Abstract On Tar Baby & Woman Hollering Creek

402 Words2 Pages
Monique Arrigotti Professor Valenzuela WNST 335/ 12:00pm MWF October 11, 2011 Gender Role’s Abuses: Masculinity, Femininity, and Domestic Violence Within Tar Baby and Woman Hollering Creek Thesis Statement/ Main Argument: Society’s enforcement on gender roles especially within the context of a culture’s idea on what it is to be masculine (the manly man) and what it is to be feminine (the girly girl), draws the fine line that can be easily crossed when misfortunes of domestic violence arises as projected in Toni Morrison’s Tar Baby and Sandra Cisneros’ Women Hollering Creek. Abstract: Those who enforce the ideas of masculinity and femininity either by example or teaching, especially when it is prevalent within the agent’s culture and society, often overlook the problem of gender roles. The issue with this is that it subconsciously imposes ideas that follow within the context of masculinity and femininity such as the inequality of women and the patriarchy that ensues. This easily translates into one of the direct causes of domestic violence. Without the wisdom of what gender roles are actually reinforcing within men and women, domestic violence continues today. This exists especially within cultures and individual beliefs that continue the tradition of the masculine macho man and the feminine fragile woman. Toni Morrison projects this well in her novel Tar Baby, between two of her main characters, Son and Jadine as well as Sandra Cisneros’ Women Hollering Creek and her main characters Cleofilas and Juan Pedro. Exploration of Mexican-American’s society and its outlook of male and female roles sets a firmer foundation to the understanding of the issues of domestic violence that arise between Cleofilas and Juan Pedro in Women Hollering Creek. The focus on Son’s beliefs on his masculinity and the way it ought to be between him and Jadine in Tar Baby, directly

More about Abstract On Tar Baby & Woman Hollering Creek

Open Document