The Murder by John Steinbeck
Feminism is defined as the principle that women should have political, economic, and social rights equal to those of men. One may be able to suggest that the short story "The Murder" by John Steinbeck is an anti-feminist story. This suggestion would be plausible because there are many times in this story where the main character, Jim Moore, puts down his wife with unnecessary insults and unjustified violent actions. Another reason one would be able to consider this an anti-feminist story is because the law officers in it do not act in a fair and honest way. Throughout the short story there are many quotes and actions, which would lead one to believe that this is an anti-feminist story. One of the first of these quotations comes when the author is describing Jelka, Jim Moore's wife. The author describes her as "a Jugo-Slav girl" ( ) and later states that "Jim was not proud of her foreign family, of her many brothers and sisters and cousins, but was delighted in her beauty" ( ). This might persuade one to believe that in choosing a wife, a man a should only look to see if she is b
Another one of the main reasons why this is an anti-feminist story is because the law officers do not act in a fair and honest way. Throughout the book Jim constantly goes out to town to "play with the noisy girls of the Three Star" ( ). From this on can conclude that Jim is going into town to commit adultery. Jelka does not know this, but if she did, one can be certain that she would have not attacked Jim. If she did attack him, one can be sure she would have easily been put in jail or maybe even murdered. Toward the end of the short story, it is reveled that one night, when Jim was supposed to be in town, Jelka was having the company of her cousin in her house. One can assume that they were having an affair because they were in bed together, but that issue is never made clear. When Jim comes home and sees them in bed together, he refuses to think, and acts immediately and kills Jelka's cousin under the assumption they were having an affair. When the police come the next morning, they do not even question Jim; they just clean up the house, take the body out and ask " are you sure you
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 736
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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