Women In Toni Morrison's A Mercy

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Most women, especially in the seventeenth-century, are not given the right to choose their own destiny. Women are expected to serve for others, whether it is a husband, or owner, and not to have real fulfilling, genuine roles in the world. This restrain against women detains them from living the independent and free life that everyone deserves. In the novel, A Mercy, by Toni Morrison, the main female characters, Rebekka, Florens, Lina, and Sorrow, are victims of a controlled lifestyle, and are forced to live in a world that is shaped for them. Toni Morrison reveals the inferior, degraded, and vulnerable role of women during the late-seventeenth-century.
First of all, women are considered inferior to men and are more of a burden than a convenience for them. During the time of this novel, fathers were expeditious when it came to selling their daughters away to be married. Having to take care of their daughters became too much for them when there was another man available who could make her a priority, so the solution was easy. Rebekka, for example, is sold by her father and sent from Britain to America to marry Jacob Vaark, despite of how Rebekka feels. Without ever considering Jacob’s looks or personality, since he is looking for a wife, and Rebekka is available, her father immediately takes the …show more content…

Rebekka, Lina, Florens, and Sorrow all experience the unimportant role of females during this time. The four women live in fear for their lives, and are subject to the merciless world filled with men and hierarchy. It does not matter whether you are a slave, free, European, or African. If you are a woman, you are presumed to aid for others, and anything that you want to do or be in life is disregarded. Women are not given the chance to truly live they way that they want to, and are stripped of their right to freedom and an unrestricted

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