The Role Of Women In Miss Ivors

The roles of women at the time were something to take account of. If Joyce was a realist and attempting to make female struggles known by treating them as they were being treated, some things don’t quite add up. Women in the 20th century rarely went out parties—Christmas parties at that by themselves. If they didn’t have a significant other or a husband, they stayed at home. If Joyce was attempting to make the struggle known, he would have more female characters at the party other than Aunt Julia and Kate who are there by themselves. There is also the servant Lily, who we see at the beginning of the short story for a split second with an awkward encounter with Gabriel. Gabriel accidentally asks her if she is getting married soon because she was not

Beckham states in her essay “Miss Ivors is described as “a frank-mannered talkative” nationalist, who does not simply attack Gabriel as a man, but as an Irishman as well. Ivors teases Gabriel over his writing book reviews under the not-very-effective pseudonym “G.C.” for The Daily Express, a unionist publication” (Beckham, 80). Ivors is standing up for what she believes in and is making that known, that is not very silenced of a female character like Norris is arguing. What is silenced is her authority, she is being made to be seen like she is grumpy or aggressive for no reason. Joyce has created her character to be a feminist, but once again created Gabriel to demote her—and silence her. Miss Ivors is simply not just some grouchy character angry at Gabriel because she’s jealous. She is standing for something she believes in and that’s her country. You would not get that as a reader because of the anti-feminist view that Gabriel tosses over whatever she has to say. This again is where you see that Joyce is quite on both ends of femininity and