How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"If women don't know that two and two are four, how are they going to be able to handle a scalpel? Their duty is motherhood and the home. At the rate they're going, the next thing you know they'll be asking to be deputies, judges – even President of the Republic!" (2.77)
For Esteban, the divisions of society are clearly delineated – women belong in the domestic realm, taking care of the children and the elderly; and men belong in the public sphere, doing cool things like performing surgery and being President and stuff. (Side note: today, in real life, the President of Chile is Michelle Bachelet – yup, a woman. Take that, Esteban Trueba! Oh, wait…we're fighting with a fictional character again.)
Quote #5
"Since when has a man not beaten his wife? If he doesn't beat her, it's either because he doesn't love her or because he isn't a real man. Since when is a man's paycheck or the fruit of the earth or what the chickens lay shared between them, when everybody knows he is the one in charge? Since when has a woman ever done the same things as a man? Besides, she was born with a wound between her legs and without balls, right, Señora Clara?" they would say. Clara was beside herself. (4.3)
It's not just the patriarch who thinks women and men have their separate and unequal roles in society – this attitude is shared by the poorest and most oppressed members of their society, the women among the peasants on Esteban Trueba's hacienda.
Quote #6
"In that respect women are really thick. They're the daughters of rigidity. They need a man to feel secure but they don't realize that the one thing they should be afraid of is men. They don't know how to run their lives. They have to sacrifice themselves for the sake of someone else. Whores are the worst, patrón, believe me. They throw their lives away working for some pimp, smile when he beats them, feel proud when he's well dressed, with his gold teeth and rings on his fingers, and when he goes off and takes up with a woman half their age they forgive him everything because 'he's a man.' No, sir, I'm not like that. No one's ever supported me and that's why you'll never find me supporting someone else." (4.41)
Tránsito Soto isn't willing to put up with the socially accepted idea that a woman needs to be ruled by a man. Even though she works as a prostitute – a position that some feminists argue exploits women – Tránsito doesn't let herself be exploited. She's her own boss.