Sylvia Plath’s first and only novel ‘The Bell Jar’ focuses on the protagonist and narrator Esther Greenwood; The Bell Jar is a story of how Esther descends into a dark and depressive state and how she eventually overcomes the illness, even if it was not permanent. The theme of female oppression is highlighted throughout the rest of the novel. The novel also highlights the idea that the people that surround you can push you to conform, even though you do not want to, for instance Esther’s mother constantly attempts to force Esther into a stereotypically female job such as a short-hander, the idea that women are only suitable for easier, less fulfilling professions. The protagonist, Esther, explains her desire to explore and rebel against the ‘norm’ for woman in the 1950’s society. "The last thing I wanted was infinite security and to be the place an arrow shoots off from.
A Woman’s Duality By Maya Asfour Edna’s self reserved character and the propensity to mask her emotions had a lot to do with her mother’s death when she was at a very young age in addition to not being close to either of her sisters, and that all the girls she befriended happened to be of a self contained type. Edna decided to take her place as a married woman with dignity, thus sacrificing her needs to attain the demands of society. But even though she does not attend to her needs they exist inside of her, causing her to question and desire while her body does what others expect her to do. Madame’s Ratignolle compassionate gesture at the beach provokes Edna to realize that she was brought up to be a reserved woman. The gesture also inspires Edna to speak openly and freely and by doing so Edna feels intoxicated as if she tasted “the first breath of freedom” [VII Chopin].
Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is a short story about heritage. A thriller in which heritage is seen in different ways. In “Everyday Use”, Walker tells a story about the conflict between a daughter and her family. Even though, the character of Mama is poorly educated, she still knows the meaning of love of her heritage. She wishes to teach this to her two daughters but times have changed and her daughters have difference views of what they think heritage is.
Schwartz mentioned a good example when “ Jane was infant, who was orphaned by the death of her parents, and how Jane became the ward of a woman who always abused ,then she moved on to explain when Jane was as a little girl , who experienced her circumstances as arbitrary , which were beyond her power to change , also she explains the gap that happened in Jane’s childhood and her adultness and how she represents herself and how that ambiguity run” (549) . Schwartz on her essay went on to apply Derrida’s concepts of deconstruction on one hand like “split” and “the binary oppositions”. As she also investigates Jane’s family name and explains what her name means in Latin, also on this part of her essay on the other hand she go back to Freud big impact on the novel and used his psychological concept which is “the family romance “ that she thoroughly apply it on her essay and how Jane’s narrative embody the double wish in her novel like “original and derived, free and bound, an orphan and an heir” (553). Schwartz said that we have to over look the ambivalent representation of home and family that run throughout the novel (553). She gives a good example “how the ambivalence about home is manifested in the slippage of the family name Eyre” (554) .Also how Rochester and St. John are victimized by the trap that is family and how Jane herself escapes it.
Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” represents a stereotypical women’s role and so called “life” in the nineteenth century. The sample text involves a mother ranting to her daughter about what her responsibilities in life are and what it takes to be a proper woman instead of a “slut”. This literary work is a great example when perceiving the nineteenth century woman by establishing a set image and role that each women should follow in order to be accepted in society. The feminist criticism allows one to analyze the text to co-inside with this theory because it “seeks to restify sexist discrimination and inequalities.”(25) We can see that this female writer incorporated personal experience and historical context when writing this literary piece. There are distinct economic, political and professional realities displayed in the text.
Although many women of this era quietly took their place in society as expected it is very likely that they too went through an internal struggle with this shift in their role from innocent child to a subservient housewife. The symbol of the husband’s hand in this story represents this nameless woman as well as countless other women of her time and their struggle with male dominance as they transition into society’s version of a good wife. The wife first notices the hand as her new husband is sleeping on her shoulder and it seems to symbolize a trophy as she recounts all the things she admires about him in a child like manor, “To meet a handsome, blonde young man, recently widowed, good at tennis and rowing”. To her this hand represents the fairy tale of marriage dreamed of by many young girls. This phase is what most people refer to as the honeymoon phase.
The Cousin Obed Ramotswe’s cousin had a good influence on Precious Ramatswe. Throughout the novel we learn how strong their relationship was and how the cousin helped her to develop. The cousin was married, but when her husband found out she could not have children they divorced. She went to live with her mother in a very small three-walled room. Her mother was very disappointed in her and treated her without respect or caring.
Jule was a poor orphan from early on in her life. Also unlike most feminine main characters Jule is very strong and independent. Her parents died while she was very young leaving her to fend for herself. Luckily Jule is a fighter, and learns how to take care of herself. Jule becomes a social chameleon and learns how to deceive everyone.
Chopin’s Insight into the Future Kate Chopin’s works were unusual and admired pieces of literature before their time. This is because she grew up differently than other women. Her father died when she was young and she was surrounded by her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. These women were all widows and helped to instill independence into her life. Because of this independence Chopin wrote about topics that would not become issues until years later.
It is other factors such as age and location that contribute to the relationship and determine the level of closeness. Emily’s lack of emotion towards her mother can be attributed to a number of issues in her youth. Since Emily was born, her mother had been working diligently to support the family. To make matters worse, she was only nineteen when Emily was born. Her husband left early on in Emily’s life and her mother was forced to leave her with friends or send her to day care.