Gender and Domestic Power

Mrs. Bunting is the practical manager of the household, handling the lodger and making key decisions, while Bunting is more passive, yet she is also subject to the lodger's misogyny and her own internalized fears, showing the complex dynamics of gender within the home.

Mrs. Bunting's irritation with Bunting's idleness and her control over household decisions, such as whether Daisy can stay, highlight her domestic authority and the tensions within the marriage.