In a Gender's Fear
...urity from a man. Mercy explains that she is, “...sick of everything. I want a husband of my own.” While Mercy seems to have a sense of knowing what she wants, it is perceived that she is hiding from becoming involved with a man she could potentially marry because she is aware that men have affairs outside of their marriages. She finds a certain strength from knowing she can walk away and have control of a relationship with a man that is already married. She can not be hurt by something she doesn’t have. “It’s just that women allow them [men] to behave the way they do instead of seizing some freedom themselves.” “It’s just that women allow them to behave the way they do instead of seizing some freedom themselves” - Mercy’s take on men Connie is a mother and is married to a man who often has relationships on the side. “‘On top of everything, I have reliable information that James is running after a new girl.’ ‘Sissie, men are like that.’” In the society in which this story takes place, men date outside their marriages and the women frequently turn their head the other way. “I am sure that even if we were free to carry on in the same way, I wouldn’t make use of it. Because I love James. And I am not interested in any other man.” - Connie About Mercy “Connie knows that running around with an old and depraved public man would have been concidered an abomination by the parents” - (fear of being looked down upon) Connie’s fear of sticking up for oneself bc Jame...