If there's one thing Jim likes as much as liquor, it's a pretty woman. His entanglements with two very different women give us the chance to see what Jim thinks about how women should or shouldn't behave. He's got some seriously shallow ideas about the opposite sex, namely: attractive women=good; unattractive women=bad. He seems to know this about himself, and realizes it's a pretty superficial attitude, but concludes that it's just the way it is.
Jim ridicules many types of men in this book. But here's a bold thesis statement: he has particular biases about women in general, even the ones he likes. Some lit critics have said that in his private life, Amis was the worst kind of womanizer and misogynist (woman-hater), and that this shows up in his novels (source). Should we cut Amis some slack because he was living and writing in the early 1950s? Or is that a cop-out? We'll start with some specific female characters and then get to the more general evidence of sexism.
Questions About Women and Femininity
- In your opinion, does Lucky Jim give a fair portrayal of women?
- Apart from her looks, how does Christine Callaghan meet Jim's standards of femininity? What events make him first start to think of her as something more than Bertrand's girlfriend?
- What model of womanhood does Margaret Peel represent in this book?
- Of all the women in this book (Margaret, Christine, Mrs. Welch, Carol Goldsmith), which one do you think Jim approves of the most. Why?
Chew on This
It's a shame, but Lucky Jim is ultimately a sexist book where women are given only two options: they can be the princess waiting for Prince Charming (Christine) or an emotional manipulator (Margaret).
Jim understands that a woman who isn't attractive is going to suffer for it.