Female Curiosity Curiosity is often defined as a strong desire to know or learn something. Being filled to the brim with curiosity is one of the most amazing feelings. Finding something you are interested in and wanting to know every single thing there is to know about it. Being inquisitive is such a powerful thing, always wanting to see more, to hear more, to do more, to be more. It makes people who they are, if someone is not very curious, they might be very dull because they know what they know and they are content with that. It is the naturally curious people that get more out of life, because they are always searching for something more, something bigger and brighter, and often they find it. But, in certain situations, being overly curious can land you in a place you did not plan on being and a place you do not want to be. This shows through certain works of literature, for example, Charles Perrault’s story “Bluebeard”. Through the ages, this story has been tagged as one about the negative effects of female curiosity. Bluebeard’s wife in the story is given a key by her husband to a locked door in their home. She is told to not go in that specific room, but overwhelmed with curiosity she does anyway. Another work, a film in fact, The Piano directed by Jane Campion, is an adaptation of “Bluebeard” and makes some very distinct references to it. The Piano also points to themes of female curiosity through the main character Ada McGrath. Ada is married to a man named Alistair whom she had never met. She begins to have an affair with another man, named George Baines, under unusual circumstances. Her husband finds out and naturally blames it on her “female curiosity”, and proceeds to punish her. Her punishment is similar to the pu... ... middle of paper ... ...5-101. JSTOR. Web 11 April 2014. Barzilai, Shuli. “The Bluebeard Syndrome in Atwood’s Lady Oracle: Fear Femininity” Marvels and Tales 19.2 (2005): 249-273. JSTOR. Web 11 April 2014 Butler, Pierce. Woman in Mediaval France. Vol. 2 1907. ebook. Web 10 April 2014 Knight, Christine. “Ada’s Piano Playing in Jane Campion’s “The Piano”: Genteel Accomplishment or Romantic Self-Expression?” Australian Feminist Studies 21.49 (2006): 23-34. Academic Search Premier. Web, 10 April 2014 McCombs, Judith. “Searching Bluebeard’s Chambers: Grimm, Gothic, and Bible Mysteries in Alice Munro’s ‘The Love of a Good Woman’” American Review of Canadian Studies 30.3 (2000): 327-22. Academic Search Premier. Web 11 April 2014 Perrault, Charles. “Bluebeard”. The Blue Fairy Book. New York: Dover 1965 The Piano. dir. Jane Campion. Miramax Films, 1993. Netflix streaming
The way perspectives of composers and the cultural paradigms that they are influenced by are of a peculiar and often hidden nature. Through thorough textual analysis, the possibility of revealing these cultural values is enhanced, allowing the observation and appreciation of the how different ways of thinking have developed over time. Cultural values that deal with topics of gender inequalities, racial and social status prejudices and the result of societal dynamic are often hidden in texts from the Victorian Era, and this is absolutely true of Vanity Fair by William Thackeray as well as Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. The two texts hold many areas of diversification and commonality which provide a basis of characters and their ways of thinking, in turn exposing attitudes towards certain cultural values.
In the 18th century, reading novels served as a pass time and a diversion from household chores for the women. Though formal female education is not developed, the female characters are seen having a keen interest in books, something that was earlier frowned upon for the sentimental content of books might be destructive to societal values. At the time, books were meant to teach and reflect upon the socially acceptable ideas of romance, courtship, and marriage. We find Miss Wharton asking for books to read from her friend Mrs. Lucy Sumner, “Send me some new books; not such, however, as will require much attention. Let them be plays or novels, or anything else that will amuse and extort a smile.” (Foster, 192) Mrs. Sumner sends her novels which she considers “chaste and of a lighter reading” (Foster, 196). We can thus construe that books and novels in The Coquette though meant for reading pleasure, also play form part of the female
Considerably, literature is a form of escapism. This came to me from a young age, where I became engrossed by the concept of story-telling. Whether it be through the natural world conveyed by romantic poets like Shelley and Wordsworth or the complex characters found in prose, like in the works of Dickens and Hardy; comprehending how plots are reflective of life intrigued me to devise my own.
Curiosity is a concept that has lingered in people’s minds for centuries. Defined as “a strong desire to know or learn something,” curiosity often leads people to question concepts and ideas that are bestowed upon them (Oxford Dictionary, 2017). Music is a subject that people often strive to learn more about. In the realm of composing music, there are certain thoughts that go through the composer's mind that they want to showcase in their piece. When a composer writes, one can assume that their mood is often portrayed in their song, giving that song a distinct emotion. For example, love songs are usually written in two different tones: happy or sad. It is up to the listener to determine which tone it is being portrayed. The act of performing
Richard is thirsty for new knowledge, wanting to expand his brain. Growing up as black during the 1920s gives Richard limited opportunities to get a strong, secure education, so he is always looking for new ways to obtain knowledge. Richard’s local library prohibited blacks to check out books, so Richard asked a white coworker to borrow his library card. Richard forges a note saying that Richard is just picking up books for his coworker to read. He would become entranced with the books he read, but thought no other black person read like him, this made him stop reading for awhile. After a couple of days past with him not reading, “A vague hunger would come over me for books.” (Wright 357) Richard is always hungry for books, like an addiction, if he stops reading for a couple of days he will just end up wanting to read more. Richard is hungry for a new life as well. Richard read a paper that described a modern world. He yearned to live in that world that was almost alien to him, “I hungered for a different life.” (Wright 187) Richard is dissatisfied with his own life he longs for one he just read on a paper. He states that the modern world is, “merely stories” but his desire to get away from his current life convinces him that they are real. Richards hunger for knowledge and a new life is as powerful, if not more powerful than a craving
... little girl's banishment from Puritan society she was thrown to another way of life and her wildness and peculiarity is a direct product of her banishment.
Curiosity is a trait found in various individuals throughout history and present time. Curiosity constantly keeps your mind active instead of passive, helps your mind become observing of new ideas, opens up the doors to new possibilities that were hidden behind the shadow of normal life, and may overall change your character. Individuals such as Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, Stephen Hawking, and Leonardo Da Vinci, were just a few of many people that not only benefited from curiosity, but set an irremovable mark in history. The narrator of “Boiling Point”, Jose Andres, illustrates the ideal image of a character filled with curiosity.
The archetypal theme of the repression of a desire is rendered in various ways in the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, with the repercussion of these subdued urges resulting in both favorable and adverse outcomes for the restrained individual. The novella takes place in the Victorian Era, a time where the suppression of vehement emotions and impulsive conduct was immensely urged, to the extent that it was considered an acquired behavior, as they believed an exposure of true expression would lead to the loss of a dignified demeanor, as well as a loss of morality. While this theory is reasonable, it is also indisputably inaccurate in certain instances. The repression of certain aspects, such as curiosity,
Within every story or poem, there is always an interpretation made by the reader, whether right or wrong. In doing so, one must thoughtfully analyze all aspects of the story in order to make the most accurate assessment based on the literary elements the author has used. Compared and contrasted within the two short stories, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and John Updike’s “A&P,” the literary elements character and theme are made evident. These two elements are prominent in each of the differing stories yet similarities are found through each by studying the elements. The girls’ innocence and naivety as characters act as passages to show something superior, oppression in society shown towards women that is not equally shown towards men.
In Of Mice & Men, the character Curley’s Wife is depicted as flirtatious, promiscuous, and insensitive. However, her husband Curley sees her as only a possession. Most of the workers at the ranch see her as a tart, whereas Slim, the peaceful and god-like figure out of all the men, see her as lonely. This answer will tell us to which extent, is Curley’s wife a victim, whether towards her flirtatious behaviour, or to everyone’s representation of her.
The hero cannot progress without curiosity. However, curiosity can turn into a dangerous obsession. There are many good examples of this throughout Victorian literature. Literary works such as She by H. Rider Haggard and The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, for example, reflect the curious mind at work using scientific exploration to achieve the goal of solving the mystery, but attempting to solve the mystery poses dangers to the protagonists that, at first, they are unaware of. The curious mind, seeking discovery, eventually sees the dangers but does not turn back. The mystery has become an obsession to the curious mind, and for the curious mind, solving the mystery has become more important than self-preservation. However, without the obsessive curiosity and without the danger that follows that curiosity, there would be no heroes in the story and, therefore, no story.
Researchers at UC Davis are discovering how curiosity helps humans learn. “Curiosity may put the brain in a state that allows it to learn and retain any kind of information, like a vortex that sucks in what you are motivated to learn, and also everything around it” (Mathias Gruber). Most stories, like, The Great Gatsby, left readers questioning detail after detail. Since then, the theme is so widely debated and is widely recognized as iconic.
The Bildungsroman genre entails a character’s formative years and his or her development from childhood. The characters from this type of novel recall, in detail, past relationships and experiences that impacted the characters growth, maturity, and exemplar for their relationships with other characters. An important component to Bildungsroman novels is the concentration on the characters childhood (Gottfried & Miles, 122). In Jane Eyre and David Copperfield, both characters childhoods were despondent. Both characters experience the loss of a parent: Jane is a literal orphan; David’s loss is metaphorical, then literal. When Jane Eyre begins, Jane has already lost both parents and is under the guardianship of her aunt, Sarah Reed. Reed and her children, Jane’s cousins, are abusive to Jane and never accept Jane as family. Jane has lost both parents and with the death of her uncle, Sarah’s husband and an advocate for Jane, Jane is without any caring relationship. In addition to being without affection, Jane must endure torment. It is this lack of adoration that leads Jane to seek acceptance throughout her life, while attempting t...
Well it’s simple. Here’s a definition of The Pandora Effect from The Power and Peril of Curiosity by Christopher K. Hsee, Bowen Ruan. “Curiosity underlies many human activities, from reading celebrity gossip to developing nuclear science. Curiosity is well recognized as a human blessing. It is also a curse. Curiosity could lead humans to expose themselves to electric shocks for no apparent benefits. Humans possess an inherent desire, independent of consequentialist considerations, to resolve uncertainty; when facing something uncertain and feeling curious, they will act to resolve the uncertainty even if they expect negative consequences. The Pandora Effect reveals the potential perverse side of curiosity, and is particularly relevant to the epoch of information, and to the scientific community, a community with high curiosity.”5 This data is from a series of four experiments, behavioral scientists at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the Wisconsin School of Business. They gave test subjects a shock pen and notified them that it did shock. Every single test subject clicked a pen at least once. It doesn’t matter if curiosity is good or bad. Humans will find a way to test it and will do so at all
How many people wonder about holes in the ceiling and cracks on the floor? When did they happen? What caused them? Or what about when you see a cigarette in the toilet and wonder who had the guts to smoke in the girl's bathroom that day and why they chose that brand of cigarette, or why they even smoke at all. And even if people do think about these things, why? For what purpose? I guess I do it out of boredom. But is boredom really an excuse? I mean, really, how bored can a person get? I don't guess it is boredom after all, probably curiosity, which can build to all sorts of lengths, and I believe it most certainly starts there. How else can you explain why I want to know what happened to a certain somebody when a certain somebody else, punches them in the eye? I am almost positive it stems from curiosity and, that is where and how I try to make sense of this story.