You really work in those conditions?” She, irritated by the contact, pulled her arm away, protesting: “And how do you work, the two of you, how do you work?” They didn’t answer. They worked hard, that was obvious. And at least Enzo in front of him, in the factory, women worn out by the work, by humiliations, by domestic obligations no less than Lila was. Yet now they were both angry because of the conditions _she_ worked in; they couldn’t tolerate it. You had to hide everything from men. They preferred not to know, they preferred to pretend that what happened at the hands of the boss miraculously didn’t happen to the women important to them and that–this was the idea they had grown up with–they had to protect her even at the risk of being killed. In the face of that silence Lila got even angrier. "Fuck off, " she said, "you and the working class.Elena Ferrante
About This Quote
The second half of the quote is more important than the first. This shows that while people will say they are for equality, many still think that women should be protected and protected by men. The working class is often seen as something dirty or dangerous, but this does not stop people from working with them.
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