Fitzgerald openly shows his opinion that women generally have low moral qualities, and demonstrates this by the actions and speech illustrated by the three main female characters in the novel; Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle Wilson. His portrayal of them appears to expose a disturbing, misogynistic view of women in the 1920’s. Others would say this is not the case and his approach to how he presents the women has a much deeper meaning therefore implying that Fitzgerald could in fact be a feminist. In my essay I will discuss how I feel that Fitzgerald’s experiences with women are mirrored throughout the novel and undoubtedly display his general ‘underlying hatred’ for the female kind in the Jazz Age through his constant implications of the negative characteristics women possess. Like the central character of The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, Fitzgerald had an intensely romantic imagination; he once called it "a heightened sensitivity to the promises of life."
Hamilton goes on to explain why her dislike of the jingo woman is so strong; “you make all women seem church duffers!” she implies the Jingo woman is seen as unintelligent, criticising why her opinions are wrong and that this view of her is being applied to all women. She disagrees with the way women like the jingo woman portray other women. She portrays the Jingo woman and her role in the war, in a negative light. In ‘women at munitions making’ by Mary Gabrielle, Gabrielle criticises women’s munitions work as unnatural. The word ‘coarsened’ implies that the women’s relationship with birth and life is tainted by munitions work and its association with death.
Negron 1 Negron 2 March 2013 Silenced Abuse in Modern Day Relationships Relationships can either be fulfilling or demeaning. Although some relationships can be abusive, some women may still have a love/hate relationship with their partner. While reading the Story of an Hour, and The 1950’s guide to being a Good Wife, I noticed a pattern of behavior that women of that time followed. I also thought about my own experience in a past relationship. I have discovered that, after reading the material, that even present day women, like past women from the 1800’s and the 1950’s, including myself, have silently suffered while still loving our partners.
Whether woman are perceived as weak and feeble victims, or sinister seductresses (or not included at all), writers of this genre present this gender to the audience as either of these options which makes us question how innocent are women? Or are women significantly absent and therefore not an influence at all? Popular texts which introduce these aspects in this genre include; Mary Shelley’s classic, Frankenstein; Christopher Marlowe’s Dr Faustus and The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. It’s been argued these writers portray woman in different ways which outset onto society they’re role as a whole: Gothic literature can have an inclination towards female writers but also accumulate a patriarchal nightmare in which violence is constantly sanctioned on the female body. Mary Shelley is significant herself; being the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the first feminists; who lived in an era of women’s writing that openly condemned patriarchy.
Hale - Well, women are used to worrying over trifles.”** Clearly, we see in the play, how men treat the women. As if whatever women did were unimportant little things like trifles. I believe the men were so narrow minded that they thought they were better. However, the women demonstrate the entire contrary. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, the main characters in this story, were the ones to first find the evidence.
However despite these feminist influences, Forster is recorded to have been critical of his close friend, Virginia Woolf’s writing, arguing that ‘there are spots of it all over her work, and it was constantly on her mind’. In ‘A Room With A View’, Forster litters his own narrative with references to the stereotypical differences between the male and the female such as ‘a girl ought to be
Response Paper #1 September 23, 2010 Female Sexuality Sexuality is often a word that when heard people often feel uncomfortable talking about, or believe it should just be kept to yourself. However, female sexuality has been a huge theme in history, women have battled discrimination, sexual tourcher, been labeled with derogatory names and have been seen as objects rather then people. In the novel Dracula, female sexuality is a major reoccurring theme. Taking place in Victorian England women were given two options set by societies firm expectations, she was either an innocent virgin or a marred mother, anyone who didn’t follow these guidelines was labeled a whore. In the novel we are presented with very different examples of female sexual expression and are brought with the idea of the “new woman”.
As such, Weldon through her didactic essay disguised in epistolary form places emphasis on the difficulties of marriage for women in Austen’s context, especially legal powerlessness and dangers of childbirth through her cumulative listing of facts: ‘…you could not sue… he could beat you, if he saw fit’ and ‘the mother was the one to go’. She also suggests that women in the Georgian context were marginalised to the point that marriage was considered a great prize since there was no other choice: ‘women were born poor and stayed poor’, further highlighted through Weldon’s sympathetic reshaping of Mrs Bennet who originally a figure of ridicule, is emphasized to be in fact a reflection of the desperation of women for economic security, therefore Weldon highlights ‘it was the stuff of their life, their very existence. No wonder Mrs Bennet, driven half mad with anxiety… made a fool of herself in public’, a New Historicist approach that redefines Austen’s characters through the historical context. In doing this, Weldon essentially fills in the gaps and silences within Pride and Prejudice, highlighting for the modern audience how Elizabeth was in fact a radical hero because women of this time were so
Even in a story which purports to be filled with moral values, such as Homer’s Odyssey. Judging by modern standards of moral and ethical treatment of women, Homer’s Odyssey is insanely sexist. As thousands of advertisements and magazines will tell you, the worst thing a lady can be is ugly. After all, good witches are beautiful, but if you’re a bad witch, God help your complexion. Women in Homer's Odyssey are judged mainly, if not exclusively by their physical appearance.
In fact, the female characters in the novel are portrayed in such a way that they directly conflict with the idea of women's empowerment. Men Will be Men in The Handmaid's Tale Perhaps the most frightening aspect of Offred's world is not even its proximity, but its occasional attractiveness. The idea that women need strict protection from harm is not one espoused solely by the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Pat Buchanan, but also by women like Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon. This protectionist variety of feminism is incorporated in the character of Offred's mother, and to a certain degree in Aunt Lydia. Offred's mother is just as harsh in her censorship of pornography as any James Dobson.