By utilizing the Handmaids as a representation of the females in the Gileadean society, the author exposes the flaws of an anti-feminist society through objectification and the absence of agency. The Handmaid’s Tale illustrates women who are strongly objectified by men. An example of how Handmaids are objectified is through their names. The women are named after their assigned Commander; their name which consists of two parts is constructed with the prefix, ‘Of’, followed by the suffix of their Commander’s name. The main character’s Handmaid name is Offred, meaning that she is property of Fred.
English 101/096.03 Date: 02/10/2012 Assignment: First Draft of “The rage behind a woman’s stare” Stories being compared: “I want a wife” Woman’s rights are still considered a controversial issue in an equal partnership and how their duties in the household are unappreciated in today’s world. In Judy Brady’s essay, “I Want a Wife” lists the responsibilities of the stereotypical wife in the 1970’s. The overall purpose of this story was to show the readers how wives were not classified as a person, but a tool that responds to their husband’s needs. Through Brady’s role reversal as “the mind of the husband”, she lists countless expectations that a husband wants in a perfect wife/mother and later proves in the story that wives are mistreated and aren’t considered an object that women can take advantage of, but human beings that demand respect. Comparing to “I Want a Wife”, the story “The rage behind a woman’s stare” talks about women who are unappreciated for the duties and responsibilities they accomplish around the household.
By doing this, Nanny hopes to prevent men from exercising their advantage that she thinks they possess in society. This exchange of women is a system that Rubin describes in which "women do not have full rights to themselves." Nanny sees this exchange as a cultural necessity to ensure Janie's safety and well-being. However, what she doesn't realize is that by doing this, she is perpetuating the patriarchal system that Janie must later tackle in all three of her marital relationships. The battles and decisions that Janie must face are representative of the battles that women encounter in their pursuit of a society free from gender hierarchy.
Perpetual Childhood: Mary Wollstonecraft and Prescriptions of Women in the Late 18th Century “Men, indeed, appear to me to act in a very unphilosophical manner when they try to secure the good conduct of women by attempting to keep them always in a state of childhood… for if men eat of the tree of knowledge, women will come in for a taste; but, from the imperfect cultivation which their understandings receive, they only attain a knowledge of evil” (Wollstonecraft 29). The prevailing belief in Europe concerning women, for many hundreds of years, had been one long inherited from Catholic traditions. Women were seen as an inferior creature, and had long been blamed by the Catholic church, for, well, pretty much every historical event which had ever been perceived as negative. At the point at which we find Mary Wollstonecraft expounding on the rights of woman, in 1792, the position of women in society had been made weaker still, by both the upholding of old prejudices, and the institution of a heap of new ones. The industrial revolution, particularly in England at this point (where the revolution first gained momentum), served to weaken the position of women in society in a number of ways, for even the women not immediately drafted for labor in the factories, would be inevitably repressed by the institutionalized and newly refined forms of degradation, that came along with the “rationalization” of society (the “civilization” of middle-class women, she argues, degrades them much more than laboring women).
Victoria motherhood is about making sacrifices and a strict adherence to morality. How far do you agree with the view that both Nora in Ibsen’s a dolls house and Mrs Arbuthnot in Wildes a woman of no importance are victims of a society biased in favour of men. In both “A Woman Of no Importance” and “A Doll’s House” Ibsen and Wilde present the victimisation of women in Victorian society, who were biased to men, in different ways. The Victorian ideologies that women were expected to follow where very restrictive in comparison to the twenty-first century views. The ideologies focus on domestic roles that a woman should partake in.
It appears as if “normative standard of a good wife and wise mother” provides a social behavioural framework for the majority of the women in both novels, as it widely accepted that they should be “well suited to the duties of marriage and domestic life” . Clara’s marrying out of convenience demonstrates her predetermined role in society without regard to her personality and feelings, while family traditions overshadow Tomo, who is obliged to look after her children and husband until her death. In The Waiting Years and The House of the Spirits, Tomo and Clara respectively, are not willing to accept social convention, even though Tomo has to obey what her husband says. Nevertheless, they are not entirely without society’s moral standards, as they try to live in harmony with their environment. In The Waiting Years, the relationships between Tomo and Yukitomo is less like the husband and wife type, but rather more like the sister and brother type.
Therefore leading to criticisms from feminists. Ann Oakley argues that the New Right wrongly assumes that husbands and wives’ roles are fixed by biology. She also believes that the New Right view of the family is a negative reaction against the feminist campaign for women’s equality. Even more so, other feminists argue that the traditional nuclear family favoured by the New Right is based on the patriarchal oppression of women and is a fundamental cause of gender inequality. In this view, it prevents women working and keeps them financially dependent on me.
The main contemporary ideologies presented using different techniques are those of Thatcher, in ‘Top Girls’ and ‘Trainspotting’, set in 1980s. Margaret Thatcher portrayed individual endeavour for success as most important rather than society working together especially for women whom she aimed to ‘liberate’ with her ideals. Thatcher made a political stand using a subtle allusion to Ronald Reagan’s ‘American Dream,’ so that the people would subscribe to her and her ideals. Both writers, Welsh and Churchill, criticise these contemporary ideologies presenting the absurdity but in some cases conforming to them by addressing impact on gender and class. Marlene calls Thatcher; ‘Maggie’ – colloquial use of her name suggesting closeness, perhaps a metaphor for the incorporation of the prime minister’s ideology into society and presenting its strong impact on ordinary life, especially Marlene’s.
The Second Sex: Mythologies and Contradictions, “What is a Woman”? Racel Robles Phiolosophy 327 Professor Conway Woman, Wife, Mother, Lover, Slut, Bitch…is this what a women is, what she is defined to? In andocentric society, women have been place in many lights, from the “good mother” to the “treacherous whore”. In The Second Sex, Beauvoir breaks down the construction of myths created by men in society to establish patriarchal “supremacy” over women. Such myths, Beauvoir explains, are derived trough literature and Social beliefs.
Explore the Issues of women and feminism in the Handmiaids Tale. The novel the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is considered a feminist dystopia because it is set within an imperfect society of the future, and adresses the mysogyny of patriarchal culture. It conveys a sharp reminder of the continued need to guard and develop more fully women's rights and positions. In the Handmaid's Tale, the state of Gilead had complete control over women's bodies through their political subjugation. Women were deprived of their basic human rights, such as the right to read and write or to make choices in their lives, such as what to wear: “Then i think: I used to dress like that.