from this pressure. Thelma and Louise are put into a pressure situation in society and instead of conforming to the normal societal laws they rebel against these laws and turn to devious action.

Men lead Thelma and Louise to take the devious actions that they do. Men exert the pressure on Thelma and Louise that Merton speaks of. They drive these women to devious behavior out of how they have been treated. While in the bar at their first rest stop Thelma meets a man named Harlan. Harlan is very nice to her at first. He buys her drinks and dances with her like a gentleman. After Thelma gets intoxicated Harlan takes her outside to get some fresh air. Outside he treats her like a piece of meat. At one point he says, "you're startin' to feel pretty good to me, too." Harlan tries to rape her and is stopped by Louise, who takes the only action she can and shoots him. These stereotypes of insolent men who seem to think that they can always get their way show exactly why Thelma and Louise are trying to get away from this subservient way of life and live their own lives. These women fel that their only choice after killing Harlan was to run, it was not just to run from the police, but to run from the male dominated society in which each of these women are unable to gain respect and social status.

After assaulting a police officer and holding up a convenience store the police are closing the gap between them and the rush toward Mexico is like a race. With this another Psychological option comes into play for these women. Whether to give up and go to jail or whether to die free. As the police surround them at the Grand Canyon their choices are death or to go into custody. Thelma looks over to Louise and says, "Lets not get caught." Louise steps on the gas and they plunge to their death in the Grand Canyon. Thelma and Louise die free women. "The act of suicide can be seen as the ultimate form of social deviance"(Bell 210). Suicide is not necessarily the act of death, but it is the events and actions that lead up to death. "Suicide represents deviation from what is possibly the most powerful of all social norms, that of maintaining life"(Bell 224). Thelma and Louise are rejecting society in full. These women do not want to live the lives that they are and given, and they decide that death is better than the life that they would have. These women did not play an important position in society and it seems as though they almost were not linked to their society. "Suicide varies inversely with the degree of inte

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Approximate Word count = 1714
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)