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Upon reading the first twenty or so chapters of the Book of Genesis, a few aspects of the
story really stuck out to me. First of all, at the end of chapter two, the lord puts the man
into a deep sleep and removes one of his ribs in order to create the first woman. Yet, the
very beginning of chapter two proclaims that the lord formed man from the dust of the
ground. Why couldn’t the lord make the first woman from the dust of the ground? Perhaps
it has something to do with the idea of portraying man as being mightier than woman, for
woman would not even exist if it were not for the rib of man. This one instance, among
many others, exemplifies the way women were viewed and/or treated in the early stages of
humankind. The downplay of the intelligence of women, paired with the mistreatment of
them and the simple notion that they are less than man, adequately illustrates the value
placed on them during biblical times.
Focusing on the downplay of women’s intelligence, I am going to refer back to the
beginning of chapter three. The first few lines of the chapter paint the picture of a cunning
serpent having a conversation with the woman about which trees can and cannot be eaten
from, in compliance with the lord’s word. When the woman tells the serpent that they were
promised death in the event of eating fruit from the tree located in the center of the garden,
