The title “Trifles” is quite tricky, since it means more than what it appears at first. Perhaps trifles refer to the way the men in the story treated, and considered the women, like for example: “Sheriff - Well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves. County Attorney - I guess before we're through she may have something more serious than preserves to worry about. Hale - Well, women are used to worrying over trifles.”** Clearly, we see in the play, how men treat the women.
What do you believe Tennessee Williams is saying about human sexuality in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’? ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ is a play in which the themes of both male and female sexuality are explored, and their destructive and vitalizing forces are analysed. The play, which caused shockwaves in the literary world when it hit the theatres in 1947 was subject to much controversy and was one of the first to portray the basic elements that drive humanity as a whole: death, violence and sex. The distinction between these factors is fine, and the nature of their intertwinement is examined by Tennessee Williams. Throughout the course of the play, the playwright seems to define sexuality in terms of winners and losers; Stanley a ‘winner’, is a powerful man who is assertive in his sexuality, and who eventually triumphs over Blanche both morally and sexually, whereas Allan, Blanche’s late husband is a ‘loser’.
Krystal Brooks September 17, 2012 AP Literature (M1): 12th Grade Mrs. Horton In Fay Weldon’s reflective short story, “Ind Aff”, the narrator struggles to understand her love affair with a married man and realizes that she does not have inordinate affection for him as she thinks when her life is compared to the murder of an Archduke. The narrator ultimately realizes that it was Princip’s fate to kill the Archduke because he had two chances to shoot him and when she sees the attractive waiter at the restaurant, she feels as though it’s fate for him to help her realize she’s trapped and can do a lot better than this “man with thinning hair” (Walden pg. 206). The “black clouds swishing gently all over Europe” (Weldon pg. 202) foreshadow the approaching conflict between the narrator and Peter, her professor.
How does Williams present Blanche’s downfall through the presence of male influences in her life? In the tragedy, the play ‘A Streetcar named Desire’ Blanche acts as a tragic heroine through downfall, throughout the play we see Blanche deteriorate. There are several suggestions to her downfall, some may favour that Blanche’s desire for alcohol, as represented in the title, leads to her downfall. In the first scene Blanche hides from even her sister that she drinks; ‘no, one’s my limit’. Dramatic irony is used as the audience know that this is already her second drink therefore contradicting herself.
Karen? You need to introduce them here, rather than later, as readers could be confused..) Imagery is displayed as Jean struggles with the relationship she has with her husband Thomas, while Maren has built up resentment towards Anethe, her brother’s wife and her own sister, Karen. Jean revisits Smutty Nose Island where Maren has previously committed a crime to try and understand why and how she did it, but ends up committing a crime of her own. Does resentment solely result in failure of one’s self? Although Jean and Maren have two completely different situations regarding jealousy because of their passion for love, the elements of imagery, setting, and characterization help develop the women’s thoughts and actions in the novel.
Daniel Tran Instructor: Kelly Murray ENG 102-03 Oct 16th, 2013 Critical Essay #1: Short Fiction Thesis Essay Both “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck discuss about the love, sex, marriage and the relationship between wife and husband. The author of the Storm conveys to the readers that marriage is traditional but normal sexual practice could be accepting. In “The Chrysanthemums”, Steinbeck displays women lacks of ability and power as men in that period of time. Throughout the readings, I recognize similarities between “the Storm” and “the Chrysanthemums” in themes of desire for change, the important of sexual fulfillment, and inequality of gender. In “The Storm”, Chopin expresses her opinion and idea to speak for marriage women’s sexual desire in the late1800’s.
Ex: “I figured if she was a prostitute and all, I could get in practice on her, in case I ever got married..” (92) Comment: His purpose for calling Sunny isn’t why a man would normally call a prostitute. After Sunny takes off her dress: “I certainly felt peculiar when she did that… I felt more depressed than sexy” (94). Q: Where do you think all of Holden’s loneliness and depression stems from? What is the source? “Don’t you feel like talking for a while?” (95) Comment: So I think the only reason he called Sunny was for company, just to have someone to talk to.
There is a debate of whether dramatist’s intended to present women as marginalised tools, as Shakespeare’s plays were written long before feminism existed. In the 1940s life for women was vastly improving; whilst men were out at war someone had to step up to their plates. However the consecutive cycle of women were portrayed as weaklings is highlighted by Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman where the few female characters are submersed to men. This is diverged from how both of Shakespeare’s plays, Othello and The Taming of the Shrew, undermine women due to the element of how society was run. Women were expected to be obedient and it’s certain that both playwrights present this in their plays.
Sexual violence by men towards women due to society’s conservative approach regarding the subject of ‘sex’ is the main theme of Joyce Carol Oats’ story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Although, after reading through this story several times and reading many other view points, I now believe there are many symbolic messages being projected between the lines of this diabolic tragedy. It is like a beautiful tapestry, the more you look at it the more you appreciate its beauty, not only as a whole but each small detail it has to offer. However, for the purposes of brevity this essay will focus on the thesis mentioned above. The story is set in America in the 1960’s, the era of the sexual revolution and when women took a stand against the predetermined place society had reserved for them. This story
Hardy seems always to be making a point about society and the way it treats women. This leaves his books open to social criticism, which is what they received, especially in “Tess of the d'Urbervilles” which was highly criticized, mostly for the overt sexuality within the book, and especially the scene when Tess is raped by Alec D’Urberville, when it is unsure if Tess resisted enough or was seduced by Alec. For a novel from 1891, it is bitingly