Ruth's poverty

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When Ruth was supporting her family on other jobs besides writing she wasn't making very much money. When she began writing, though, why wasn't she at least making more than before, enough to feed her child more than a loaf of bread? You would think that writing would be more of a specialized job. Was it because she was a fem

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2000

Answers

I think that the complete reason why she was paid as much as she was before was because she was a female. At this time period it was not accepted by society for a female to write. The fact that Ruth was writing embarrassed many people and outraged some also. Men at this time period could make a good living writing, but because Ruth was a female no one wanted to accept her as a successful writer.

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2000

I think it had to deal with a little bit of both. Females didn't seem to be treated very well during this time. I'm sure a female writer didn't make near as much as a male one did. She was also a fern. As far as everybody in the community knew her family was supposed to be supporting her. I think the fact that she had both of these aspects of her life working against her was the reasoning she still wasn't making very good money as a writer.

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2000

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