Women carry out the triple burden in the household; the domestic labour, emotional labour, and paid labour. As shown in the item most of this work is ‘unpaid and hardly recognised work at all’. Oakley argues the only way women will gain independence and freedom in society is for the role of the housewife to be removed aswell as the present structure of the family. Wilmott and Young believed the family is symmetrical and that both husband and wife have joint conjugal roles making the family a functional institution and their research showed that men do help women with housework. Radical feminists such as Dobash and Dobash also disagree with Willmott and Young’s theory that the family is symmetrical.
We can see that Curley’s wife is portrayed by Steinbeck as a ‘tart’ in the beginning of the book, she is not cared for or liked by many of the men on the ranch at all as she irritates them and they think that she is not loyal towards Curley. However, by the end of the book the reader feels sorry for her as we see deeper inside her and see how lonely she is, she only has the image of a tart because she is so alone and the only way she knows to make friends is by being a flirtatious person. The first mention of Curley’s wife is in chapter 2 when George and ‘the swamper’ are talking about her. They say that she is ‘Purty ... but- well-she got the eye’. They mean that she is always looking and flirting with other men.
Society and Class Suffering Power Visions of America Poverty Foreignness and the 'Other' Language and Communication Gender Gender quotes ADVERTISEMENT Gender quotes Table of Contents AP English Language AP English Literature SAT Test Prep ACT Exam Prep ADVERTISEMENT The Jungle Theme of Gender Even though women were an incredibly important part of the early American socialist movement, there are surprisingly few strong-minded female workers in The Jungle. Maybe even none. Jurgis definitely thinks of himself as the Man of the Family, and he imagines Ona as someone fragile who must be protected. Because Jurgis thinks of her in such possessive and protective terms, he makes it impossible for Ona to tell him that she
She did not find that a marriage service generated love; she did not enable her husband to recapture his youth through hers; nor could she compensate for that by running his home in the manner of an experienced housekeeper.” This quote illustrates that Elias Strorm was very cruel to her that she died after her second child was born. She was a beautiful, young woman who Elias turned into a very dull person. She always wanted him to be happy and be a good person, but that did not happen, he was just unfair and unpleasant to everyone. To conclude Elias Strorm’s wife is a good supporter of her husband as well as Emily Strorm. The role of women does demonstrate bystanders and supporters of their husbands and family member.
Curley’s wife lived not only through the sexiest society which rejected her but her husband did not love her at all making her become “… a tart… with the eye,”(Steinbeck14). That is the image that the men have of Curley’s wife because they are ignorant and do not understand that all she is searching for is to have someone to talk to. Curley’s wife’s loneliness led her to have a bad image with the men on the ranch but also made her seek for attention in anybody she did not matter who. For example she would talk to Candy, and old lifeless man, Crooks who is a Negro that is physically disabled, and Lennie who is a huge man that is mentally retarded. She became mean too since she was lonely and the men rejected her.
However, some women joined the work force and would do jobs that men previously had held. Some were not forced to, but they had to work as hard as they could to support their families during this difficult time. In contrast, the writer Norman Cousins commented that there was a negative opinion on the women’s presence in the workforce despite women willing to acquire a living wage. He also stated in his book that the federal government proscribed holding government jobs by both members of a married couple, and many localities stopped hiring women whose husbands with a minimum wage (Cousins 1939). Another aspect of the Depression affecting life of women was the moral argument against working-women.
Women also had very few rights, like Curley’s wife had to be dependent on Curley’s dad and him for shelter. There are many different levels of prejudice exhibited in Of Mice and Men. Through these prejudices the characters such as Crooks, Lennie, and Curley's wife became intensely lonely, but they were hopelessly put in powerless positions. These prejudices can still be seen in the world today. George is sure that if the boss realizes Lennie is mentally disabled, they’ll be discriminated against and not hired.
This is shown in chapter one which describes how ‘Unoka, the grown up, was a failure. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat.’ This deep contextual evidence of the father that represented everything Okonkwo despises shows his shallow view of acceptance in society, disregarding the values of family. This individual assertion of belief from Okonkwo contrasts with Salem’s need for collective strength to gain results. Achebe consistently refers to Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, throughout the text as a recurring image contrasting with Okonkwo’s aspirations in order to remind the reader of Okonkwo’s motivation of venturing to belong in a heavily masculine
In order to understand the mind of Darl, the reader must also understand Darl’s place in the Bundren family. A majority of Darl’s family doesn’t like him, even before the death of Addie and the journey to Jefferson. Addie herself hates Darl’s very existence. She thinks of Darl as Anse’s child and not hers, “And now he has three children that are his and not mine” (102). Darl is also brings humiliation for Anse because other townsfolk are always talking about Darl and how strange he is.
Man vs. Woman issues. Another being Family and Tradition. Within the first theme its not that women are not as good as men, women can be greater or just as great as men and just because of their gender shouldn’t be held back from certain things. Also with the second theme family traditions can be broken if you don’t agree with that tradition or belief or you think what your family’s old customs are correct in your views. The first theme, which was Gender is represented in many ways.