Cunningham's Treatment Of Women In The Hours

One event can change the course of people’s lives. World War 2, for example, changed the role of women. They stepped in to do man labor while the men were at war. Women soon realized they are capable of working as doctors, electricians, mail carrier and others after experiencing it. That is when the workforce expanded for women. Another way World War 2 changed women’s lives in a less obvious way was when the only few men came back after the war, a lot of women married these few survived ones, partly because of their relief the men survive and partly because of societal pressures. In The Hours, a novel by Michael Cunningham, one of the main characters, Laura, has this very experience. The Pulitzer award winning novel is a loosely based on the
This is obvious when she bakes a cake twice for Dan’s birthday, but is disappointed by how both the cakes turn out. On page 143, the narrator states “It’s a fine cake perfect in its way, and yet Laura is still disappointed in it. It still feels amateurish, homemade, it still feel wrong.” She feels like this failure with the cake makes her less of a good wife. Somehow, she feels that the cake and anything she does is an indication of her being a good wife/mother or a bad one. Hence, she constantly worries about something. Even if it is just a cake, she is inclined to prove that she can bake well and thus making her feel more fit for the role of a good wife. It is obviously not needed for her to prove anything. The cake is fine and as the narrator puts it on page 100, “she could give him anything, anything at all, and receive essentially the same [sweet] response.” Deep inside, she knows she does not want to be a housewife, which is why she is not satisfied with the cake even if it is fine. In a way, it seems more like unconsciously she is constantly trying to prove why she does not fit this picture perfect life of a