While the novel, The Space Between Us displays the contrasting lives of a wealthy woman and her poor servant in Bombay, India; it also offers a revealing look into how similarly confining their social class, education and family lives are made by gender and paid labor roles. Paid labor is the relationship between an employer and employee, where the worker sells their labor for a wage. Gender roles are a set of societal norms based off a certain sex. The paid labor roles strictly determine employees are only attaining a wage and are to be treated as such. In the novel, the relationship between the rich woman Sera and the poor servant Bhima connect from the oppressive lifestyles they live. Regardless of their vast differences, the author portrays
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Due to the lack of stress pertaining to financial matters, males lessen the grip on gender boundaries. Women of higher social rank are also free from the stereotypical household duties because they can afford servants. However, men continue to lead the household and make all decisions. Sera struggles to conform to the wealthy middle class woman she is expected to be. The paid labor roles for elite women establish the servants as upholding “the traditional image of the domestic worker relegated to invisibility and confined to the "backroom" kitchen of a large home”(Narrating the New World Domestic Order). Sera continues to be confined when her husband, Feroz, enforces gender roles and demands that Bhima should be treated as a servant and nothing more. Societies overruling standards for paid labor forces Sera to refrain from treating Bhima with respect. Down-ridden by gender roles, Sera is driven by the idea that she holds power over Bhima. The social class distinctions fuel the notion to her female empowerment. Sera understands her place and “she knew that if she tried to change any of these rituals, Feroz would have a fit” (115). Correspondingly, Sera uses her power when she is given the opportunity because overall, Feroz has the final
Due to the lack of stress pertaining to financial matters, males lessen the grip on gender boundaries. Women of higher social rank are also free from the stereotypical household duties because they can afford servants. However, men continue to lead the household and make all decisions. Sera struggles to conform to the wealthy middle class woman she is expected to be. The paid labor roles for elite women establish the servants as upholding “the traditional image of the domestic worker relegated to invisibility and confined to the "backroom" kitchen of a large home”(Narrating the New World Domestic Order). Sera continues to be confined when her husband, Feroz, enforces gender roles and demands that Bhima should be treated as a servant and nothing more. Societies overruling standards for paid labor forces Sera to refrain from treating Bhima with respect. Down-ridden by gender roles, Sera is driven by the idea that she holds power over Bhima. The social class distinctions fuel the notion to her female empowerment. Sera understands her place and “she knew that if she tried to change any of these rituals, Feroz would have a fit” (115). Correspondingly, Sera uses her power when she is given the opportunity because overall, Feroz has the final