An American Dream Gender Quotes

The idea that Rojack views his relationship as a battlefield—and his wife as a lioness—tells us everything we need to know about their relationship. First, it reveals that he sees men and women as fundamental enemies, and it also shows that he is truly afraid of Deborah, which is a fact that is about to become very important.

This is so over-the-top that we can hardly believe it. Does Rojack really believe that Deborah is such an evil person that she gets joy from hurting the people she loves? Already, it's clear that Rojack has some serious lady issues.

Here, Rojack gives Deborah masculine qualities to emphasize how he feels emasculated by her. She's not pretty, she's handsome; she's not tall, she's big. It's worth mentioning that she's probably shorter than him—her height is only an illusion caused by her high heels, a trapping of femininity.

In Rojack's mind, sexually active women are suicidal because of dudes like him—he knows all about the dehumanization they experience because he's usually the one doing the dehumanizing. Regardless, this knowledge doesn't seem to stop him from introducing women to the "power of sex" at every available opportunity.

It's telling that Rojack's highest compliment is that Cherry looks like an "expensive shop girl," a service worker paid to make her customers feel important. As usual, Rojack is simultaneously disgusted and attracted by these broad stereotypes. Basically, this dude has issues.

Although this quote can be interpreted in any number of ways, we'd wager that this happens because Rojack is trying to lie to Roberts, and Roberts is trying to believe in something he knows in his heart to be untrue, After all, isn't that what Rojack's relationships with women are like?

Rojack is both a killer and out of his mind, so he must have a feminine side after all. Once again, however, he views the world through hackneyed stereotypes, perceiving all women as potential femme fatales. If anything, this new viewpoint expressed here represents a little bit of equal treatment. Baby steps.

Once again, Rojack doesn't see Cherry as an individual, instead transforming her into some sort of pop culture chimera that represents the very idea of hot blondes. As usual, he refuses to see a woman as a human being.

This idea of an ugly imperfection hidden within something beautiful is seen throughout the novel. This is actually one of the few moments where Rojack actually humanizes Cherry instead of seeing her as representative of all women. It's not much, but it's a start.

Well that makes everything crystal clear, doesn't it? Rojack's hatred of women is rooted in his fear of them—his fear that they will somehow destroy him if he doesn't destroy them first. What's more, the idea that he'd need to "possess" a woman seems to contradict his seeming intellectualism.

You should take this quote with whole spoonful of salt—after all, this is the same dude who just murdered his wife and covered up the crime. He's used a lot of people along the way, so really, he has no business being angry with anyone.