The "Single Story" (blog post 3)

Aristophanes utilizes the symbols fire and water to contrast the choruses of men and women. Within their battle of the elements, each gender gibes the other based on the single stories they’ve been misled to believe. The aura of patriarchal society is most obvious when the chorus of men assume the role of the superior sex: “So when mere women (who gall the gods and make Euripides sick),” (38-39), “Can’t stand a foul-mouthed female,” (49), “I categorically refuse to shush for some confounded woman, who wears- as a reminder of congenial inferiority…a veil!” (57).  Lysistrata further mentions on page 56 this stereotype they are subject to fall into. She explains that the wives tolerated their husbands when the war began. After the husbands came home from fighting, their wives would prod the men to divulge how they accumulated peace. Yet time after time, they’d “[pass] another decree, fouler than the first” and “keep [the wives] from giving advice”. In turn, the women became fed up, therefore causing the pact of abstinence allowing the women to break the inferior view of themselves: “We’re not slaves; We’re freeborn women… Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman,” (51), “Women, weaker vessels, arise!” (58), “I admit to being a woman- but don’t sell my contributions short on that account,” (66). Perhaps flames depict the fiery personas of men and their war-like mindsets while women epitomize the cooling characteristics of water that douse the belligerent blaze. Lysistrata, the chorus of women, and females in the world today should heed the advice of Mother Teresa when she says: