Analysis week 14

Clarice Lispector 1920-1977 The Daydreams of a Drunk Woman (808-814)

We see the frustration of a woman caught between two times in history. She is expected to be a wife and mother and complete the wifely duties associated with the expectations of that time. Yet we see the Drunk Woman wrestle with the feeling of being lazy and the feeling of being free and inebriated. She takes the weekend for her enjoyment while her children are away with their family members (810). She and her husband go to dinner with a businessman and she plays the part of the upper class wife who spent time in the capital (811). She seems to tie knowing how to hold her tongue in relation to having self respect (812). She plays the part of the upper class woman while getting loose on alcohol, almost as if she needs it in order to swallow the life she is in. 

She despises her husband and wishes for a new love, “She was in love… She was anticipating her love for the man whom she would love one day.
Who knows, this sometimes happened, and without any guilt or injury for either partner. “ she wanted
to find love again and not feel the sting of being alone (811). A woman who left their husband in those
days were left destitute and outcast. In addition to her indifference towards her husband she seemed to
care very little for her children. She thinks of them the morning after her night out on the town with her
husband, “… Her chubby little children sleeping in the other room, the little villains. “ (814). These are
not pet names given by an affectionate mother, but a woman who sees her children as the things that
stole from her. They stole her youth, time, and freedom.

She represses her sexual desires and calls herself a slut when she remembers not refusing the attention
and mild advances of her husbands guest at dinner (814). But she also does not seem to regret it or
think much of the word. The Businessman who the couple met for dinner was brushing his foot
against hers under the table. She wondered if it was intentional or not in her more sober state.
She seemed indifferent by shrugging her shoulders at the thought. (814). She shrugs the mans
notice off and seems to care less about the sexuality of men, and more of her own enjoyment of the
little things. Until she remembers the laws of society that she must obey. A which point she scolds
herself. This scolding of herself is mild in comparison to her thoughts of other pretty women at the bar.

Sexism and women hating women was also a theme of the times. Slut shaming and mocking the
polished and thin appearance of an attractive woman showed that it was not just men during the time
who put women down, women did it to each other. “And the pious nanny so pleased with herself in
that hat and so modest about her slim waist line, and all that she couldn’t even bear her man a child.”
(812,813). She even threatens to smack the woman around for her audacity to be beautiful in public
without a man. This was a sign of classic social conditioning. Women were taught to shame other
women who stepped outside their traditional roles that had been made for them by men.