It is hard to disagree that many positive and negative factors can influence the relationships between different people, especially the relations between men and women. When talking about the latter, it is possible to distinguish two dominant emotions that affect the communication between a woman and a man: attraction and repulsion. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the mixture of these feelings, discuss their impact on male-female relations, and provide examples from three short stories.
Attraction may be considered a mostly positive emotion that pushes a man and a woman to develop mutual relationships. The presence of this interest basically means that a person sees in the potential partner a number of important traits that seem positive to them. For example, one may be attracted by a person’s kindness, laughter, voice, way of thinking, or character in general. As for repulsion, this feeling towards a man or woman can appear initially or after attraction. It is usually caused by actions or character traits that seem purely negative and disgusting to a person. When talking about male-female relations, it is essential to notice that attraction and repulsion can exist in a certain mixture and replace each other depending on the circumstances. Such relationships are usually considered not very healthy.
For example, in Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People,” the reader can observe how the main character develops an attraction to the young man. Hulga is attracted by Manley’s ideas and perception of life and dreams about their conversations. Additionally, “during the night, she had imagined that she seduced him” (O’Connor, 1955, p. 12). However, when the young man suddenly tricks her, Hulga’s attraction to Manley changes to repulsion and disgust. Further, in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” the power demonstrated by Homer Barron attracts Emily. However, their romantic relationship does not lead to their wedding, and it is possible to suggest that Homer starts to feel some kind of repulsion toward Emily (Faulkner, 1930). Finally, it is possible to suggest that both women in Welty’s “The Petrified Man” were once attracted to their husbands. While one of them states that she is still attracted: “Mr. Fletcher and myself are as much in love as the day we married,” the other feels disgusted (Welty, 1942, p. 64). Her self-love and desire to remain beautiful are stronger than her ability to love her husband.
References
Faulkner, W. (1930). A rose for Emily. Web.
O’Connor, F. (1955). Good country people [PDF document]. Web.
Welty, E. (1942). The petrified man. The UNZ Review. Web.