As I read Forbidden, it became quite blatant that Eddy challenged the gender norm for women. She was hardworking, strong, and stubborn. Where as women are usually portrayed as weak and powerless. Eddy was different though. Instead of succumbing to male power or even those that hated her, she stood her ground. She didn't give up her honest hard working job scrubbing the floors to become a whore. No she kept scrubbing the floors because she believed that she had more potential than that. Eddy was my favorite character by far. She faced many hardships and yet still pursuing her dream of owning a diner one day.
Natalie on the other hand was what we would expect the gender norm for women to be. She was willing to marry Rhine for his riches and power. She didn't care for love, she just wanted what he could provide for her, a lavish lifestyle. Natalie has never worked a day in her life and probably doesn't even know what the word hard work is. She is not strong nor confident in herself. Instead she blames her faults on others. As seen in the book, when she gets jealous and loses control after hearing that Rhine was with a women of color.
I enjoyed reading this book. It did a great job setting the story up and grabbing your attention. It incorporated a lot of different elements that you wouldn't see in other romance novels, and I liked that. I think she did a really great job showing the hardships the women and women of color went through to be successful.
I like how you brought up that it would have been so simple for Eddy to become a whore like her sister and make a lot of money. Instead, she chose to not take that route, and make less money doing harder tasks such as scrubbing floors instead. To a lot of people, this probably makes little sense because who wouldn't want to take the easy way out? This definitely showcases Eddy's strong, determined personality. She will work hard for what she wants, and will never degrade herself in order to make things easier. I also like how you pointed out that Natalie would blame her faults on others versus accepting her true self. The two characters were extremely different and it is interesting to see how their differences affect their relationships with Rhine.
ReplyDeleteI like how you used Natalie as an example of fitting the image of what women were seen and expected as in that time, I didn't think to do that
ReplyDeleteHow do you think these character traits impacted their romantic lives?
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