218
KATE MILLETT
prostitutes fall back to their traditional outcast standing. One
is
murdered by the village wives and the rest settle back into the nonnal–
cy of divided female camps, inflationary prices and an ill-disguised
hostility for the men who use them.
Turning upon a soldier of the new militia, Ommu, the last of
the matriarchs to carry the full weight of the people's rage, taunts
them as a new set of bosses: "You lousy little stinker, you snot
nose ... go join the other side where there's stately beauty ... may–
be you've already done it, you're joining them and copying them
excites you. To be their reflection
is
already to be one of them." For
the "expected" has come about and Ommu sees her own sons have
"reached the stage of uniforms, discipline, jaunty marches and bare
arms ... parade and heroic death." Not to mention "martial beauty"
which as she points out, equates lovemaking with murder quite as the
Legion had done. Emblem of woman, she lived to see mulish ar–
rogance once again stifle her freedom and suborn her humanity. Hav–
ing been a "dish rag" for a thousand years, she has time, patience
and experience. Since she is deathless resistence and a new spirit in
the world, there is hope yet. And the revolution which liberates Said
and Ommu
will
not only be the last, but the first.
