Essay Questions

How do these stories portray women?

The title itself suggests that women are going to come off rather poorly in these stories; the oft-used derogatory epithet is commonplace in the U.K., whilst being frowned upon far more on this side of the pond. The women in the majority of the stories are nothing more than sexual objects that the male characters seem to believe are there for their own amusement. For example, The Great Switcheroo involves two men who want to swap wives for sexual purposes, regardless of whether or not their wives feel inclined to experiment. Similarly, in The Last Act the young widow believes that her old lover is interested in rekindling their romance, when in fact all he is looking for is revenge.

What is similar about the male characters in each of the stories?

All of the male characters in the collection of stories view women as sex objects, or in some way objectifies them. Oswald, for example, is completely smitten by both the Syrian's wife and daughter, so smitten in fact that he really does not care which one of them he is sleeping with as long as he is able to keep enjoying the affair.

Similarly, the men in The Great Switcheroo do not care about their wives in an emotional sense. Their marriages seem to have nothing to do with love. They instead see their wives as articles of their own entertainment, and in hatching a plan that enables them to cheat without fear of being found out by an angry spouse, they demonstrate that their union is basically worthless to them and that the friendship between them means much more.