Jenieca Jansz TA: Niels Feuerhahn WMST-1000 November 9, 2010 “All Women Should be Feminists” The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, "It's a girl” (Chisholm, Shirley). Whether male or female it is evident that there are numerous differences between the two sexes. Men are often portrayed as dominant and providing while women are seen as nurturing, and sensitive. These differences ultimately lead to inequalities within society. Because women are sometimes stereotyped as the weaker sex, they become disadvantaged and don’t share many of the privileges men are given.
Knowing what to do and good manners are qualities often attributed to the upper class. Many even believe that this is how well bred people distinguish themselves from others. Ironically, the most “well bred” characters in the novel are often the worst behaved - Tom. Despite his background and wealth, he is abrupt, constantly rude and even violent. On the other hand, the low-born and self-made Gatsby is always the perfect gentleman.
From the first few lines of conversation between the Bennets, Austen shows the reader that theirs is not a happy marriage, nor a marriage of equality. Their marriage was based on a need for money and social status not a marriage reached through love or even any such feeling towards one another. As well as it not being a loving relationship, Mr and Mrs Bennet have completely different personalities. Mr Bennet seems to be an intellectual man who likes to sit quietly and read, whereas Mrs Bennet gives the impression of being slightly eccentric and focuses solely on getting her daughters married. Austen tells us that Mr Bennet was “a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic, humour, reserve and caprice”, where Mrs Bennet is “a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper”.
Here, Austen as the omniscient narrator is directly manipulating the reader to perceive that a man’s judgment and intelligence is greater than that of a woman’s and also sets the readers up to distrust the character judgement of Mrs Bennet throughout the novel. This idea of women lacking knowledge and having a bad sense of character judgement is also displayed in ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’. Fowles internalises Charles inner thoughts, as ‘to whether Ernestina would ever really understand him as well as he understood her.’ This suggests that Ernestina is easy to read, perhaps a typical woman such as Mrs Bennet, who is perceived as never truly understanding a
The daughter of successful but ineffectual Guy Francon, Dominique has long since witnessed power and ultimate prestige granted upon truly unworthy men. Henry Cameron “[who] loved his work…[who] fought…[and] lost” succumbs to a pitiful fall from grace, while those far inadequate, such as the spineless
Sentimentality, the ostentatious parading of excessive and spurious emotion, is the mark of dishonesty, the inability to feel; the wet eyes of sentimentalist betray his aversion to experience, his fear of life, his arid heart; and it is always, therefore, the signal of secret and violent inhumanity, the mask of cruelty”(Baldwin, 496). Most readers will probably fall somewhere in the middle of these two extreme opinions. No matter if one enjoys the book or loathes it, it can’t be denied that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a very influential American Classic. Some people even go as far as to speculate that Uncle Tom’s Cabin helped prompt Abraham Lincoln to start the Civil War (Ohio History Central). Even if the influence of Uncle Tom’s Cabin on the civil war is just a blown up myth, the book definitely had an impact on how people thought about how their religion and slavery were related.
The word cripple has a tendency to make most people uncomfortable. Mairs however has grown accustomed to it and accepted it. She refuses to let it define her. Mairs is strong, assertive and declarative. Her assertion is noted when she says “I want them to see me as a tough customer”.
Twain portrays Huck as an independent figure who refuses to be “sivilized” by the outside world. Although various critics condemn Twain for his morals and claim he is a racist, it is actually true that his characterization of Huck Finn was extremely effective because of Huck’s growth over his character flaws, especially due to the time period in which the story was written. Some see the story of Huckleberry Finn as “meaningless” and a text that has racist connotations. The excessive use of the word “nigger” is seen as disturbing and hurtful to many who read Twain’s novel. Racism is constantly flowing throughout the texts during many scenes in which Jim, an African American, is constantly degraded.
The portrait of himself is supposedly "beautiful" and this therefore gives him a high opinion of himself, it also makes him think that he is of more importance than those around him. Towards the beginning of the novel basil States that " we shall all suffer for what the gods have given us". This is foreshadowing the fact that Dorian will suffer from being engrossed with himself and his appearance. This makes it clear to the reader that the only reason Dorian suffers within the novel Is because of his obsession with himself. Because of this implication Wilde makes it obvious to the reader that empathy is a difficult thing to feel towards Dorian as he is not a victim.
Life Without Love or Independence? In Jane Eyre and Hard Times, women are portrayed in a negative light throughout their respected novels; females are represented as being second class citizens to their male counterparts, and are unable to have a thought of their own. The traditional views of Victorian era gender roles are both enforced through the outside portrayal of the women that do not fit the mold of the ideal Victorian women yet is also subverted by the feelings the women feel when they left their bonds, or the consequences of living in the suffering of the gender misogamy they endure over their lifestyle. By expressing the men through traditional Victorian masculine characteristics such as being powerful and dominant to their meek and loyal female counterparts, the novels establish early on the barrier that the protagonists struggle with merely being female. In the novels, women are treated like second class citizens when compared to men and are expected to be content with this Victorian idea of patriarchal domination.