I have read five short stories from the anthology Out of the Darkness :: English Literature

I have read five short stories from the anthology 'Out of the Darkness' - From the five stories I will be discussing the treatment of the women in three of the stories. For my prose coursework, I have read five short stories from the anthology 'Out of the Darkness'. From the five stories I will be discussing the treatment of the women in three of the stories. The three stories I have chosen are 'Invisible Boy', 'More Than Just A Disease' and 'The Darkness Out There'. In the story 'The Darkness Out There', the old lady, whose name is 'Mrs Rutter', is portrayed by the writer as a woman with a 'wonky leg' and a 'bad back' and also a woman that is getting 'home help'; this shows that she is a woman that is unable to do much practical work. This is a stereotype of an old person as most old people have some sort of problem with their body and a bad back is typical problem. Mrs Rutter getting home help is another stereotype because this also shows that she is unable to cope on her own and needs assistance with doing household chores. Mrs Rutter is shown as a lonely person because in the story the girl who is going to help her with the chores says to herself ' Mrs Rutter will be ever so pleased to meet me'. This is a stereotype in the form that the girl is assuming that most old people are lonely and live by themselves. Mrs Rutter is described as being a sweet woman and having chin upon chin also she is shown to like flowers, dresses and talking to other females; this is the most obvious stereotype in the story against women and also old people who like to talk. When we first meet Mrs Rutter she greets the two children 'Kerry' and 'Sandra' and offers them tea, but she seems to like Sandra more because she talks to Sandra a lot more about dresses, boyfriends and flowers, but when she speaks Kerry she ask's him if he is still at school and he says he will be leaving soon to join a garage and she replies, 'that's good steady money if you'd haven't got anything got any thing special in mind'. This is not a great welcoming message to say to a person that has come to help you with chores. 'Pat' the woman who runs the good neighbours club call's Mrs Rutter an 'old dear' and a 'poppet', it is unlike an old dear to greet someone in that fashion. When Mrs Rutter told her dark story of her past about leaving a young