Feminine Items

     This novel opens with a very different outlook on female sexuality than I am used to. Gudrun and Ursula give the impression that marriage and children are the social ideals that represent the next step in life especially for women. Neither of them necessarily sees this as true. Love is an acceptable goal, and lovers are also admirable things, but marriage is portrayed as the ending of all things rather than a beginning or a progression. I find this to be a more modern representation of female desires. More and more women are planning careers and putting off having families. This is not to say that they do not want husbands or children, but that they are more open to the possibility that settling down is not necessarily the next step in life. Having marriage be the end of experience is a rather stark look at life and the roles that women play in society.