Simone de Beauvoir aboard the Ark
Male Hero Fantasies and the Second Sex
Many readers today would notice that the female characters in narratives regarding Noah lack significance. Noah's wife embodies this issue as there is no mention in the Bible about what had happened to her after the flood incident. Although she played no small part to the survival of the human race, she and the wives of Noah's sons were not given as much attention as they should have been given. Ancient versions of the flood story, along with other works from ancient literature, demonstrate a gender that is fundamentally different from the gender categories that we recognize today. It can be observed that much focus is given to the male personas in the Bible—a fact that some may choose to ignore as this incidentally evokes the “universal”notions of justice, hope, and survival. This chapter attempts to unfold the male hero fantasies of the Bible while giving attention back to Simone de Beauvoir's notion of a second sex in the context of holding a significant role in ancient and biblical versions of the stories.
Keywords: Noah, Noah's wife, male hero fantasy, second sex, Simone de Beauvoir
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