Antigone Journal Three

Boy Vs. Girl (Pages 20-44)

While reading, I noticed that the male gender is focused on a great deal amount when it comes to serious matters. The author, Anouilh, shows females in a different view, one may say "sexist" but I do not believe this is the case. For an example oh how men are focused on more is when the guard tells Creon that the body of Polydices was buried. Creon assumes it is of a male gender. "A kid! I can imagine what he is like, their kid: a baby faced killer, creeping in the night with a toy shovel under his jacket." (Page 22) This struck me. Creon assumes not only that the criminal is a male but a child. Why is this? I believe this is due from the fact that kids can be "hard to handle" and mostly mischevious. They can be quite the con artists. On the other hand, I wonder why he would think that the person is a child, children are not supposed to be smarter than adults. Thinking about it, it seems to me that Creon made a remark that may have been hurtful to the guard. That the guard(s) are not mature enough to handle a child criminal.
When speaking of tragedy, Anouilh refers to a girl. "Anything will set it going: a glance at a girl who happens to be lifting her arms to her hair as you go by...." (Page 23) The sentence goes on talking about other things that could disrupt a characters day, but that is besides the point at this particular moment. The author was referrring to a girl as though she causes tragedy for someone. This may be true in a way. Correct me if I am wrong, but when a male looks at a girl, and she is playing with her hair, moving her hair, isn't that supposed to be some way of saying that male is attracted to that female? "The unbreathable silence when, at the beginning of the play, the two lovers, their hearts bared, their bodies naked, stand for the first time face to face in the darkened room, afraid to stir." (Page 23) Sex is a serious matter and Annouilh seems to be telling the reader just that by reffering the woman to a tragic moment in a man's life.