Depictions of Gender

In Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story, a near-future American society is portrayed where the roles of gender are completely separate and defined. The interactions between characters demonstrate a central theme in the novel--that of the gender roles. We can see several instances where there seems to be a return to an old-style, traditional, patriarchal society. One example of this theme comes in the multiple times that the males, especially Lenny, refers to Eunice as petite. Eunice is seen as a small, which is very typical in a male-dominated society. This gives Eunice a sense of submissiveness compared to the males and may imply the need for protection. In fact, there are several times where Lenny, who is soft on the inside, pretends to act tough because he wants Eunice to feel a sense of protection from him as they are traveling through Central Park and are witnesses to a quarrel. Oddly enough, it can be argued that throughout the novel Eunice actually seems like the tougher of the too, but Lenny has this idea instilled in him that he NEEDS to protect petite Eunice. Shteyngart also shows us the extent to which women have became objectified. Various times throughout the novel, many of the young girls desire and use very provocative clothing. Also, people are reduced to ratings on "fuckability", and they lose most of the rest of the important things that make up a person. These girls care a lot about their appearances and want to be desired by other men and increase their ratings. These instances all connect to the larger picture that the novel is painting. Our society is moving in a direction where people are starting to lose their identities. The technology and innovations in this future America have reduced people to simple statistics and numbers that anyone can access at anytime. This is even starting to happen now with the advances in social networking. Also, women are feeling more and more pressure from society to be "desirable" to men and think they have to be this impossibly perfect sexual being to the point where nothing else about them even matters anymore. This type of society, as portrayed in the novel, is quickly spiraling downward.