Journal #5

This Thursday, we discussed the role femininity played in The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov. There are very few female characters in the book overall, but the author has made a point to emphasize stereotypes that are still pervasive till this day. For example, females are categorized as hysterical and weak.

Jessie, Elijah’s wife, is the most substantial female presence throughout the story. She is introduced as a submissive housewife who quit her job right after getting pregnant. Often Elijah even disregards Jessie by abruptly hanging up on her whenever they spoke on the phone. This kind of disrespect was something that almost never occurred between men.

Elijah’s bias towards women almost cost him the whole case. Jessie was hesitant to reveal how she discovered that Daneel was a robot. Finally, she provided a lame excuse about it being a topic of conversation in the female Personal. Elijah easily accepted this and proved to the audience that his bias toward women was so deeply ingrained that he did not think to question her honesty. In his mind, he probably that women were only good for spreading rumors. But Jessie acquired the information from an underground anti-robot group she was affiliated with and not from gossiping. If it was not for Jessie’s lie, Elijah would have cracked the case earlier on in the story.

When femininity is imposed onto a male character it is used to convey weakness or stupidity. When Elijah was expressing his idea that Daneel was Dr. Sarton he was referred to as hysterical. Hysteria is something usually only attributed to females and to refer to Elijah that way was a method of revealing his weaknesses.

At times, it seems that Asimov is playing with our own gender biases to make us feel a certain way. The argument can also be made that he is playing into his own biases. The rise of Feminism come after this period and it is possible that he was simply responding to what was already bubbling in society.