Thought's on the story "Night Women"

In the book “Krik Krak” the story “Night Women,” presents a woman that is a prostitute who sleeps with men in front of her sleeping son. After she puts her son to sleep every night, the women brings in married men on certain days of the week. The woman makes up fabrications to tell her son just in case he awakes while she is working. She tells her son that his father, who is her dead husband, will be brought from heaven by an angel.

In the story “Night Women,” the reader gets a sense of how beautiful the woman is and that she uses that to her advantage to get work. For example, when the woman asks one of the married men that come on Tuesdays and Saturdays, “How is your wife?” He simply replies, “Not as beautiful as you.” I feel that the woman feels like she has to sleep with men because there is not any other job for her available. For instance, The woman states, “These women, they destroy their toil so that they will always have more to do. And as long as there’s work, they will not have to lie next to the lifeless soul a man whose scent still lingers in another woman’s bed.” In this quote, I felt as if there was a sense of guilt the woman was feeling from sleeping with married men.

Even though the women presented in the story calls herself a day and night women, there is a reason for the title “Night Women.” In this quote, the woman explains that she is a day and night woman, “There are two kinds of women: day women and night women. I am stuck between the day and night in a golden amber bronze.” She is describing her physical appearance in this quote. But in my opinion, the title of the story is not named “Night Women” because of the woman’s appearance. The significance of the title is that the woman does her work at night next to her sleeping son. The women don’t work during the day like women would regularly do at a regular job.

In my opinion, this story shows what women sometimes feel like they have to do to make a living for their children and them self. From practicing her prostitution profession next to her sleeping son, to making up fabrications about her work to her son; this woman was doing what she felt like she had to do.