Theft

This is in response to the last post on Theft and gender. I agree that the woman is not taking advantage of these men, rather, she is being used by them. The men in this story all seem to consciously seek fulfillment of different emotion needs from this woman without giving back; she allows men to drain her and seems unable to present herself as unsympathetic or willful. She acknowledges this at one point, when a male acquaintance and apparent creative partner refuses to pay her money owed, saying "Let it go then...almost in spite of herself," acquiescing to a man's will to her own detriment. Because of this, I cannot view her as an "untethered modern woman;" she is tethered, perhaps not to a monogamous heterosexual relationship but to an image of comforting, selfless, ever-providing womanhood that she allows herself to embody for men. I believe the woman's purse comes to symbolize this emotional subsistence in that it is a relic from a lover, an emblem of male approval and attention, as shown by the janitress' connection of "nice things" with suitors, love, and marriage. The woman chooses to reject this symbol, although the janitress refuses to take it back, and through this has a realization of what she ultimately loses by always subverting her needs and expectations to those of the men around her. Porter ends with the woman recognizing, "I was right not to be afraid of any thief but myself, who will end by leaving me nothing."