Analysis Of Mary Dempster

Furthermore, there are several occurrences of the harm against women in regards to Mrs. Dempster. She undergoes a stark change in personality after being hit with the snowball, described by the denizens of Deptford as having “gone simple”. One of Mary Dempster’s most shocking acts after the fact is when she is found having sex with a tramp (later revealed to have been done in order to restore his faith). Her husband, Amasa, decides that Mary is too much of a burden to him and ties her to chair, making her unable to leave her home. Despite this, the young Dunny does not think of Mary as a burden, in fact referring to her as his “greatest friend”. He keeps her up to date on the goings-on in Deptford, he prides her on her fearlessness. He knows

Children would tease him because of his mother, as explained by Milo Papple in the I Am Born Again section: “'[Kids would] yell across the street, ‘Hoor yuh today. Paul?’… [Paul] knew damn well they didn’t mean ‘How are you today, Paul?’ but ‘Your Ma’s a hoor.’” (Davies 99) Dunstan does not react as the Deptford people did. He does not view Mrs. Dempster as a “hoor”. In fact, he wishes that someone had taken action when Cecil Athelstan stood outside her house and harassed her: “I wish I could record that Amasa Dempster came out and faced them, but he did not.” (Davies 45) The sentiments typically caused by slut-shaming are not felt by the fearless Mary Dempster, due to the fact that she is a strong female character, however, it does not mean that it does not affect women and girls in the modern day. A 2011 survey from the AAUW showed that 46% of American high school girls experience in-person sexual harassment (Hill and Kearl). In short, the novel demonstrates several appalling gender-based prejudices experienced by women. Although they are set in the early 1900s, even a woman from the modern day could relate in some way to the stories of Leola Staunton and Mary