During the days of the cowboy and the expansion west, American culture changed and grew. One characteristic that seemed to stay the same however was the treatment towards woman. In the films High Noon by Fred Zinnemann and The Ballad of Little Jo by Maggie Greenwald, woman are treated not as equals and not as respected as men.
One of the biggest issues between men and women in High Noon was the lack of communication. This is mostly seen with the relationship between Will and Amy. Will and Amy are due to leave town after their wedding, but Will turns back to defend his town and deal with his enemy after he learns that he is on his way to hunt him down. Will tries to protect Amy, but does not say this to her. Will is not like most men who say little to women, but Will does not give Amy any detail for why he cannot go with her. Tompkins states in her book “West of Everything” that “It is by talking…that one opens up to another person and becomes vulnerable. It is by putting words to an emotion that it becomes feminized…thus not talking is a demonstration of masculine control over emotion.” (56) Will at this point of time needs to be strong and explaining the entire situation and saying how he feels to Amy will make him look weak and seem like woman. No man discusses their problems to woman, men do not gossip. Even when Amy threatens to leave without him he does not stop her or give her any reason why he is obligated to stay. Though there is a lack of communication Amy does come back for Will and ends up helping him in a gun fight. She puts behind her the lack of communication and understands Will loves her even without giving her much detail about the situation.
In the west “there are two choices: either you can remain in a world of illusions, by which is understood religion, culture, and class distinctions, a world of fancy words and pretty actions, of ‘manners for the parlor and the ball room, and…womanly tricks for courting’; or you can face life as it really is—blood, death, a cold wind blowing, and a gun in the hand. These are the classic oppositions from which all Westerns derive their meaning… woman verses man.” (48) Tompkins states that in the west that there are two main ways of living, you can be a man and live a rough true life or you can live in a world of women who are very curtsy and filled with life of illusions. For Josephine she realized that life really was one that is filled with danger and having a gun in your hand. Josephine made the change to live her life as a man after her life was in danger being a woman. As a woman she was kicked out of her house for being a whore and then avoided men who had bought her. Josephine lived a disguised life as a man doing work, living life, and facing hard situations that a man would. In doing this she was mostly respected by many men and did not face the hardships woman had to deal with. Woman were sold for sex and had to cook, clean, and take care of the men. Women were not respected for anything they did. Though Josephine missed her feminine roots and wanted them to come out, she understood being a man was getting her through life.
As many like to conclude, women had difficult lives during this period of time. As seen women were not treated fairly, but many like Amy accepted this because this was all they knew. For women like Josephine they wanted to make a change to better their lives. It is easy to see woman had it tough and either you could accept life for what it is or try and make a change.
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