Throughout history and literature, women have been second only to men. In the books we read throughout high school, even the most powerful and influential women are often placed under the orders of men. Women's actions and thoughts are often looked down upon by others, even though men have often performed worse actions than them. This relates to the idea of ​​a gender imbalance and pushes the idea that women are inferior to men into the reader's mind, whether it is understood or not. This theme recurs throughout each book, either more relevantly throughout the storyline or simply in a moment. Every way he presents himself shows this idea of ​​imbalance. Mainly through a feminist perspective in Madame Bovary, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The Stranger, women are shown to be inferior to men through individual relationships and society's view of them. In each scenario, women's actions are perceived negatively by the individuals or by themselves. about how their society taught them to think. In the first of the three books, Madame Bovary, Emma is ridiculed for her actions by the other women around her. In a society where women are expected to act correctly, like Catherine Leroux who worked "fifty-four years in the same department" and only expects a "silver medal" under men, Emma's actions seem unjustifiable (Flaubert Part 2 Chapter 8). When Emma has spent all her and Charles' money, she is trapped. She is stuck in a situation where she can ask someone for help to save her from the debt or tell Charles "it was her... who ruined him" by losing all his possessions (part 3, chapter 7). When Emma only seeks to help the cause by trying to hold on to her possessions, she is made fun of... middle of paper ... she is the inferior aspect of the women in this book. From the ideas conveyed in these books through the characters and relationships, we can see women being seen as the inferior sex to men. In the grand scheme of all novels, this creates an image of a woman who is not as powerful as the man. These stories greatly reflect the real world and how, in the past, women were considered inferior to men. They show how society influences the minds of individuals to believe this to be true and that we often fall prone to this evil without a second thought. The future has only one path, and as a society we must aim for direct equality between men and women.Works CitedFlaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Trans. Eleanor Marx-Aveling. Paris: Revue De Paris, 1857. The Literary Network. Internet. January 21. 2014. .