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Library's collection Library's IT development CancelThis is a study of the miserable lives of the female characters in Alice Walker's three
short stories: "Roselily", "Really, Doesn't Crime Pay?" and "Her Sweet Jerome". All of
the female characters: Roselily, Myrna, and Mrs. Washington are unhappy with their own
marriage but they stay in their marriage. These three women still wants to find a way out
to their problems. The thesis writer intends to begin her analysis by finding the causes of
the miserable lives, which are mostly because of the female characters themselves and the
men who are involved with them. The characters, Roselily, Myrna, and Mrs. Washington
cannot be free from their miserable lives although actually they have alternatives. Then,
the thesis writer wants to see their motivations to stay in their miserable marriage lives.
In order to achieve her purpose, the thesis writer is aided with the theory of
characterization, the theory on marriage, and the background of black women to help her
analyze the characters. In the analysis the thesis writer discusses the causes of the
miserable lives and the motivations in details through observing the characters of the
three women, Roselily, Myrna and Mrs. Washington. At the end, the thesis writer
concludes that with all of the various lives that those female characters have, their
miserable lives are mostly caused by themselves and their men. In addition, for the
motivations, the thesis writer finds that they have various motivations to stay in their
position, such as to get freedom, to take revenge, to maintain the status and to be loved.
To sum up, all of the female and male characters are inseparable to explain the miserable
marriage lives they have to face.