Roles Of Women In The Western Era Essay

Another belief in the Western era is that women were not supposed to know how to operate equipment, such as guns. Women were also not ever thought to possess the skills to harm, or even kill another person. Women were not supposed to be able to use things like guns, especially in the Western era. Shooting guns and operating equipment were thought to be only something men were capable of doing. Once again, the movie defies this gender role assumption when Mattie shoots a man. After some time, Mattie and the Marshalls track down her father’s killer, Tom Chaney. Mattie ends up shooting Chaney, even though he does not die from the shot. Back in the Western era, women were not allowed to shoot guns, and they should not have even had access to guns. When Mattie shot Tom Chaney, it came as a surprise that she even knew how to shoot a gun properly because women shooting guns at this time was unheard of. Before Mattie shot Tom Chaney, Rooster made a snide remark about Mattie using a gun. …show more content…
Most of the time, women were supposed to speak with only pure kindness and obedience. In the Western era, women were depicted to be very soft spoken, tender, and loving. It was very unheard of for a woman to speak out against a man, especially when speaking out involved threatening a man. However, Mattie is a perfect example of a woman who does speak out against men. She was known to argue her opinion and beliefs and speak out against men quite often. This aggressive behavior in women was almost completely unheard of during this time period. A majority of the time, men were the only ones thought to be able to use the aggressive behavior and talk back to others. One instance in particular is when Mattie got into a discussion with the stable owner. Mattie made a proposal to the stable owner; she was the owner to buy back the four ponies her father had bought before he was