I think that the moment when Buddy reveals to her that he's had sex with the waitress, is the moment when she realized the sexual double standard. She then takes it out on buddy specifically, instead of society as a whole. She needs to figure things out for herself, before she can go blaming individuals for hypocrisy, considering it's just the society-they-live-in's fault.
That being said, I really don't think that Buddy's purposefully being a hypocrite (then again, most people that are hypocrites aren't purposefully hypocrites). It's just society saying that it's okay. Like it's okay to give women drugs that make them forget the pain that they have during childbirth, letting them go through it again and again because it "wasn't that bad," under the guise of them "not really being able to feel anything." I thought that that was the most appalling thing I'd ever read. It just really gets to me how bad it used to be in america (all over the world) (and it's still bad now but sooo much better than before). Men and women just cannot be seen as equals for some reason, and it's just sickening, and I really could go on forever about this. I'll just choose to end it with, we've come a long way, and it's still a long way coming.
I agree that I don't think Buddy is a hypocrite. He may have had it come off like he was pure and Esther had been with so many guys, but he may have been trying to flatter her. When Marco tries to rape her, she was just going to let it happen, because she thought if she had sex with him, it would get back and Buddy and make her a whole new person.
ReplyDeleteA hypocrite is someone who indulges in hypocrisy (very helpful Google). Hypocrisy: the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.I don't think that Buddy ever shamed her for being experienced. He has "compliemented" her for being so great at this and that but has never said "you're a bad person because you've done such and such." She might just feel embaressed for whatever buddy made her feel when he said it feels so great kissing you. Maybe she didn't like that he led her on. She definitely is taking something out on Buddy, but only labeling it under hypocrisy. Maybe it's more complex than that. After all we shouldn't think of her as a one dimensional character.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of buzz about ethical issues with childbearing -- neuroethics is something I'm really passionate about so I've read a ton of stuff about child birth and the way it's conducted -- but I think that Esther may have needed the harshness in order for us to view Buddy in a more negative light. If she said, "oh, he's not that bad" after he told her (and us, by extension) that he cheated, then I might have raised an eyebrow.
ReplyDeleteI think that Esther realizes the sexual double standard way before Buddy tells her about his sexual adventures. She calls the drug "one that a man would think up of" (or something of that nature) and immediately slots it into the bigger picture. Yet with Buddy, I feel that she chooses to focus on him because he's playing into the role that society expects of him. Instead of blaming society as a whole, she blames him for playing the game, so to speak.