women should obey men and that she belongs to him in his dreams. Even before talking to her, he says that “she had betrayed him by not being” where he wanted her to be (Lessing 187). But when he approaches her, she rejects him and he “gets drunk in hatred of her” (Lessing 189).By developing the feelings of hate and anger the three men try to recover the acceptance of her complete indifference to them. By constantly annoying her with whistling and attempts to get her attention they hope that it would evoke at least an angry reaction from her and that would prove their position of dominance to them. In order to achieve this they are even willing to “clamber about, between chimney-pots, over parapets, the hot leads stinging their fingers” (Lessing 187).The woman’s indifference and rejection causes overtly aggressive reactions from the men because her behavior does not follow the norms imposed by men who view women as their private possessions, and as objects whose sole task in life is to please them. Similarly, the watercress girl who acts as an adult and recognizes her market value, does not fit the childhood norms of bourgeois society, which imply ability of children to enjoy themselves and be free from responsibilities. But in contrast to woman on a roof who challenges her male observers by her independence, the watercress girl does not threaten the male position of dominance. She just “puzzles, evokes pity, affection and repentance” in them (Steedman 410). The behavior of the characters, males and females, in Houston’s and Lessing’s works echoed with theories of analytical studies of Gilligan and Steedman reveal a small portion of the endless mystery of the human attraction and behavior, its impact on individuals and society. Identities and choices of the two female characters described in two literary works do not imply that one of them is right and other ...
