Motif of the Female Body

Foley incorporates a motif of the female body to emphasize how often women are exploited in art and language. There are several descriptions of photographs, statues, or portraits that are sexual in nature. Of course, the women who dance at Jacques’s club are intended to be sexually inviting. Slang phrases referring to sexual parts of a woman’s body are also used frequently to demonstrate how often the female body is exploited.

Both the picture of Sophie and the nude statue are examples of the way the female body is exploited. Jacques keeps a nude photo of his wife above his desk in his study. Ben mentions the photograph to Sophie after he snoops around in Jacques’s office. Sophie thinks of the photo: “I had asked Jacques to get rid of it. It was so inappropriate. So seedy” (133). Later, the...