E. Schwartz Letter

Porter’s letter to E. Schwartz on page 547 is an interesting insight into her views on gender. She is insulted by Schwartz’s claim that Miranda saw her illness as “her opportunity to assume the active role of the male” and she responds to his interpretation by attacking his assumption that all women desire to assume this masculine identity. What was really incredible to me though was the way that she subtly suggests that the “role of the male” is not as much a desirable role as it is a pitiable existence. The long sentence in the long paragraph on page 548 that ends, “O poor man, I for one woman, would not change places with him, nor swap my troubles for his,” reverses his ridiculous assumption that any person would swap their gender role because of the few problems inherent to both gender identities. Porter seems to be saying that no man wants to be a woman and no woman wants to be a man because it is a struggle to finds one’s proper place within these identities.