Feminism In John Fante's Ask The Dust

Feminism is constantly changing and the role of women in society is always evolving. In John Fante’s Ask the Dust, we are shown a slice of what life was like for women in the 1930’s Jone Johnson Lewis from womenshistory.com explains feminism as, “consisting of ideas and beliefs about what culture is like for women just because they are women, compared to what the world is like for men just because they are men. In ethical terms, this form or aspect of feminism is descriptive.” The assumption in feminism is that women are not treated equally to men, and that women are disadvantaged in comparison to men.” In John Fante’s Ask the Dust the time period the 1930’s, where the mistreatment of women was very common. Throughout the novel we see how uncomfortable Arturo is around women. From not being able to perform sexually with prostitutes to using Vera for sex, there are numerous times we see how women are …show more content…
At one point Arturo say, “and I haven’t begun to talk, but I could say something to you about a night on the beach with a brown princess, and her flesh without meaning, her kisses like dead flowers, odorless in the garden of my passion.” This shows how Arturo is thinking of Camila not as a person, but the body she is in. Many times throughout the novel we see Arturo view women only in a sexual light. For example, his interaction with Vera, Arturo does not even try to get to know her’ Arturo goes a far to pretend that Vera is another women. The treatment of women in Ask the Dust shows how women were treated during that time. Camila and Arturo’s relationship would be considered unhealthy in today’s standers. The Feminist theory when applied to Arturo’s treatment of women shows how the double slandered of gender issues were everywhere during that time. Arturo’s relationship with prostitutes, Vera, and Camila were all toxic in the end and he never thought of women in a positive