Simone de Beauvoir's work greatly influenced Betty Friedan's-indeed, made it possible. Why, then, was it Friedan who became the prophet of women's emancipation in the United States? Political conditions, as well as a certain anti- intellectual bias, prepared Americans and the American media to better receive Friedan's deradicalized and higgly pragmatic the Feminine Mystique, published in 1963, than Beauvoir's theoretical reading of women's situation in The Second Sex. In 1953 whe The second Sex first appeared in translatin in the United States, the country ha entered the silent, fearful fortress of the anti-communist McCarthy years (1950-1954), and Beauvoir was suspected of Marxist sympathies. Even The Nation, a generally liberal magazine, warned its readers against 'certain political leanings' of the author. Open ackowledgement of the existence ofwomen's oppression was too radical for the United States in the fifties, and Beauvoir's conclusion, that change in women's economic condition, though insufficient by itself, 'remains the basic factor' in improving women's situation, was particularly unacceptable.
The author quotes from The Nation most probably in order to-.
After help, we can use object + infinitive (with or without to).
| Can you help me (to) find my ring? (NOT | |
| Thank you so much for helping us (to) repair the car. | |
| Our main task is to help the company (to) become profitable. |
Help can also be followed directly by an infinitive without an object.
| Would you like to help pack? |
If you say that you cannot/can’t help doing something (especially in British English), you mean that you can’t stop yourself, even if you don’t want to do it.
| She’s a selfish woman, but somehow you can’t help liking her. | |
| Excuse me – I couldn’t help overhearing what you said. | |
| Sorry I broke the cup – I couldn’t help it. |
Can’t help can be followed by but + infinitive (without to), with the same meaning as can’t help verb + ing. This is common in American English.
| I can’t help but wonder what I should do next. |
Related Question
View MorePromotion
Download Our Mobile Apps
