Traditional qualities of a feminine woman generally include a beautiful physique, a gentle and nurturing nature, and a degree of sexual reserve. In literature and film, women who adhere to typical ideas of femininity are also depicted as upper class and elite, while less feminine and less beautiful women are depicted as lower class. , even uneducated and poor. Visions of femininity and class are not generally thought of as correlated ideals, but they are often depicted as such in contemporary art and literature. In Walter Mosley's The Devil in a Blue Dress (1990), there is a dichotomy between two ideas of femininity embodied by a single woman in order to show how different representations of femininity are associated with class and status. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In the novel, the character Daphne Monet sometimes embraces and sometimes rejects traditional ideals of femininity. The reader is introduced to the character as a white woman with possible French heritage. When the protagonist, Easy Rawlins, is hired for a job that has him searching for Daphne, he expects to find a sweet, delicate woman who has gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd. The two eventually meet and form a connection. She is mysterious and seductive, serving to bolster Easy's ego with her need to be saved. He dreamily describes her with eyes that “were just a little closer than those of most women; it made her seem vulnerable, made me feel like I wanted to put my arms around her – to protect her” (89). As long as Daphne plays the character of a shy, vulnerable girl in need of rescuing, she retains her power. Her sexual appeal and inability to remove herself from troubling situations becomes so attractive to Easy that he forgets that he is supposed to see her as a job and not a sexual conquest. As a white woman who associates with politicians, gangsters, and businessmen, Daphne is of a higher class than Easy. Easy desires to be associated with her, and although he prides himself on being a loner, he seems to fall in love with Daphne and becomes willing to risk his life for her. As Easy gets to know her, he discovers that many of her traits reject typical ideas of femininity. This is reflected in her promiscuous sexuality, the fact that she speaks frankly in a way many women would not, and is even vulgar enough to urinate in front of him. All of these incidents suggest that Daphne is not who she appears to be, and Easy soon learns that she is in fact a black woman who has lived in an upper-class white society. When Easy confronts Daphne, she explains, “I’m not Daphne. My first name is Ruby Hanks and I was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I am different from you because I am two people. I am here and I am me” (203). After describing how she contains such a dichotomy within her, Easy no longer wants to be with her, or even associate with her. He realizes that he didn't save Daphne heroically; she was just using it. The mystery in which she was once shrouded is gone, and Easy finds himself even more dissociated from his surroundings and alone than he was at the beginning of the novel. Once, Easy learns that Daphne is Ruby, a black woman who only disguises herself as a woman. white woman, the notion of her belonging to a higher class has disappeared. Instead, she is at the same level of..