Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a novel about an African American woman named Janie and her struggle to find true love and meaning in her life. While Janie is the main character, her Grandmother Nanny is the person who sets Janie on her life’s journey to find happiness. However, Nanny’s decisions were based on her slave ideals and were not what Janie desired for her own life. As a former slave, Nanny had been raped by her white master and gave birth to her daughter who became Janie’s mom. When the white master is sent off to war, his jealous wife threatens to whip Nanny and to sell off her baby.
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. During this essay I will explore the significance of how Steinbeck presents Curly's wife through the connotations of her name, how she is first shown, her parallels with other characters and finally how she is presented when she has died . 'Curly's wife', just a name yet a symbol of how women were then regarded by their husbands, as a possession, a belonging owned only by men. When Curley's wife married him she became 'his', everything she owned became his, Steinbeck could be emphasising this authority and power by having Curly even take her name, so she no longer has her own name but now everyone associates Curley with her, she is no longer her own person. The use of a possessive apostrophe emphasises the point even further that she belongs to him and he controls her, although she can try to push the boundaries of society's rules and expectations, he will always be there to stop her as she is dominated by him.
Black women weren’t even allowed to keep their child even if they birthed them! White women and Black women were both struggling at gaining rights. During the early 19th Century women didn’t have the right to vote which created much frustration among women, they even weren’t allowed to run for the presidency just because they are a different gender. In the 19th Century men believed that women’s only job was to clean and cook for the family. Women in general back in the 19th Century didn’t have many rights, but Black women were definitely on the short end of the stick if you compared the rights between Black and White women.
Women living in the Middle East under the rule of the Taliban are the lowest part of their caste system, incapable of living their life with dignity and self-interest. These women are literally stripped of their privileges at birth as soon as the doctor acknowledges their sex as female; is that really fair? On a student-composed Princeton essay writing of the Taliban and their twisted foreign policy, he/she explains that their
Juan Lopez Prof. Odegaard English 101 4/7/15 Rough Draft: Domestic Violence Domestic violence does not have a set gender that it only targets, it can afflict whoever. In “Woman Hollering Creek,” Cisneros talks about a couple who ended up separating at the end of the story. Getting into specifics, the wife of the married couple abandoned her husband to seek freedom from his oppression. Her name, Cleofilas, could not take anymore abuse from Juan Pedro. Forced to stay at home to clean, cook, and watch over their child.
Susan B. Anthony also opposed abortion, which she saw as another instance of a "double standard" imposed upon women. In the nineteenth century, the decision to undergo an abortion was very often decided by men. There were none of the standard contraceptive options available to women today. Antibiotics had yet to be invented, and abortion was a life threatening and unsanitary procedure for the woman. Anthony wrote that "when a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is a sign that, by education or circumstances, she has been greatly wronged,” Susan B. Anthony encouraged women to register to vote and then vote, using the Fourteenth Amendment as justification.
Another instance is when she asks her mother for the quilts her grandmother had made, her mother said they were for Maggie; Dee's reply was, “Maggie wouldn't appreciate the quilts” and Maggie says, “Dee can have them” (Walker 2441). Furthermore, all of the things Dee ask for she wants to use them for decoration and not for everyday use. Dee also was not educated about her heritage. For instance, her mother called her “Dee” and in return she replied saying her new name was Wangero, followed by the statement, “Dee is dead and I can no longer bear the name of the people that oppress me” (Walker 2440). I believe there was no time during the story that she was oppressed or even mentioned
Novels often present women as constrained by society Explore the presentation of women in the light of this statement Women are presented as being restricted by society in the 18th and 19th century mostly by men ruling the world and women being oppressed, this means that women were meant to manage the household. This is shown in Wuthering heights by Catherine being restrained by Edgar in the Linton’s household. Catherine is the main example of a woman who has different expectations of marriage and social life when having a husband. A woman in that time was meant to be obedient, disciplined and faithful to their husband, Catherine is the complete opposite of this and is not obedient, not disciplined and certainly not faithful ‘It is impossible for you to be my friend, and his at the same time’ This shows that Catherine is having trouble deciding who to care for and between her husband Edgar and Heathcliff. Catherine Forces herself into a fever and hysteria when having to make a choice between the two, this shows her being constrained by her mind because she is mentally unstable.
Many influences are easily spotted in the novel, her view on feminism shown through the deaths of the female characters, the use of scientific tools and studies to reflect the time period, and most importantly the dynamics of a dysfunctional family that reflects her own family. From the preceding information it can be deduced that Mary Shelley's use of symbolism and narration in her novel Frankenstein reflect experiences from her life and support the prevalent theme of nature vs. nurture, a result of family life. We have learned that for nearly all her life, William Godwin was indifferent to Mary Shelley; he sent her off to another country and had little contact with her. It is evident that the lack of parental guidance in her life caused a deal of emotional scarring, which she wrote about in her novel. Alfonso, Victor Frankenstein's father, pays his son little attention, and brushes his dreams and interests away.
These cultures see women as only able to do house work and not big things like being a doctor, engineer, business owner, etc… this is very wrong because women are now taking over many of the big jobs out there. The Mirikitani wrote on her poem “If only I were a son” showing that the girl was a victim of this type of behavior being demonstrated by he parents. (377). The girl that is being portrayed in this poem must have thought that being a girl wasn’t a good thing. The parents of the girl who wrote this poem are possibly part of this group, resulting in the girl herself believing that she is inferior to men.