Posted: September 17th, 2022

Feminism in the People of Paper

Feminism in the People of Paper
Feminism revolves around the representation of the ideas, cultural and social beliefs, and literary texts that reinforce women’s social, political, economic and psychological oppression. Thus, analyzing Plascencia’s People of Paper is crucial for highlighting the cases of feminism that the novel portrays.
Analysis of the novel from the feminist perspective shows the woman character differently from the readers’ ordinary thoughts. For instance, the position of women in marriage is regarded as a subject to men’s oppressive characters. Liz, Saturn’s wife, seems to be oppressed by his dictatorship. Saturn is a tyrant and dictates her entire life. He is portrayed as an unlikeable character. He is sexist, obsessed with selfness, vindictive, and spoiled (Plascencia, 2006). She hates him, but is forced to remain loyal to him knowing that he has the power and will to control and protect his property. The married women are further depicted as subjects of men’s lies. Liz remains loyal to Saturn for a long period of time knowing that he is able to control all her aspects of life. She finally realizes Saturn’s fictive nature. He appears dictatorial in his response by using some obscene words when Liz pleads to leave him out of the story. She is finally forced to revolt against Saturn and runs to another man with hopes of finding her freedom.
When reading the novel, the reader’s perception of the Saturn and Federico characters changes. The book introduces Saturn as a defender of his creation. However, in the later stage, he is filled with vengeance against his creators when his subjects realize how fictive and fallible he is when protecting them. The reader’s perception of Federico’s inhumane character while planning the war against Saturn also changes when Saturn’s subjects realize his malicious and fictive nature and his inability to protect them while he can scarcely protect himself. As a result, Saturn becomes enemy for the people and his subjects, including his wife Liz, who also rebels against him.
The analysis of Plascencia’s People of Paper is crucial for highlighting cases of feminism that are depicted by Saturn’s dictatorship towards such characters as Liz. The readers’ perception of his protective nature also changes when he turns out to be fictive and vengeful person.

Reference
Plascencia, S. (2006). The people of paper. Mariner Books.

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