While she has been married 6 different times, she considers her multitude of romances to be a declaration of her sexuality and her lack of doubt within herself. If being judged based solely on her willingness with men, she wants to be seen as the type of woman who doesn’t let societal standards delegate how she holds herself and lives. The wife also takes pride in her ability to stand up to her husband’s drinking problem. She is not weak or timid, she wants what’s best for her or which ever poor soul she is married to at a given time, and if that means facing the man in a way that puts her in a dangerous situation, then so be it. She also takes pride in the way she leads men, of course not leading them on, just simply leading them and sure, she’ll leave them eventually, but that’s not what matters.
Gwen Harwood chooses to represent social institutions in a negative light because often in Gwen Harwood’s poems, women are portrayed as victims of the social circumstances of the 1950s and in the past as well. But Harwood sometimes chooses to take a different view and instead has the women either fight against the male dominant character, choosing to be more than just the mans possession or be an independent women who has ambitions and determination to be successful and not necessarily just be a mother. By placing the man as the dominant sex that provides for the family, and the women as the housewives and mothers, she gives the reader a view of how people were in the 1950s, and then adds a twist of the women dismissing this accepted behavior to express her opinion of such issues. Gwen Harwood’s work frequently focuses on woman being demoralised by society’s practices that reduce her to a lesser being. A common worldwide value that Harwood rejects as the normality in life with her poems.
Nygeria Pannell English Literature I Mr. Douglas Lewis 26 July 2014 The Comparisons of Women Women have always been looked at in English society during the middle ages, to “know their place,” when it came to men, being that men dominated the society. In the towns, society dictated what women did, and her main role would have been to support her husband, as well as daily work, and the responsibilities of her family. For many women, life as a servant for the rich people was all they looked for, and their freedom were very limited, due to the dominance of the men, example being not able to divorce their own husbands (Medieval Women). Being that the stories, Beowulf, Gawain and the Green Knight, and Le Morte d’Arthur were all taken place
Matt now has a son, a good wife, and an ordinary life; he still has a good family life without going to university. In contrast with Kate, although she has good education and job, she doesn’t have her own family and in fact, she says, “I had never thought I would really love anyone.” (89) From another perspective, she seems to be the one that is going to have a sad life. Similar with Luke, when he rejects Sally it is due to his responsibility as a caregiver. He is happy with his decision since it is for his family. If Matt chooses to go to university instead and leaves Marie, he will most likely lose his happiness and truly be an emotionless “nerd” and suffers like Kate who does not truly knows the meaning of love.
As Leving and Sacks say “she’s far more critical of him than he is of her”, that means that men are much less critical than females who want to show their strength. But in many cases their thoughts are deceptive, as everybody needs a family to have happy life. Respond: I totally agree with the authors of the text and, in my opinion, the women’s desire to become independent and live by themselves is partly caused by our democratic world, where the equalty between genders is respected. Women build their own careers and become independent, so they do not need help from men at least financially. That’s why we have the tendency of growth of the amount of single women.
In The Bloody Chamber Angela Carter reverses gothic traditions so that the males become the victims instead of the females. Consider at least two of the stories in the bloody chamber in the light of this view. The gender constructs of passive, young, virginal woman who are victimised by dominant, strong and wealthy males is a common trait throughout gothic tales including many of Angela Carters short stories from “The Bloody Chamber”. However, Carter received the criticism of “[extracting] latent content, conjuring up a new exotic hybrid” in which she challenges the typical stereotypes of gothic conventions, influenced by her feminist nature. These caused the post modern versions of her stories to adopt dualisms of combining sexual desires with naivety and give alternative interpretations that perhaps the male characters suffered victimisation instead.
She shows how women can only be categorised as either an angel or a whore. It shows the way that women can only be judged at the time. She also frequently alludes to the “bad” women in literature to show how women could only be categorised in those binary opposites like Lady Macbeth or Eve. She uses rhetorical devices to explain how bad women are needed to disrupt the static order which is Patriarchy. Atwood also shows her opposition to the extreme feminism that existed in her time where feminism was influencing the creation of literature at the time.
The ways in which elder family members are treated in each text expresses the relationship between the older generation and the younger generation. In the nineteen fifties feministic issues were very controversial. How the female characters are presented in each book show some of these controversies. The invisible man is a more positive character than Holden, and that is showed through the portals of symbolism throughout the two classic novels. In Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s desultory arrangement of narrative summary and scene work shows Holden’s insecurities, moreover in Invisible Man; Ellison’s straightforward organization displays an assured personality.
Feminism itself can be viewed very differently and it entails many ideas. Feminism in its most basic form is women being considered by society to be equal to men in every aspect of life. Feminism is a simple idea but actually applying it was very difficult for society. Men and women being equal was not the norm in society many years ago. Today, there are still problems but for the most part, women are equal to men in every way except maybe physically.
The role of women in the Renaissance was not that of assertiveness, and certainly not that of equality, when it came to men. In fact they were merely subordinate inferiors, and custom and prejudice kept them servants to domesticity. Most women were perceived as being weak, which often coincided with passiveness. The Renaissance, though considered to be a cultural advancement from the Middle Ages, held women at almost the same standard as before. Although loyal and determined, Desdemona’s naïve nature has caused many to believe that she is also of a passive nature.