male provider in Joe that every woman in the 1950s was expected to love and adore absolutely.The character of Biddy does not appear offensive to women when examining her apart from the rest. She happens to be a smart, loving girl who does not mind a life on the forge. Relative to the rest of the major female characters though, she is the only one the reader can stand. By making the wealthy, extravagant, and unhappy women all evil people, Dickens states that the only good woman is the type that can live at home and take care of a family and be happy with her lot in life. By viewing the novel and the characters within it as a group, a certain type of reader may be offended by the feminine ideal contained in the novel. The view of women is rather sexist and unfair, although no character actually states any beliefs in the inferiority of women. It serves as the beginning of the stereotypes of women that were held so strong after the industrial revolution. These beliefs allowed men to branch out and become part of the changing world but expected women to stay in their place at home and thus in the background. There is one point left to be made. There is nothing wrong with the character of Biddy. She is a good person and the reader is supposed to like her. She may be the epitome of a sexist culture but she does have her male equivalent in Joe. Joe too is humble, uneducated, but truly happy and good. With these two characters Dickens indicates that people dont have to be rich and proper to be happy. These two are better people than most of the wealthy and superior people in the novel. The only reason why Joe does not present the male ideal is because there are other admirable male characters of all different societal stature. Examples of these men would be Wemmick, Herbert, and Magwitch. Dickens may not have had the malicious intentions of disparaging all women. Furthermore, his mindset can be considered a product of the time...
