Has the role of the girl changed? In the early 1940s, girls were expected to stay at home and help their mothers. She had to learn household responsibilities such as cleaning, cooking and taking care of the “man of the house”. She was poorly educated and always respected her elders. Today, fifty years later, we have girls who seem to disobey the expectations that were instilled in them. The role of girls has changed from the role of assumed housewife and child-bearing mother to a more educated and involved lifestyle. We can see this change in the role of girls through a comparison between a play and a novel. Laura Wingfield in the play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is an emotional character who feels pressure from her mother and society to fulfill the role of a traditional daughter. Fifty years later, Grace Graves, a young girl in Nicholas Evans' novel The Horse Whisperer, is described as immature and far from traditional. Girls began to have choices and not duties in society. Parenthood played an important role for the girls in the novel and play. Only her mother, Amanda, raised Laura because her father abandoned them. Having a single mother and no father figure upset Laura. She has to deal with the pressure put on her by her mother, who wants to get her married as quickly as possible. Amanda tries to motivate Laura to get married by bragging about her past; “One Sunday afternoon at Blue Mountain, your mother entertained seventeen gentlemen! Well, sometimes there weren't enough chairs to accommodate them all. We had to send the negro to get folding chairs from the parish house” (303). The importance of Amanda and Laura's relationship is imperative to...... middle of paper ....... Unlike Grace who doesn't seem to care about respect. She hates her mother and always finds refuge with her father. When Annie gets tired of seeing Grace in distress, she hatches a plan to bring some joy back into her life. The plan works and Grace seems to have matured at the ranch. In the play, Laura never raised her voice against Amanda, which seemed to be the norm in the early forties. In the novel, Grace disrespects Annie and it seems that talking back has become the new norm. Although Williams never reveals what has become of Laura, we can infer from Tom's speech that Laura has the new ability to care for herself. Evans, in the novel, gives many details about the future of the Grave family. He mentions the new baby and how everyone gets along in the family. Daughters have played a vital role in a family and will forever be..