Blog 3

The common theme found in "The Gilded Six-Bits," "I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed," and "To His Coy Mistress" was that of the expectations of women in society and in their family lives as well.

In Hurston's "The Gilded Six-Bits," it appears that Missie May and Joe have the perfect marriage. While they are not rich in material wealth, they have all the love they could ever want. Society would look at this marriage as "having it all." With a love like that, what more could a person want? Evidentally, in Missie's case, a lot more. She felt her life was lacking material wealth and therefore had an affair with someone who could supposedly financially provide for her. Society would scorn at this action, because most people feel that love really is all you need in life. Women are expected to find love and be happy for the rest of their lives. But to Missie, she felt wealth was what she needed to be happy.

Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" talks about the sexual expectations in a relationship. The author of the poem claims that life is short, and therefore it is stupid for a woman to preserve her virginity when she is in such a passionate relationship. The society surrounding the narrator's mistress are urging her to keep her purity, and she has accepted that. However, She is being pressured by the author to fulfill his desires. The mistress is being bombarded with two different expectations regarding an important issue of her time.

Millay's "I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed" talks about the expectations of a woman to a man. While the author of this poem is not guarding her virtue like the woman in "To His Coy Mistress," she does regard these acts as "the needs and notions of my kind..." She feels the expectations to change herself to be with the man she talks about. But instead of giving into those expectations, she decides it isn't worth it. Yet she still feels these pressures of being a woman.

While three women are presented in these pieces of literature, each of them face a different expectation in their life in regard to love.