' Thus the novel is just as unsparing in the way that it shows the limits of a female-dominant perspective that simply reverses the dominant paradigm of male dominance. For example, when Jael suspects a male still believes in the inequality of women, she kills him, and hopes that all of the main characters, whom she sees as 'the same' as herself, all part of the same woman yet existing in different universes will adhere to her own society's goals to create all-female worlds. Jael does only live in a society that is absent of men, like Janet, but she is openly hostile towards males.
One of the most striking aspects of the complexity of the novel is evident at the end, when Jael tries to mobilize the women to do away with all of the males in their respective worlds. Janet refuses. Then Jael reveals that, rather than a natural plague, an effective similar campaign to the one proposed by Jael is the reason that there are no males in Whileaway. Jael is triumphant, but Janet's regret about this fact explain a comment she made earlier in the novel, that she no longer fits into the all-female Whileaway. It also explains regrets she experiences having to kill 'on assignment,' which the housewife Laura, frustrated in her role and excited by her association with Janet, gleefully celebrates (Russ 145).
The novel underlines the fact that Janet's dislike engage in violence is not because of sexual frustration because Janet enjoys sexual relationship with women, including the married Earth woman Laura, as well as having a wife of Whileaway. Instead, Janet's dissatisfaction with Jael's proposition comes from her ability to question the value of using violence and adopting 'male' norms. From personal experience, Janet knows this does not bring happiness. Because she still exists in a polarized society, Joanna can recall wanting to 'be' (and not just have a crush on) Humphrey Bogart and Douglas Fairbanks, and to be loud, ambitious, and powerful. This illustrates that ironically, living in an all-female and undivided society might be why Janet...
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