In her novel Asking For It, Louise O’Neill critiques gender inequality in contemporary society. Her novel is the story of a young girl who is gangraped, and following what happens to her afterwards gives us O’Neill’s true critique of gender inequality in modern Ireland. While I am going to use the novel as my main source of information, I have also selected an interview that O’Neill took part in on the Late Late Show. In the interview, O’Neill discusses her novel and where she got her inspiration. The interview also centres on the topic of gender inequality in Ireland, and how the book and normal, everyday life are not too different after all.
Gender inequality is easily seen throughout the ending of the book. One of the biggest portrayals of gender inequality was the radio debate in the Thursday chapter. It’s the first time that we, as the reader, learn about what the people of Ireland think of the Ballinatoom case. We also learn how gender inequality affects different classes, and how educated some people are compared to others:
“I hear a man’s voice saying in an inner-city …show more content…
O’Neill really shows us how much Emma has fallen due to the ignorance of those around her and the wider public. She uses the symbolism of a car crash, something so horrendous, to show Emma’s pain. It also acknowledges how Emma thinks the boys lives are ruined, too. O’Neill’s use of the quote is clever; if one was to replace the words ‘drink-driving’ with rape, many would argue that it was no longer true. In the book, one of Emma’s friends asks if it was rape or ‘rape-rape’ (O’Neill, 2015, 248). This shows Irish society’s hesitancy to address rape as something that is bad. In an interview, Louise talked about women who contacted her after the release of her book and she used a really great quote to describe how little we, as Irish people, know about consent and rape: “It wasn’t rape, but it wasn’t right” (Dexmusic,
Gender inequality is easily seen throughout the ending of the book. One of the biggest portrayals of gender inequality was the radio debate in the Thursday chapter. It’s the first time that we, as the reader, learn about what the people of Ireland think of the Ballinatoom case. We also learn how gender inequality affects different classes, and how educated some people are compared to others:
“I hear a man’s voice saying in an inner-city …show more content…
O’Neill really shows us how much Emma has fallen due to the ignorance of those around her and the wider public. She uses the symbolism of a car crash, something so horrendous, to show Emma’s pain. It also acknowledges how Emma thinks the boys lives are ruined, too. O’Neill’s use of the quote is clever; if one was to replace the words ‘drink-driving’ with rape, many would argue that it was no longer true. In the book, one of Emma’s friends asks if it was rape or ‘rape-rape’ (O’Neill, 2015, 248). This shows Irish society’s hesitancy to address rape as something that is bad. In an interview, Louise talked about women who contacted her after the release of her book and she used a really great quote to describe how little we, as Irish people, know about consent and rape: “It wasn’t rape, but it wasn’t right” (Dexmusic,