Main Street Gender Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Paragraph)

Quote #4

"Bearded sniffy old men sitting and demanding that we bear children. If they had to bear them—!" (4.1.13)

Carol is sick of being told by a bunch of old men to settle down and have kids. She imagines that men's attitudes toward children would be very different if they were the ones who had to go through the trouble of actually carrying and giving birth to them.

Quote #5

She watched her conquering man tuck [the birds] into his inside pocket, and trudged with him back to the buggy. (5.1.13)

It might sound sarcastic at first, but Carol actually feels some genuine admiration for her husband after watching him successfully kill some birds. Yes, she doesn't really buy into macho manly stuff, but she's still a product of her time in some ways, and she finds his hunting skills pretty appealing. So gender expectations go both ways—and that becomes even more obvious when fancy, effeminate Erik shows up and is made fun of for not being manly enough.

Quote #6

Carol perceived that Mrs. Dyer was accustomed to this indignity. She perceived that the men, particularly Dave, regarded it as an excellent jest. (6.2.18)

As a housewife, Carol hates not having control over her own finances. She used to have her own job, but now she has to go to her husband Will and ask him for money any time she needs to buy something, either for herself or for both of them. She can see that Will and his dude friends get a good laugh out of the process and love to talk to one another about how their wives are spending all their money. And guess what? She hates that, too.