Do you think gender plays a big role in the paths each character takes through the book? How about society’s changing ideas about love and sex?
Absolutely. Gender was particularly germane to Ginger’s journey as an actress seeking to be valued for her talent and not just her appearance. It also factored into the professional pursuits of each of the other female characters, as well as their attitudes about sex, marriage, commitment, child-rearing, and friendship. The years covered by the book were transformational in American culture and the story reflects societal evolution. The story is a cautionary one and quite contemporary, given how many of the rights secured in those years have already been scaled back, revoked entirely, and are in jeopardy with the ongoing autocratic threat posed by the re-election of a 34x convicted felon and those who align themselves with his fascist agenda.
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Absolutely gender played a big role. I don’t think I could sum it up any more succinctly than Janie already has.
Gender always plays a big role in a persons life. The do’s and don’t’s for the male or the female. The 70’s and 80’s was free love and sex, that slowly dissipated as the years rolled by. That was the age of rebellion and as that youth grew older and become more responsible they took with them the freedoms that they had experienced.
Absolutely! The men take off and do whatever they want (professor off to Thailand having affair w/associate teacher; father off to Bali; Vietnam draft dodger, etc) while the women do what is expected of them.
I liked the way the author weaved the changes of love and sex through the time line of free love through the fear of the AIDS epidemic…well done.