In The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison shows how Pecola, a poor black girl who believes she is ugly because she and her community base their ideals of beauty on "whiteness" giving up and not trying hard for her wish of the bluest eyes. Love is as good as you make it. The quote that relates to this is “Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, and stupid people love stupidly” (Pg.47, Morrison). This quote is significant because Cholly Pocola’s abusive father, an alcoholic man who rapes his daughter at the end of the novel which is the climax of the book.
The Discrimination against Women Identities Throughout history, female were considered lesser beings and nothing more than the property of their husband. In the short story, Blank Spaces by Joanna Cockerline, the acknowledgment of female being inferior creatures in comparison to men is highlighted. Struggle against misfortunes, Elizabeth is oppressed by the social inequality due to the fact that she is a girl. In Blank Spaces, the social inequality implied by the narrative severely impacts Elizabeth’s career hierarchy, character traits, and life experiences. Like many feminist writer, Cockerline focuses her emphasis on how social norm discriminate women by inhibit their job opportunities.
In the case of Connie’s mother, she rejected Connie’s attitudes because it often went against the patriarchal society's code of conduct. For example, when Connie glanced into a mirror, her mother always scolds: “Stop gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you’re so pretty?” (Oates 270). However, her mother treated June differently, by praising June all the time, “June did this, June did that, she saved money and helped clean the house and cooked” (Oates 271). June is another victim of patriarchal oppression just like Connie’s mother, a typical “house wife”.
Miss Lacy, Clayton Forrest’s secretary was appalled at the thought of a white girl staying with black women, referring to August as her. “‘I’m just saying it’s not natural, that you shouldn’t be ...well, lowering yourself’” (p. 198). Lily’s encounters with racism towards herself from black people and from white people as well, complicate Lily’s life. However, because of these experiences or external factors, Lily is forced to analyze her feelings towards them. By doing this, she is able to recognize her hatred and disgust for racism.
As the mother of two daughters I always want for my daughters what I feel was lacking in my life. It makes sense to me that Nanny’s idea of success and freedom is being wealthy and idle. That was what was literally beaten into Nanny. I think in real life, as with Nanny, mothers can get so blinded by their own agenda and their attempt to fulfill their own dreams through their daughter that they don’t stop to ask what their child wants. While I understand that this may not be the ideal way to handle a situation, I believe that Nanny did the best she could considering her experiences.
Sommers is a static character. In the beginning, she is a caring and loving mother. During the climax, her id conquers her superego and she becomes self-centered, but at the end of the story, she is back to where she was, being a devoted mother and wife to her family. Mrs. Sommers represents a woman who has been oppressed by the world of marriage. She is forced to fit in the social norm of being a proper mother and ‘woman’ that she has no time to explore her individuality because she lives in a patriarchal society.
http://www.victorianweb.org/index.html The Women at English Literature Jane Eyre (by Charlotte Brontë) The role of Jane Eyre is an excellent example on the view and manners of women in the Victorian Period. She is resigned, but already have personal thoughts and pursues. She is a middle-class worker, with no actual family and no prospects, at the beginning, of improvement. But, because of her personality, she manages to transform her life in many ways. If she were a "kind" child, by the eyes of Mrs. Reed, she would never go to Lockwood school; she were able to grow up in terms of knowledge in the school, because she had the need of being liked by others and was strong enough to improve herself in many ways; she, by herself, took a chance when announcing to be a governess.
After the death of Cinderella’s mother, her father remarried in order to provide a complete family for Cinderella. Initially, Cinderella’s step-mother was caring and loving. Upon the death of her husband, Cinderella’s step-mother morphed into a cold, merciless woman who refused to treat Cinderella as a member of the family. The step-mother and step-sisters treated Cinderella as lower class and an outcast. The step-mother was primarily concerned with ensuring that her own “daughters have a better life than she” (Schectman 602).
Bella’s guilt caused by her mother’s fear of loneliness has left her short of any male relations. She cannot escape the wrath of her mother, and continually surrenders to her mother's will. Also, Bella has felt she cannot start her own relationship because her mother, in an effort to protect her living children, she has trained them not to feel by hardening them with punishments such as locking them in a closet or beating them with her cane” (Bloom, Harold. “List of characters in Lost in Yonkers. p67-68).
The Journey of Self Loathing It is hard to imagine what life would be like to constantly hate and be hated for something that cannot change; unfortunately this is how Pecola Breedlove must live every day of her life. The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison, is based on the lives of young black girls in 1941. In the girl’s society only white is beautiful and the closer someone is to white, the closer he or she is to perfection. Pecola and her friend, Claudia, are persistently ridiculed by their society for their blackness. Claudia does not want to believe that she is not beautiful the way she is while Pecola wants to become beautiful by becoming white.