Abstract
This article is concerned with the analysis of selected short stories by H. E. Bates from a feminist point of view with a particular focus on Simone de Beauvoir's principle of sexual objectification. It has been shown how a woman's body is defined by men and is objectified and experienced as object in those stories. In The Enchantress, Bertha is objectified by presenting her as a woman who is enslaved to her body and the role that it plays to make her the absolute sex to men. In The Good Corn, although Elsie is eighteen years old, she is used as an instrument to satisfy the desires of Mr. Mortimer. In The Wild Cherry Tree, Mrs. Boorman is an example of a lady who is treated to be an absolute sex, the Other, to be exploited, and viewed as inferior, mere body, and an instrument during her relationship with her lover, Jack. The final findings of the article assert that though most of the stories discussed are taken from different periods of time in Bates' career as a writer (1926-1974), nothing changes about his view of his female characters in which they have been continuously misrepresented. Through examining women's treatment as sexual objects, one can observe that all the features that Simone Beauvoir criticizes as being responsible for the women's subordinated position are clearly reflected in Bates’ stories. The article ends up proving that H. E. Bates is one of those authors who fall into the trap of depicting their female characters negatively. His female characters embody the type of woman that Simone de Beauvoir struggled to eradicate in favor of an independent and free woman.

Key words: The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir, H. E. Bates, the Other, Sexual Objectification