Misogyny

Many of the narrator’s personal insecurities are related to being an aging woman in an often misogynistic society; these insecurities help to shed light on the psychological toll that patriarchy can have on women. One of the earliest and most prominent examples of these dynamics is when the narrator sits at a bar and worries that the bartender is ignoring her: “I had a moment’s panic because the bartender…ignored me…At last the bartender sauntered over (so I had not become see-through)” (18). The central element of the narrator’s anxiety is that, as she ages she will become shunned in various aspects of society. Similarly, she is acquainted with a woman at the gym who is distraught because her body is becoming stouter with age. These anxieties show how certain arbitrary, misogynistic dynamics in society can unfairly marginalize women and place strain on...