43 pages • 1 hour read
Rebecca SolnitMen Explain Things To Me
Nonfiction | Essay Collection | Adult | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Why is a focus on irrevocable changes central to properly understanding how much progress has been made by the feminist movement?
In what ways is “darkness” used to explore the benefits of embracing the unknown and unknowable?
How are the actions of Mr. Very Important I and Mr. Very Important II part of a wider “continuum that stretches from minor social misery to violent silencing and violent death” (16)?
Violence against women is one of the book’s most significant themes. How does this concept manifest throughout the various essays?
Why does Solnit laud Virginia Woolf as resembling Virgil?
In what ways does Solnit use Dominque Strauss-Kahn’s alleged assault of Nafissatou Diallo as a metaphor for neo-colonial exploitation of the Global South?
Why does Solnit believe that the motif of “Pandora’s box, or if you like, the genies (or djinnis) in bottles in Arabian Nights” (111) accurately reflects the cultural changes brought about by feminism?
The motif of silencing women is most apparent in the first essay, but in what ways is it woven throughout the book’s other essays?
How does Solnit employ the symbol of the spider’s web to explore women’s roles in history?
In what ways are gender roles central to both men’s silencing of women and men’s violence against women?
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By Rebecca Solnit
