Femininity and Feminism

Over the course of the short stories collected in Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare, the author explores feminist themes in a range of narrative contexts and points of view. Indeed, all 11 of the short stories are either written from the first person perspective or trace the story of a female character. By centralizing women’s points of view and experiences, the author is formally and narratively giving her female characters’ voices their cultures, societies, or communities might otherwise deny them. In a story like “Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare,” ever since the main character Sadie’s “very first period," she has felt “as though time has suspended her in its invisible clutches, like her growth has been stunted since” (21). Indeed, from the time Sadie is 12 years old, images of blood and bleeding dictate her narrative account. The author is therefore...