Men silencing women is perhaps the book’s most significant motif. It appears in various forms throughout the book and intersects with other themes and symbols. The most obvious example is the discussion of men speaking over women, which is the initial focus of the book’s eponymous essay. In it, Solnit recounts her encounters with Mr. Very Important I and Mr. Very Important II. Mr. Very Important II sneers at her as he inaccurately “corrects” her on a subject she has researched extensively, while in another anecdote, Mr. Very Important I talks over her to tell her about a book that she actually wrote. In both cases, Solnit is effectively silenced by the men, believing that Mr. Very Important I may actually be correct in his arrogant assumptions and finding Mr. Very Important II’s scorn “so withering, his confidence so aggressive, that arguing with him seem[s] a scary exercise in futility” (9).

Solnit demonstrates that this behavior is a playing out of traditional gender roles, which lead many men to express the “out-and-out confrontational confidence of the totally ignorant” (4). When Mr. Very Important I learns that Solnit is the author of the book he is discussing, he struggles to make this information fit his rigid understanding of gender roles.