Gender Roles In John Fowles 'Woman'

Though Michael makes valid points, the fact that it fails as a feminist novel is still quite irrelevant because as stated, it is meant to depict Sarah as a woman from the 1960s in the 1860s. Despite the fact that Michael is correct in saying that Sarah is represented through male voices, the fact is, the novel was written by a man, the other main character Charles, must be a man, or the story would not be the same. Though these things appear to keep Sarah 's identity viewed through a masculine lens, Fowles is still able to create Sarah 's character into one who ultimately holds the power and is an independent woman. Evidence of those can be found in what Michael says next. She says: "It could be argued that, by describing Sarah from a purely external position, the novel is presenting an honest view of male perspectives of women and not falling into the trap of projecting male thinking into Sarah 's mind" (Michael 225-226). However, Michael objects to this by stating: "Fowles is not explicit enough and thus relies too heavily upon the reader. He seems to assume that the reader will be able to see that the novel is depicting the imposition of male perspectives onto the portrait of Sarah" (Michael 226). Michael 's points are noteworthy, but objections to them are to be made. She underestimates the reader and also underestimates the ability of the author. A fact to be noted is that this paper identifies precisely what Michael says would be nearly impossible for the reader to decipher. It is evident, that before Michael objected to her own statement, she was correct in saying that describing Sarah from a purely external position allows male thinking not to be projected into Sarah 's mind. Though men seem to speak for her, her development is her own, and she develops into an independent woman, who refuses to conform to patriarchal ideology. Opposite Sarah, is Charles and he is considered to be a more conventional rebel during the 1860s, so it is truly only Sarah that is thrust into the 1960s as far as her choices and behavior are concerned. He is only concerned with his own happiness, yet being true to himself. He leaves Ernestina and just assumes that Sarah will be waiting for him. He also does not truly see outside of his own world or outside of his own class. Fowles writes: "For Charles, as you have probably noticed, was frightened by other human beings and especially …show more content…
However, upon examination, it is evident that Charles ' gender role is that of a standard man in Victorian society and Sarah is a woman with ideas that only sprouted about a century later in the 1960s. Sarah appears to be weak, mischievous, cold and an outcast, and though she is the latter, it is simply because she believes in ideas that are ahead of her time. The idea that she could be in control of a relationship with a man and then ultimately not marry him and be an independent woman, was not of Victorian society. Fowles brilliantly presented a female character that appeared to be weak and feeble, but was actually an intellectual ahead of her time. She is a woman of power, of direction and she knew where she was headed all along. Not only did she embrace her difficulties or shortcomings, but she made the best of them and ended up