4. Consider both novels. What do you notice about the treatment of women? The characterization of women? Or the omission of women?

The treatment of women in “On the Road” is really negative. The females are usually portrayed as nothing more than sex objects. This attitude is expressed through both Dean and Sal. The story, “On the Road takes place a little after the Great Depression and World War 2 and before the Civil Rights movement. During this time period the women were not really expected to be intelligent and equal to the male population. The men in this book love the women’s bodies and when Sal talks about the women he usually describes their bodies, he never really discusses a woman’s intellect. However in a way this was all a part of the time period that the story was taking place in. The women were supposed to be dumb and pretty or a whore. When Dean’s wife leaves him after he turns out to be useless she is considered a whore. ‘"And where’s Marylou?" I asked, and Dean said she’d apparently whored a few dollars together and gone back to Denver - "the whore!"’ (Part 1 chapter 1) Throughout the story whenever a woman comes into play she is usually seen as a sex object and though the male characters are semi-nice to them they are usually just looking for sex.
- Sinéad Brennan