energies in chasing the last bit of dirt out of her house but be
willing to poison her family with three delicatessen meals a day. The
overemotional housewife may flood the household with her tears over
trifles but be a very Spartan in the grave emergencies of life. And the
neurotic woman, a chronic invalid for housework, may do a dragoon's work
for Woman Suffrage. It may be that no man can understand women; it is a
fact they do not understand themselves. But in this they are not unlike
men.

One might speak of the jealous woman, the selfish woman, the woman
envious of her more fortunate sisters, poisoning herself by bitter
thoughts. These traits belong to all men and women; they are part of
human nature, and they have their great uses as well as their
difficulties. Jealousy, selfishness, envy, three of the cardinal sins of
the theologian, are likewise three of the great motive forces of
mankind. They are important as reactions against life, not as qualities,
and we shall so consider them in a later chapter.

Though we have discussed the types predisposed to the nervousness of the
housewife, it is a cardinal thesis of this book that great forces of
society and the nature of her life situation are mainly responsible.
From now on we are face to face with these factors and must consider
them frankly and fully.




CHAPTER IV

THE HOUSEWORK AND THE HOME AS FACTORS IN THE NEUROSIS