‘Of Mice and Men’ is a tragic novel set in 1930’s America during time of great Depression and poverty. It portrays the prejudice and clichéd views of a strained American society. Curly’s wife, a character who is detached from the rest of the world, a heart wrenching symbol of the American dream, trying and failing to break down the boundaries of society. This female represents women in the Depression, the lack of freedom and equality that they held, an equality that may still be held from many women to this day . Steinbeck is addressing the struggle for female existence during this period by leaving Curly's wife as the solitary female of the book, unneeded, and unwanted by the other characters.
Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a story about a young girl named Connie who starts out being superficial and selfish and ends up in a horrifying situation she must accept unless she wants her family to be in the same horrifying situation. It is a terrible decision for a teenage girl to make, but she does, and she leaves with the mysterious Arnold Friend. There are many different explanations and theories as to why she left with Arnold, what happened when he was at her house, and who Arnold Friend truly was. Joyce Carol Oates left “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” with countless ideas about countless parts of the story. There are very heavy biblical theories about the nature of this story, and many thoughts on Connie’s teenage promiscuity and her assumed rape at the end of the story.
Despite being written during patriarchal Jacobean society, the protagonist is a female, which is was highly unusual in those days. Of course this protagonist is Lady Macbeth. Throughout the play, through Lady Macbeth's actions we are forced to believe that she is evil. In contrast, the novel John Steinbeck tells a story of dreams, hopes and loneliness. We are introduced to a majorly significant and complex character, named Curley’s wife.
Then the quote continues and states: “You will find them, [women] a set of harpies, absurd, treacherous, and deceitful—regardless of strong obligations, and mindful of slight injuries…” (86). The bluntness of this statement about women would not have come from a man seeking a wife during this time. The female villain of the novel, Mrs. Hammond exemplified these awful characteristics throughout the story. The author, Rebecca Rush was probably surrounded by women, during this time, willing to stop at nothing to secure their future. As the quote continues, “and when your integrity has been
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Evoked Female Identity During the 1960s in America, where phallocentrism is still ruling society, many social problems caused younger people to be unsatisfied with reality and to become rebellious. In Oates’s story, the character of Connie is affected by patriarchal oppression. Oates gives Connie an independent identity while using her mother and sister as opposite characters to reflect her uniqueness and to let the reader understand the female identity. Connie's mother and sister portray typical females under patriarchal oppression. In the case of Connie’s mother, she rejected Connie’s attitudes because it often went against the patriarchal society's code of conduct.
In Alldredge’s criticism of Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying one of the prominent things she discusses and give a valid, and strong point on is Addie Bundren’s favoritism to her illegitimate son Jewel and how it made Darl become bitter and eventually undoes him. When Alldredge states that Addie’s “relationships, or lack of them, with [her]… family is essential to any understanding of the inner conflicts in her children” (Alldredge) this is especially true with Darl. She hardly paid attention to her other children besides Jewel and it really struck home with Darl. Darl is so bitter by his mother and Jewel’s relationship that he keeps him from her death bed and his excuse is that “[He] wants [Jewel] to help [him] load” (Faulkner 7.6-10) knowing full well that his mother would want Jewel there more than anything. Does Darl care?
Antigone, Oedipus’ daughter, is left with a difficult dilemma between state and family. In the end, she chooses family. Antigone is truly a tragic hero, because her arrogance leads to her eventual downfall. At the start of the play, Antigone is Oedipus’s’ daughter. Oedipus suffers his own tragedy in the stories before this one.
By taking on a psychoanalytic scope of her autobiography, a reader can explore the author’s past to delve deeper into the meaning of her harsh language and her opposing tone towards the world. To reinforce her strife she includes, “I have heard Indians joke about those who act as if they have no relatives.” (97) Feeling ostracized from both her European and Hopi relatives, she projects dissent against the assertion and claims that she has "no relatives.” (97) Additionally, she also emphasizes that they "threw [her] away." (97) Therefore, Rose also employs an idea of herself as inhuman; she mentions that her family “threw [her] away”, connoting that they simply disposed of her as worthless. Rose repeatedly states that her family ignored her and further intensifies her unpromising feelings of isolation from society as she reiterates, "When my family threw me away” (97) and includes, “every human on earth did likewise.” (97) If one were to observe Rose’s identity issues from a psychoanalytic perspective, considering that “as a child... [She] knew she didn’t belong among people” (97) and was “emotionally crippled” (97), her bitter tone stems from her empty stance in the world as a
His disgust at his mother’s “incestuous” marriage is also revealed in this soliloquy. The corrupt imagery used by Hamlet – “unweeded garden” – is reflective of the current state at which the nation is in. It is also indicative of Hamlet’s struggle to find meaning in a “weary world” that is corrupt. To further his disillusionment, his mother has married Claudius. He expresses his clear disgust for his mother’s “incestuous” deed – “Frailty, thy name is woman.” Hamlet’s disillusionment with women can be said to begin with his mother.
She is used to highlight major themes in the play: Justice, Family, Class warefare and Religion. She symbolizes who neglect their children and are uncaring. In court, Natella’s notion of motherhood has to do with station. She only wants her son back so they can be restored to their estate. CHARACTER TRAITS Natella is selfish.