Culture and Women In “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and “How to date a browngirl, blackgirl, whitegirl or halfie” by Junot Diaz, both authors elaborate on culture, and how it shapes the outlook on women. In Jamaica Kincaid's “Girl” a mother enforces her cultures strong beliefs on appropriate female behavior onto her daughter. To do so, she displays her parental authority with a series of short commands influenced by her culture. A sense of naivety can be seen in the young girl after questioning her mother's request. The culture associated with “Girl” has a definite attitude towards women, believing they should live a modest, conservative lifestyle.
Before her story even begins, Marie de France contests the idea of female inferiority. She believes the women deserve as much respect and power through literature as men. Guigemar’s lady herself is a representation
English: Ancient Epic traditions Free essays Do the female portraits of the ancient epic tradition reflect woman’s nature or merely the perception of a woman’s nature as the male mind perceived it? Discuss. Every writer has his or her own perception of people and societies and a unique motivation for writing. It is in human nature that the things we value most we try to present them in best light to others. Many writers have influenced their surroundings and changed beliefs of people.
Mary Shelley was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, a feminist writer and Mary Shelley herself had unconventional ways of a typical woman of the 1800’s. However, in her novel Frankenstein she includes extremely passive and perfect women, which is unusual for someone with such feminist views and upbringing; this implies that there is a more complex message in Shelley’s portrayal of women. Shelley could have been exploring the possible situation of what would happen if women’s role in childbirth was taken away and men given full control, or showing the reader how women of the time were passive and suppressed by males. Victor Frankenstein’s mother is a perfect example of what was expected of a mother and wife at the time. She is described as courageous and ‘benevolent’ things which are associated with ‘The Angel in the house’ representation of women.
Hawthorne’s fabrication of Hester gives the reader an indication of Hawthorne’s opinion on the female gender. “Hawthorne’s pro-woman novel retains its value to feminist literature for its depiction of circumscribed female lives” (Snodgrass). Hawthorne is sympathetic to Hester and shows her strong and ambitious side throughout the novel. He creates this likeable character by analyzing her psyche, picking out specific traits in order to engage the reader, and giving her ambitious actions to carry out in order to show the reader her full potential. Hester Prynne is the wife of a man named Chilingworth, who has sent Hester to live in a village near Boston.
John Lyly wrote “Euphues and His England,” to describe how great a queen, Queen Elizabeth is. Even though these speeches are all about women’s authority, they have their own differences as well as similarities. In Knox’s speech, he talks about how he thinks women are unfit to rule over men. He uses a variety of vocabulary and appeals to convince the audience that woman should not rule over men. In Lyly’s speech, he states how great the Queen is.
Last year, in my senior A.P. Composition and Literature class, we focused on a lot of fictional literature dealing with the same kind of societal issues. The Awakening by Kate Chopin as well as Daisy Miller by Henry James were both novels that showcase the oppression of women and evils of social hierarchy. These novels display the limitations and expectations that society pins onto women. Other novels I read include The Dead by James Joyce and Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, both of which addressed the theme of materialism and wealth as factors to being regarded highly in society, and how this way of functioning in society leads people away from living a true and happy life.
Atwood discusses the several genres of fiction that are available in this time and explains how this is not only a time of gender crossover but of genre crossover. By using the comparison she shows how literature has evolved as well as gender relations. In conclusion Margaret Atwood’s speech “spotty handed villainess” is a speech that explores the flaws in extreme feminism, challenges the patriarchal order and examines the intentions of literature and fiction. The speech still has relevance today as it examines gender roles and expectations in modern day
This essay is going to be looking at the short story of Sylvia Plath Superman and Paula Browns New Snowsuit. Aspects that will be looked at will be areas such as the comparisons of reality and fantasy, the use of colour to symbolise innocence along with the possibility that the story may be auto-biographical of the writers life. Sylvia Plath was born into a time that was male dominated and because of her controversial work has been described as a victim in a male dominated society by feminists like Sambrook (1990 pg 10). Wagner describes Plaths struggles in a male society as ’Wagner –Martin Claims Plath is broadly feminist in her own talent…and her anger that her fame would be more difficult to achieve and her work judged by different standards because she was a woman’ Gill (2005 pg 8) A lot of her semi biographical work such as The bell jar has female characters who can’t achieve their potenticial because of the male dominated society. Sylvia Plath writes about realism a lot in her work which was seen at the time to be ‘necessary because the actualities of women’s lives had been overlooked.’ Reynolds (1999 pg170).
A Pair of Silk Stockings: Through a Feminist’s Lens Feminism is the theory that states that men and women should be equal politically, economically, and socially. Feminist literary theory is concerned with the impact of history and gender on reading and writing. It is evident that the feminist literary theory applies throughout the short story, A Pair of Silk Stockings. The protagonist of the story is Mrs. Sommers who is portrayed as a typical married woman of the early 1890s and she strives to gain personal freedom and identity just like any other woman. Women’s opinions are silenced by the rules, norms and perspectives of the dominating patriarchal society.