"…It's like being married to two men…": A Feminist Interpretation of Roxane Gay's “The Mark of Cain” Anonymous College

In Roxane Gay’s “ The Mark of Cain”, the narrator sacrifices her emotional needs to mollify her husband. She remains in the marriage even after her husband deceives her and subjects her to physical violence and emotional tribulations. The title of the short story alludes to the Biblical story of Cain and Abel; thus, it has undertones of betrayal and self-deprivation. In patriarchal contexts, women sacrifice the most; such sacrifices are deleterious to their needs though. On the other hand, men gain a great deal as a result of the sacrifices women make. Patriarchal societies have degraded women to the degree that women have internalized their standing as devices created to effectuate men’s impulses. Roxane Gay’s “The Mark of Cain” elucidates men’s betrayal women; the sacrifices women make, in their marriages, supersede the men’s.

Arguably, women are bulldozed to abide by men’s demands; women face an either…or situation whereby they have two options: compliance and non-compliance whereby failure to comply is tantamount to losing the man. The narrator says, “I wear heavy eyeliner and dark lipstick because my husband once said that he always wants me to look the way I did the night we met in a bar, drunk and numb, looking for...