The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and Top Girls By Caryl Churchill both feature motherhood and marriage as one of their main themes even though the texts were set at different points in time. The Bell Jar was published in 1963 around the time of the publication of Betty Freidan’s Feminine Mystique. The Feminine Mystique stated that the ideal housewives of the 1960’s were a myth as each one of them were secretly unhappy but never spoke out about their unhappiness due to fear of not abiding by the social normality of the time. This feeling of displacement in the social norm is what Plath bases the experiences of protagonist Esther upon and what eventually drives Esther into mental instability. Motherhood and marriage is seen to be a key factor in the society of which The Bell Jar is set ,and is portrayed as one of the things that supresses female identity when Esther is asked to be “Mrs Buddy Willard” as if she is owned by Buddy and not her own person.
When she writes “Oh my dear girls—for to such only am I writing—listen not to the voice of love, unless sanctioned by paternal approbation.”(P. 55), she is trying to tell women to put themselves in a position in which they are not exploited, and listen to their brains and parents rather than their heart and emotions. The story of Charlotte Temple is somewhat extreme in the sense that she was a very naïve and sheltered young woman that didn’t really know what the world was like outside the walls of her home or the border school. She was weak and she was dependent on other people to make the decisions for her. Rowson is also warning the women about other people in their life. The parents have the best intentions for their children, but other people might not.
How does it contrast with Sophie's childhood? David has a home life that is filled with an air of stubbornness. It is because of David’s rebel nature, and inquiry nature, that he would not go along with his family’s belief, in which caused the family life to be unreliable. On page 12 it says: "There was a pause - at least, her voice paused, but her thoughts went on, ...." What is revealed in that paragraph and why does the author do it so casually? To portray Sophie’s mother content but at the same time worry, in a more casual
Lastly, the fathers expectations of two characters does not align with the mothers, yet in one piece of literature the mother expected exactly what the father wished. The feeling of not conforming to societal and parental expectations and not being appreciated condemns youth into believing they are worthless and negatively affects their outlook on life. “Brother Dear” and “A Cap for Steve” both deal with the raw issue of parents not accepting children’s ambitions in life. The two main characters have different goals yet both goals resembled the life that they wish to live at that time. Greg, from the short story “Brother Dear,” does not desire to attend university and become a man of business yet that is all his father wants for him.
This quote is important because it shows that people were a little disapproving of David’s left-handedness because it was odd or unusual. So people would be disapproving of a deviation. Women are often treated like they are less then the men and its there fault the blasphemies are created. Women don’t get to do much other then work in the home, they are not permitted to go out in to the fields and they have to stay home and do housework. When Aunt Harriet was talking to David’s mom about her deviated child said “this is the third time, they’ll take my baby
During the time this book was written, men and women were treated vastly different, as portrayed in the novel. At the beginning of the book, Mary Dempster is described as a young woman who cares for her husband Amasa. They would walk together with “…her arm tucked under his […] leaning towards her in the protective way he had” (Davies 10), suggesting that Mrs. Dempster is incapable of independency, and thus needs to be “protected” by her husband. Although Mrs.
Eva Colon Lisa Gallegos Eng 090 March 19, 2012 Women deserve rights Elizabeth Stanton wrote about her experiences with discrimination against women in 1848. She feels that when the government becomes destructive in these ends it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance. (379) Even though discrimination is not put up with in these days, in the 1800s women were considered nothing slaves, supporter of the home and baring kids. Elizabeth Stanton wrote to not only express her feelings it was to stand up for her and for other women and to make a differences. First of all, Stanton writes “He never permitted her to
“So, you didn’t let Clinton watch any extra television last night.” Despite this Clinton is his mothers life. She says she understand that she wasn’t right to baby him so much and that it is the reason for the way he is today. Even as some of his behavior concerns her she finds him to be a “sensitive, caring child she wouldn’t
Both texts explore the themes of parental hesitation and worries as well as children’s wish of pursuing their own life, though they differ in the point of view of parents and children when separation occurs. Parental hesitation and worries of letting children go is a natural part of separation. Though the process is not always easy and may include some conflicts, parents usually have the best intensions in mind. In A Private Talk with Holly the father finds it difficult to let go and imagine his life without his daughter Holly, “… Turn a back on home and walks out into the grown-up world forever.” The father conveys the separation feeling in the following words: turn a back, walks out and forever. Similarly, in the poem Wild Boy of the Road the parental hesitation is visible, “His mother is worrying about him… His mother is wishing her boy would come home.” The usage of the words worrying, boy and come home demonstrate the same feeling as in the story.
With that I feel that the reader was able to feel some kind of pity for Baba. The parallel in parenting between the woman in Guy De Maupassant story and Baba from The Kite Runner is that they both didn’t concede their children and show them the proper keenness that a parent should. Both Baba and the Mother cared too much about society to analyze the true issue which they