Denis Diderot’s “The Indiscreet Jewels” discusses the “magic” power of a ring that forces women to spill all of their deepest secrets. As I was reading this, I couldn’t help but relate this ring to the phrase, “drunk words are sober thoughts” because this ring is essentially a way of bringing the truth out. The things that the ring got the women to reveal about themselves would have never come to light otherwise because people tend to stay away from revealing truly terrible intentions or feelings out of fear of judgment. It was not surprising due to the time period of the 1800’s that what the author chose to focus on was women’s secret thoughts, because women were known to be untrustworthy and inferior to men. The thoughts that the ring caused the women to reveal were not surprising either, as in Aliya’s case, she admitted to marrying her husband for his status, but wishing she could do better. In this time, status was everything and women would always do their best to marry the best off man that they could find.
I couldn’t help but consider as I was reading what this story would have turned out to be if the roles had been switched and the women had the magic ring to use against the men in their lives. The men at that time obviously had secrets of their own that they would tell nobody, possibly issues of adultery or something similar, but the fact of the matter is that men held so much of a higher status than women that it never would have been seen as an option to use the ring against them. The ring symbolizes power first and foremost and the control that men could exude over women.
Bella Narvaez
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