Essay On Patriarchy In The Odyssey

In a fantasized world like The Odyssey, women can threaten the power of the patriarchy, but in a modernized world like The Catcher in the Rye, women cannot threaten men because they do not hold tangible power. In The Odyssey, women like Helen, have the capability and desire to gain power; Helen exemplifies how women can manipulate men through the use sexulaity to do anything desire, even start a war. Her power over these men not only causes death and destruction, but it also causes endless nights of men missing their wives and just longing for a woman. Unlike The Odyssey, The Catcher in the Rye presents models of women who appear subordinate to men. The average woman in the 1940’s cleans the house, cares for the children, and cooks the dinner. Her life is in the home, leaving her unable to gain power from men. The two situations contrast,
However, the dividing factor between the women in both the Odyssey and The Catcher in the Rye is the setting and the time of each storyline. The Odyssey women are the given the opportunity to have magical powers and monstrous bodies to aid them in their struggle for power, whereas the women in the Catcher in the Rye are simple everyday girls in 1940’s without any equality to men or respect from men. Women in the Catcher in the Rye can’t help aid the men because they aren’t given the chance. Nothing important was expected from the women in the 1940’s, except to care for the house and the children. The capability of women to gain power and simply want power all depends on what they’re given in order to make it