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Why Gender Inequality Happened

The “Fleur” by Louise Erdrich revolves around Fleur Pillager. The author starts by recounting the first instance that there is the display of Fleur’s power. Fleur had drowned at Lake Turcot at a very tender age. Two men that were close saw her, and the predicament that she was in, and rushed to offer her assistance. Apparently, their helping mission turned up to be the beginning of their end. The author highlights that the first man just disappeared to an unknown place while a cart the other. The author throughout the text displays the instances that showed Fleur to be a powerful character. The job Fleur acquired at the Kozka’s Meats was due to the strength she had and her ability to carry out challenging tasks. However, despite how powerful Fleur was and her ability to handle things in an impeccable manner, there were incidences of gender inequality. Explanations of the reasons why gender inequality happened in the text shall form the backbone of the discussion.

The gender inequalities were as a result of the society’s view of the women with power. Under normal circumstances, there are the regards for women as beings who do not have the capability to be the holders of power. Thus, looking at the modern society, there is the looking at women with power with inquisitive eyes. People tend to wander where such women got the power from, and whether the power in question was legitimate, or the same women had to trade with sexual or any other favors to warrant such a form of power. Relatively, in the text “Fleur” by Louise Erdrich, the villagers suspected the kind of the power vested in Fleur Pillager. They never thought the power was of any good cause and linked it to the disappearance of the men who saved her the first time she drowned in the Lake. There was an association of the power to the evil one. The author observes that the men started keeping their distance with Fleur after drowning for the second time as it “was clear that Misshepeshu, the Waterman, the monster wanted her for himself” (Erdrich 2563). This notion that Misshepeshu was interested with Fleur may emanate from the idea that the Waterman was the source of her power and it could not be just natural for Fleur to be powerful.

The Lack of support among each other for the women also contributed to the gender inequality in the text “Fleur.” People and especially the men may not see the need to support the members of the opposite gender, and especially those not supported by the members of their gender. The men may not readily support a woman who fails to garner support from their fellow women. Erdrich (2569) highlights how an unsuspecting Fleur Pillager gets attacked by Lily. The author states that “Lily gathered himself upon her, took her foot-long by the ears and scraped snout and cheeks against the trestles of the pen” (Erdrich 2569). All along Pauline was aware of the ensuing scuffle between Lily and Fleur and never volunteered to help. The author observes that the other men yelled as they chased Fleur towards the smokehouse (Erdrich 2369). Pauline just stood there engulfed by fear and not moving even a little bit to help Fleur.

The view of women from the perspective of their physical features contributed to the gender inequality in “Fleur” as Louise Erdrich highlights. The men at Kozkas Meats never took any notice of Pauline who had been working at the joint for quite a long time. The author notes that before the arrival of Fleur at the meat’s joint, the men there had limited topics characterizing their discussions. In fact, when Pete Kozka was around, the discussion was about the weather or even the excesses in sheep stomachs (Erdrich 2565). However, the author voices that on the arrival of Fleur, she became a topic of their discussions. Her physical attributes were the main reason why the men would discuss her. The author describes Fleur as having broad shoulders with her hips taking the shape of a fish. On the other hand; “her cheeks were wide and flat, her hands large, chapped, muscular” (Erdrich 2565). Pauline lacked physical attributes similar to those Fleur. Due to getting used to a lot of hard work, her back was bent and was not appealing as Fleur. This manner of viewing women from their attributes resulted in the gender inequality as Fleur at the end of it all never received the right treatment as she got raped.

The view of women as creatures with no abilities also contributed to the gender inequalities portrayed in the text. According to the society that the Kozkas Meats existed, there was the view of women as having minimal capabilities. The women, would, therefore, not be permitted to play games such as poker with men. The men working at the Kozka’s Meats were surprised when Fleur drew her chair to play with them the game of poker. It was something rare. The possible reason for this would be the fact that maybe the women were not thought to be as good as the men when it came to this particular game. Maybe the society viewed the game as a mode of relaxation for the men as women continued working. This notion depicts a society whose gender issues have not experienced streamlining to ensure a sense of fairness among both the males and females.

The mannerisms and way of doing things for Fleur were the reason why gender inequality happened. The author explains that the ways of Fleur after the second drowning were displeasing. She became uncontrollable and would laugh off at the advice offered to her by the older women in a dismissal manner. Fleur’s dressing was more of that of a man, an act that showed that she desired to be a man. With that, there is no way that there would be equality among the genders. People are likely to develop a blanket conclusion about women due to the behavior of one of them. The author opines that Fleur “got herself into half-forgotten medicine, studied ways we should not talk about” (Erdrich 2563). The outcome of this is that people would degrade the gender she belonged to; curtailing efforts to achieve gender equality. People would assume that all the other women were just like Fleur.

In conclusion, there are incidences in the text that resulted in the occurrence of gender inequality. The issue of gender inequality is not only engineered as a consequence of the perception and treatments of other people but also due to the actions of the members of the gender claiming discrimination. The actions of people create a particular impression in the minds of individuals, which drive their actions and reactions, resulting in incidences of Gender inequalities.

Works Cited

Erdrich, Louise. “Fleur.” 1988