At a point in our history, a male dominant society was the only accepted lifestyle of living. It was extremely hard and almost impossible for a woman to rebel against the rules of such a sexist society. The affect of such a society is portrayed in poems, stories and dramas. For instance, the poem "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers," the story "Our Friend Judith," and the drama "A Doll's House" clearly demonstrate and characterize how males dominated and influenced a woman"s lifestyle and decisions. In each one of these pieces, the woman is trying to free herself of the rules and restrictions placed on her by a sexist society. The placement of these rules and restrictions had a different effect on each one of these authors. For some authors it could be childhood emotional isolation; transformation in feelings and understanding of the society; or secession from society. Lessing's character Judith said a lot about an emotionally distant family's negative influence on young women. This is obviously a byproduct of childhood emotional isolation. On the other hand, the author, Adrienne Rich, writes about her personal experience as a woman writer in a male dominated society. Her composition consists of poems, which she had written throughout different times in her life, to demonstrate the transformation in her writing and feelings. Furthermore, the idea brought forth by Henrik Ibsenis in his drama "A Doll's House" is secession from society. The characters in this drama delineate this point. Each identity in his work breaks away from the social standards of their time and act on their own terms.
Ibsenis, Rich and Lessing use symbols and characterization to illustrate the women in a male dominated society. Lessing's pervasive use of cats as symbols for Judith's wavering sense of independence offers a useful illumination of the story's ending and her decision to leave Luigi.