Life on Skid Row

After completing the readings for my novel and seeing how the story came to a close, I felt that the feminist literary theory is very prominent in this book. The story obtains many themes that are both anti-women and pro-men. Although the novel emphasizes good moral lessons, these themes should not be seen as how life really is. The feminist theory focuses on the treatment of women in the novel, what roles they play, and whether men or women hold power in the story. All of which are prominent in the novel.

In Lullabies for Little Criminals, Baby’s direction to her irrational attitude can be associated with the loss of her mother when she was young, which causes her strong love for aggressive father to develop into an unfortunate series of sexual, emotional, and psychological hardships.

Baby lives in a world where her life focuses around drugs, hardship, and prostitution and these are all seen as very common things. From my last post, you may remember hearing about the pimp, Alphonse. He takes Baby in and manipulates her into selling her body for sex. She is objectified, and loses her virginity at an extremely early age because of a man who holds power over her.

At the beginning of this section in the novel, Alphonse forces Baby into a car with a random man. While in the car, the man asks for her name and her age, where she lies and says she is fifteen — she is only thirteen at the time. He says, “I want to have sex with you, I’ll give you a hundred bucks” (O’Neill 219). Men in this novel are so eager to manipulate, and take advantage of the females despite their age. Especially the men whom Baby associates herself with. Alphonse only spends time with her to objectify her and get money from her as she is selling herself for sex. At one point, Baby thinks to herself, “I didn’t even feel like a prostitute. A prostitute stands there all night looking for people. A prostitute wears a sparkly silver jacket and high heels, not a tacky winter hat and snow boots” (O’Neill 227). Alphonse has convinced Baby that what she is doing is okay, and in fact is normal. He makes her believe that because she is living in poverty, this is the only logical way for her to make enough money to sustain herself. Aside from this, Alphonse was also abusive towards Baby. If she did not do what he wanted or acted in a way that he did not like, he would hurt her in violent ways, “He jumped up, grabbed my arm, and started pulling me down the hall… He pushed me into an opened closet in the hall and slammed the door shut” (O’Neill 275).

The female characters that the novel focuses most on are seen as sex icons and parents who are always beaten out by the men. The working women in the story are essentially all prostitutes  or care givers who Baby has lived with. An example of this being a women named Isabella. She is the caregiver at the foster home Baby stayed at in the beginning of the novel. Isabella’s job was strictly to care for the children in the home and this is a strong example of a female doing a “traditional” female job.

Aside from the traditional roles few women played in this story, the most evident role was the sex icon. Despite being a prostitute and essentially working for Alphonse, Baby was intimate with him as well. He forced her into doing sexual activities with him. While at the movies, “Alphonse reached over and took my hand. He guided it between his legs, and I had to rub there during the movie. I hoped it would make up for having shown up late” (O’Neill 238). Baby says she, “felt dirty and uncomfortable” (O’Neill 238) and she could feel people around her judging. She did not want to upset him or anger him by pulling herself away. There are many instances in the story where Baby does not enjoy the presence of Alphonse, and feels uncomfortable around him, “He was too close to me, and I felt as if I was suffocating” (O’Neill 255). Alphonse dominates Baby. He manipulates her and sends her out as a prostitute and keeps all the money she makes. He forces Baby to stay in his home, in order to “keep her safe”. The relationship is unfair, and there is no wonder why Baby feels as if she is “suffocating”.

The community in this novel holds men to a higher standard than women. It humiliates the women as well. It is an unfavourable thing to send the word that men are capable to torment and control women and that this should just be accepted. This story may be set in an impoverish society, but the women should not have to prostitute themselves in order to able to stay above in this society.

Works Cited

O’Neill, Heather. Lullabies for Little Criminals: a Novel. HarperCollins, 2006, New York. Prin