelle’s reasoning that “in real life…it would just be a conk on the head and that’s that, like getting your tonsils out, you’d wake up and it would be all over except for the sore places” (Atwood 1216). She compares rape, an act that leaves severe emotional scars, to something as routine as a tonsillectomy. At the end of the story, Estelle’s blathering on about how she “just [doesn’t] understand it” leads the reader to believe she is feeling vulnerable and uneasy about the person with whom she is speaking (Atwood 1217). She is likely getting a sense that she could become a victim in this situation. In “Under the House” the girl