It was a place of slave labor laundries from the 18th to the late-20th centuries to house "fallen women", a term used to imply female sexual promiscuity. Asylums for such girls and women and others believed to be of poor moral character, such as prostitutes and teenage pregnancy. Harwood critiques her society for its oppressive treatment of women who are unprotected by marriage or respectability. So then she uses imagery to emphasize the hypocritical nature of the Christian Institutes that perpetrate it. Harwood recalls to our mind the sympathy for the young women portrayed in the poem and wants the readers to contemplate the sexism within
The Discrimination against Women Identities Throughout history, female were considered lesser beings and nothing more than the property of their husband. In the short story, Blank Spaces by Joanna Cockerline, the acknowledgment of female being inferior creatures in comparison to men is highlighted. Struggle against misfortunes, Elizabeth is oppressed by the social inequality due to the fact that she is a girl. In Blank Spaces, the social inequality implied by the narrative severely impacts Elizabeth’s career hierarchy, character traits, and life experiences. Like many feminist writer, Cockerline focuses her emphasis on how social norm discriminate women by inhibit their job opportunities.
This essay will argue that In both texts motherhood and marriage is shown to be a hindrance to both women’s careers and their female identity. The theme of marriage in The Bell Jar and Top Girls Is shown to demolish the female identity of the women. In The Bell Jar Plath uses Buddy as a symbolic figure to show how even the “clean” men of that time were only out for one
In the time of Gilead, the women were taken from their homes where they were brainwashed by speeches from their “Aunts” who argued that “such a social order ultimately offers the women more respect and safety then the old, pre-Gilead society offered them” (Sparknotes). In their new age, they’re simply used to run errands and bear children in the homes of Commanders that have trouble conceiving with their wives. They are fed small bits of information on what is going on in the Republic and are expected to be content with just that. Offred spends a great amount time thinking of her old life with her husband, Luke, and their young daughter. Then, one night her Commander asks to see her privately where they play Scrabble (which is illegal because in Gilead, women are not allowed to read) and she is allowed to look at old magazines; to conclude these secret encounters, the Commander asks Offred to kiss him.
Each role adds a different element and is essential to the telling of the story. Mothers portrayed in this poem are seen as givers of “pity and sorrow” rather than true supporters of their sons and husbands when in war. “She is too wise, /too clear-eyed, sees alternatives too well, /Penelope, Ikarious daughter--/that young bride whom we left behind” (Homer 199 519-22). In this scene Odysseus sees the soul of Agamemnon in Hedes the underworld; Agamemnon was murdered by his own wife Clytemnestra. He tries to warn Odysseus, he says women are no longer faithful.
Donna Woolfolk Cross explains in her article, "Propaganda: How Not to Be Bamboozled" that propaganda shapes our attitudes on thousands of subjects by tactics such as name-calling which "consists of labeling people or ideas with words of bad connotation" (Cross 210). Aunt Lydia uses name-calling by stating that these women were lazy sluts and explains how important and how much better childbirth is in Gilead in comparison to the old days. Her manipulative speech is what blocks the handmaids from thinking, only to react unquestioningly. Cross's article explains that glittering generalities "try to get us to accept and agree without examining the evidence" (Cross 211). Aunt Lydia's use of glittering generalities and convincing tone of voice makes these women accept whatever she defines them as, giving no reason to think otherwise.
This power structure is kept strong by making failures out of oneself and taking away any independence the women may have including the wives. The handmaids are raped and forced into childbirth and the wives are equally imprisoned because they are married to the masterminds of such a hideous society. I cannot imagine living is a society where my choice to have a child is stolen from me. Society that will punish with death or torture if I decide to rebel against child birth. Birth is a gift given to a woman’s body from GOD.
Contrary to its putatively gender-normalizing conclusion, Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina generates a narrative of sexual subversion and female authority. The repetitive occurrence of female protagonists inverting gender hegemonies from the prostitute to Fantomina’s mother to the convent, produces a ‘gynocratic’, or woman-centered novel. When juxtaposed alongside the nameless, beguiled admirers and the named, yet four-flushed BeauPlaisir, the narrative constructs a hierarchy of female over male, contradicting the possibility of its reinstating archetypal gender roles through its questionable inclusion of assault. While acknowledging seemingly anti-feminist sections, this essay will articulate how Haywood’s text empowers its atypical heroine through Haywood’s syntax and plot, her covert theme of naming and the conclusion itself. Despite her antithetical ideologies, Haywood remains centuries ahead while incorporating the very themes of contemporary pop culture: Woman Power.
No matter how much the women are contained, Gileadean society cannot perpetuate without child bearing women, and if they are infertile they are declared ‘unwomen’ and sent away to the colonies .In this society, Handmaids are treated like slaves and sexual objects to men. The Handmaids are only valued while they are able to reproduce and are frequently referred to or treated like vessels or containers rather than as people. Handmaids are transitioned between three Commanders as three ‘chances’ to conceive., before they are sent to the colonies (Atwood 15) . They are also blamed if they are unable to conceive due to their Commander’s infertility. Also the Handmaids are known only by the names of their Commanders, hence Of-Warren and Of-Glen.
The negative impact of not having women educated with men is illuminated when she describes women from a man’s viewpoint. She manipulates the powerful part of society by speaking in a language that they would understand. She shows women as objects and talks about how the problems that men are facing all trace back to women. Wollstonecraft says, “…I have been as much disgusted by the fine lady who took her lap-dog to her bosom instead of her child…for had they sense, they might acquire that domestic