Gender Differences Between Women And Women In The Film Revolutionary Road

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Muhammad Ali says, “Women are not equal with men, that 's for sure. When the woman

is in danger she always looks to the man for help. We are superior by nature. The black or white

woman needn 't worry in life because the world is ruled by the white man.” Throughout history,

men have been thought to be superior to women. Not until 1920 did women get the right to vote.

Not until the late 1960s did women enter into the same labor force as men; prior to that, women

were expected to stay at home and do housework as well as take care of the children because

they were not capable of doing the work that men do. The author of Civilization and its

Discontents, Sigmund Freud, states, “The work of civilization has become increasingly the

business …show more content…

The movie Revolutionary Road

takes place around the 1950s, and it is a perfect example of gender discrimination between

husband, Frank Wheeler, and wife, April Wheeler. Throughout the film Revolutionary Road and

the book Civilization and its Discontents, men are inferred as superior to women.

Frank and April Wheeler are the main characters in Revolutionary Road. Throughout the

entire movie Frank thinks of himself as the ruler of the household. At that time period every man

considered himself in charge of his own house. Frank worked while April stayed at home and …show more content…

Not having Frank’s child was the only way for April to be happy so

she had the abortion.

In the book Civilization and its Discontents, Freud describes what he calls genital love.

Freud says, “’Beauty’ and ‘attraction’ are originally attributes of the sexual object” (53). Frank

and April’s relationship began at a bar because he thought she was attractive. Frank and April did

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not love each other; Frank took advantage of the attraction and gave April a life that she could

not refuse. Later in the book Freud states, “People give the name ‘love’ to the relation between a

man and woman whose genital needs have led them to found a family; but they also give the

name ‘love’ to the positive feelings between parents and children, and between the brother and

sisters of a family...” (82). Their relationship was based on attraction and sex which lead to a

family. A person will always love their family because you have too. April could not leave her

family. It is uncommon for a person not to truly love his or her family. Frank trapped April in a

relationship and did not let her out of it.

In the end, Frank’s constant superior behavior led to April’s death. April became

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