How do Friel and Frayn present the role of women? In the novel 'Spies' and the play 'Making History' the authors Michael Frayn and Brian Friel portray the roles of women in different ways throughout each of the texts. They do this because they are trying to present both of these women in the stereotypical role of women but then also showing that they’re different. In the novel 'Spies' the women are presented as women who are dependent on men but they can also do a lot for themselves and they do have a bit of independence. Whereas in 'Making History' the women are a lot more dependent, although they do have to marry a man while they are quite young to fill the stereotypical purpose which was to be a housewife, so they would just cook, clean and have children.
She is preoccupied with her family honour and strongly asserts the belief of class prejudice through socio-economic status. Moreover, she strongly believes that both men and women have different roles to play in the society. She succumbs to the traditional roles of gender and social class and this is evident throughout the book. The book is a mirror to the repressive conventional customs and the prevailing social and class
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s literature is based on women’s issues. She wrote fiction mainly depicting her social ideas. In her works, she portrays women struggling to achieve personal autonomy, adapting to independence, and challenging accepted images of women. In her novel Women and Economics, Gilman argues that women need to change their identities in society in order to be equal to men and become part of the world’s evolution. In addition, her novel Herland depicts women at their true, full potential in roles equal to men.
The central and significant role of women in this book plays an important aspect throughout the story as women take on the jobs of housekeeping, care taking, cleaning, cooking, gardening, etc. In her novel, Allende portrays women as the ones who mostly belong in the domestic realm where they take care of the children, elderly, and sick, while the men belong exploring the world and doing whatever they want in life. This might prove that women’s involvement in the outside world (other than the home) is very low and not accepted. They might play roles such as the housekeeper, cook, nanny, or cleaner. For example, Allende writes about Esteban’s thoughts on what roles’ women deserve to play, "It would go against nature.
By comparing and contrasting the way the authors use their writing style to achieve their intentions in "The Necklace" and "The Story of an Hour" they focuses on values that connect them in literary styles and in the fight for women’s self-determination. In both of these short stories, all of these elements are present. “The Necklace” and The Story of an Hour´ portray males to be better equipped for real life, while women are represented as lacking such integrity to attain their goals. To cope with their tragic fate of being born female, the heroines in both stories venture inward to escape the reality of life which was not of her own making. The female characters in these stories offer a universal representation of women as being the weaker sex through marriage, and are characterized by having evil intentions for which she is justly´ punished for in the end.
Women have involuntarily accepted themselves as the weaker sex, and conform to what is expected from society of them rather than what they desire from themselves. The society in ‘Chronicle’ has normalized a bigoted attitude which leads the women to innately accept the values of the society as their own and they go by them which is seen through Pura Vicario ‘devoted herself with such spirit of sacrifice to the care of her husband and the rearing of her children that at times one forgot she still existed’. This also explains why Angela’s friends helped her to hide the loss of her purity: it was society’s and the religion’s belief that women had to remain pure until. Thus, Angela’s action was shameful and therefore had to be hidden. On the other hand, men are expected to display machismo.
Maid to Order: The Politics of Other Women’s Work Luis Erazo Laredo Community College The main focus for Barbara Ehrenreich was on building awareness about the problems associated with females working as maids. Ehrenreich reflects on the sixties and seventies to explain the roots of this issue; when housework was not seen as a job, even though it was supposed to be “the great equalizer of women”. Women were cooking meals, caring for children and doing all sorts of other tasks in order to allow men to focus on their job. Without a paycheck for their house duties, women were made to feel as though they had no real value for the family. Today’s problem stems from companies like Merry Maids that
Amy Welsh 32000901 Assignment One Critically Examine How Gender Affects the Division of Labour in Households Despite the ground gained in gender equality issues, unpaid household labour and child rearing is still predominantly performed by women, despite the dramatic increase in female participation in the labour market. Traditionally, the household has been the woman’s domain in every culture across all socioeconomic categories. Baker (2012) states that domestic work exposes “socially constructed and deeply entrenched manifestations of sexual inequality” (p. 339). More often than not, culture reinforces the ideology that men are powerful and women are inferior and is used as a means to validate practises that limit women’s options and opportunity (Reeves & Baden 2000). Culture has long determined gender ideologies, defining the supposed rights and responsibilities for women and men.
Interestingly, through the main character Rosaura and her transformation, the author shows that, in class societies, social status have more power on people’s future than their actual capabilities. At the beginning of the story, Rosaura is blind about the importance of social classes in her life. For example, when she argues with her mother about Luciana being her friend, Rosaura tells her that “[she knows] nothing about being friends” (9). By her strong reaction, Rosaura shows that she is convinced that Luciana is really her friend, even though they only do homework together. She isn’t aware that they don’t belong to the same social class.
This form of education also allows Jane to explore her imagination. At Gateshead, Jane is constrained by the form of education afflicted upon her by the Reed’s, she is educated to be humble and obedient, this is illustrated through her subservient character, “silence! This violence is all most repulsive.” By Mrs Reed telling Jane to “silence”, conveys that her aunt wants Jane to know her dependency, inferior status, and her little rights. The Reed family use hegemonic control upon Jane, to educate her to be submissive. This informal form of education places constraints upon Jane, as the authority of her aunt and cousins restricts her.