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Gender representation in poetry
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Patricia Young’s poem Boys is a representation of implied heteronormacy in society. Young uses tropes and schemes such as allusion, metaphors and irony to convey the ways in which heterosexuality is pushed onto children from a young age. Poetry such as Boys is a common and effective medium to draw attention to the way society produces heteronormativity through gendered discourses that are typically used to understand sex. Boys does an excellent job at drawing its readers to the conclusion that it is an ironic poem trying to emphasize the over-excessive ways in which we express heterosexuality in daily life. Patricia Young’s poem talks about the ways girls want boys, or the ways girls should want boys, in a heteronormative society. Young uses …show more content…
The power behind a metaphor is an efficient way to convey the meaning to a reader, and Young uses this to her advantage near the end of her poem, “We were/obsessive, insufferable, chained ourselves/to them the way eco-warriors chain themselves/ to bulldozers and trees. What choice/did we have but to trap them/the way we’d once trapped frogs,/ducklings, other forms of innocent/ swamp life.” (59-66). Comparing young girls to “eco-warriors” and trappers of wildlife paints the image of clingy, possessive and controlling young women, which is a common stereotype among girls. The diction Young uses is a helpful way to bring to light the vicious cycle that occurs in the relationship between heterosexuality and stereotypes. Young uses this metaphor to bring attention to the way heteronormacy in society is so bold that it writes itself into stereotypes among girls and boys and how society perpetuates these stereotypes. Young’s metaphor adheres to heteronormativity by describing girls through stereotypes based off heterosexual …show more content…
Young uses the typical idea of heterosexuality being engrained into children from when they are born, producing the belief that heterosexuality is normal, and anything else is abnormal, at the end of her poem; “God help us, we were doomed/before we began, hard-wired to want/even the loudmouth punks/setting off firecrackers at dawn.” (69-72.) Through her last lines Young explores the idea that, right from birth, females are biologically meant to want males and vice versa. In a growing society where acceptance plays a key role in community, this last line is seen as an ironic statement meant to point out the contradiction in heteronormativity. Another example of irony is found earlier on in the poem, where the speaker of the poem asks “How dumb was that? To want the gritty/sex scene in them, the tryst, the future affair.” (43-44) Young plays on the old tradition of a wedding, where the purpose was reproduction which, in turn, meant heterosexual. Pointing out how dumb it is to want “the gritty/sex scene…, the tryst, the future affair” is alluding to the heteronormative system society has in place for relationships and marriage rather than a more open concept for those outside the heterosexual “norm.” Patricia Young’s poem Boys is packed with literary devices used to convey the way heteronormacy is advocated in our society. She uses tropes and schemes such as allusion, metaphor
To begin, the poem presents gender and their associated stereotype with items usually linked to one gender. As the poem opens Redel addresses her sons “scarlet nails” that are decked with “rings’ and “jewels.” As nail polish and jewelry are typically feminine items, one can sense the challenge in Redel’s tone as she describes her son wearing them. Additionally, Redel presents the items “a truck with a remote that revs” and “Hot wheels” to introduce items that generally young boys own. These toys are described since society would prefer her son to play with such toys rather than to “love the glitter.” Thus, gender stereotypes are presented in mundane items that typically the opposite sex does not experiment with. This interaction is looked down upon by others, but Redel is
Although language manipulation can be broken into countless categories and sub-categories, diction is arguably the common denominator. When one conducts an analysis of another’s words, it is both logical and necessary for one to address the author’s word choice. Vàzquez’s essay is full of strategically placed adjectives and transitions to pull the reader to her message. She refers to society’s gender roles as being a “straitjacket” that “suffocates” (p. 493, 3rd paragraph). Both of the words “straitjacket” and “suffocates” not only embody the frustration felt by homosexuals, but also suggest that society is bound by its own unreasonable expectations. The author’s metaphorical suffocating straightjacket serves as a signal to the reader that society’s treatment of gender roles is in dire need of reform.
Throughout history, men are taught that they are the head of the household. This idea is implicated in everyday society. At some point in history women were expected to submit to a men commands. One poem in particular that gives us an inside idea of what it was like growing up during the 1950s is called Sixth Grade written by Marie Howe. This poem speaks about sexual harassment that can be interpreted as six grade version of rape, innocence, and gender role. Howe uses limited use symbolism but crucial to connect her to her audience and to make a statement about where the origin of male violence originated.
Sexuality and Gender in Children’s Daily Worlds article by Thorne and Luria focuses on the relationships between sexuality and gender in the experience of 9 to 11 year old children. The purpose of the authors’ analysis is to illuminate age-based variations and transitions in the organization of sexuality and gender. Throughout this paper we discover how gender and sexuality has become a social and cultural construction that is expressed through young children. At a young age we tend to define and separate ourselves by gender, boys vs. girl. These divisions are enforced around us daily. For example, teachers often tend to separate team by gender whether it’s in the classroom or the playground.
In “Useless Boys” the writer, Barry Dempster, creates a strong feeling of disappointment and shame in himself and society as he looks back on his youth to when him and a friend made a promise to each other to “not be like their fathers”. Dempster expresses a sort of disgust for the capitalist society his world seems to be built around, a life where even if you’re doing something you initially enjoyed you end up feeling trapped in it. The poem is a reflective piece, where he thinks back on how he truly believed he would end up happy if he chose a different path than that of his parents. The author uses simple diction and syntax, but it’s evident that each idea has a much deeper meaning, which assisted in setting a reflective/introspective mood.
She questions “why should I be my aunt / or me, or anyone?” (75-76), perhaps highlighting the notion that women were not as likely to be seen as an induvial at this time in history. Additionally, she questions, almost rhetorically so, if “those awful hanging breasts -- / held us all together / or made us all just one?” (81-83). This conveys the questions of what it means to be a woman: are we simply similar because of “awful hanging breasts” as the speaker of the poem questions, or are we held together by something else, and what is society’s perception on this? It is also interesting to note Bishop’s use of parenthesis around the line “I could read” (15). It may function as an aside for the reader to realize that the six year old girl can in fact read, but also might function as a wink to the misconstrued notion throughout history that women were less educated and didn’t
1. In Riseman and Seale’s chapter Betwixt and Be Tween, they focus on how sexual identity can be used to police a male’s masculinity. It can start with something as innocent as a shy, quiet boy who starts to be picked on because he is no assertive or aggressive like the other males. The way he is picked on can be the other boy’s called him a: faggot, gay, homo, or boy lover. This means at a young age boys start to think they have to be a certain way to seem manly: assertive, enjoy sports, and be better than girls in all aspects; these are just a few ways boys try to prove their masculinity. One example that proves this was discussed in this chapter. Some students, both male and female, are given a hypothetical situation about a boy, Marcus,
The topic of homosexuality has always been one approached with caution due to its taboo nature derived from its deviation from the heterosexual norm. Traditionally, and across several cultures, homosexuality has been successfully discussed through normalizing the behaviour through heterosexual representation. Gender reversal or amplification of feminine qualities of male characters have often been means by which authors are able to subtly introduce the foreign idea of homosexuality and equate it to its more formal and accepted counterpart, heterosexuality. The works of Shakespeare and Li Yu have assisted in exposing homosexual relationships while still maintaining them under the heterosexual norm, whether it be through direct or metaphorical representations.
...en a woman conforms to a society’s standards she is not as beautiful as someone who is unrestricted of these limitations. Consequently, comparing her to a “goldenrod ready to bloom” (19) draws implications of flowers blooming in springtime, which are lovely. This allows the reader to see natural life growing from the woman and beginning to break free of the shell society creates. She shows resistance to the ideas of how women should act be look like. The poem ends with potential: the women can change how she is viewed in the world but she has to take the first step.
The topic of homosexuality has become a constant issue throughout our society for many years. Many people believe that being gay is not acceptable for both religious and moral reasons. Because being gay is not accepted, many homosexuals may feel shame or guilt because of the way they live their everyday lives. This in turn can affect how the person chooses to live their life and it can also affect who the person would like to become. Growing up, David Sedaris struggled to find the common ground between being gay as well as being a normal teenager. He often resorted to the conclusion that you could not be both. Sedaris allows us to see things through his young eyes with his personable short story "I Like Guys". Throughout his short story, Sedaris illustrates to the reader what it was like growing up being gay as well as how the complexities of being gay, and the topic of sexuality controlled his lifestyle daily. He emphasizes the shame he once felt for being gay and how that shame has framed him into the person he has become.
The young girl in the story is struggling with finding her own gender identity. She would much rather work alongside her father, who was “tirelessly inventive” (Munro 328), than stay and work with her mother in the kitchen, depicted through, “As soon as I was done I ran out of the house, trying to get out of earshot before my mother thought of what to do next” (329). The girl is torn between what her duties are suppose to be as a woman, and what she would rather be doing, which is work with her father. She sees her father’s work as important and worthwhile, while she sees her mother’s work as tedious and not meaningful. Although she knows her duties as a woman and what her mother expects of her, she would like to break the mould and become more like her father. It is evident that she likes to please her father in the work she does for him when her father says to the feed salesman, “Like to have you meet my new hired man.” I turned away and raked furiously, red in the face with pleasure (328-329). Even though the young girl is fixed on what she wants, she has influences from both genders i...
...ve begins generating rumors for male peers who do not qualify as a stereotypical male. For instance, Olive pretends to have sex with a male peer during a popular house party (Gluck, 2010). This imaginary hook-up benefits the male peer’s bullying dilemma. Again, gender policing occurs between men when masculinity is questioned (Kimmel, 2008). “One survey found that most Americans boys would be rather be punched in the face than called gay” (Kimmel, 2000, p.77). The gender police govern Olive’s and the male peer’s status in social standings. America’s obsession with sex disregards if a girl truly sleeps around.
Throughout various mediums, queer and gender portrayals are not shown in the best light. Majority of media show clear negative connotations of homosexuals and queens while constantly being a target of discrimination and ridicule. Though as time went on many writers decided to speak up and gain awareness for queer and gender biases by incorporating messages of societal discrimination in their plays. Much of their ideals were that of how sexual/gender identity portrayal, lifestyle stigma, and preconceived notions of the homosexual community. These ideals were combined in what is called gender studies and queer literary theory. Some of these concepts and ideas of queer and gender theory can be seen throughout the play
He appears to embody a number of conflicting sexual and gender identities. Although female masculinity comes to the forefront in this film, female-to-male characters, prior to the release of Boys Don 't Cry, have gone largely unrecognized. Female masculinity poses a literal and symbolic threat to male masculinity. “The fear is not only that women will become more like men but, that men will become more like women” (Rigney 2004). Some argue that the film works to consider the transgressive potential of the gender establishment within a lesbian context, which reduces and eventually, annuls Brandon 's gender. Although Brandon finds himself in the position of having to say, “I can explain” to people, these scenes are also framed to focus attention toward Brandon’s confusion and frustration over why any explanation is necessary, why others cannot accept him for who he believes he is. In this way, the narratives encourage the recognition of Brandon’s own experiences of sexual identity and validate what he believes to be his true nature. The underlying message in all of the scenes in which Brandon must offer some explanation for his masculine identity is that the confusion surrounding his sexual identity does not reside in him, but in others, in the intolerance they feel toward those who violate normative heterosexuality. It is
As a newborn a gender is assigned, this gender being what you will be brought up as until you decide you want to bend the rules and change the roles, once more children realize they do not need to conform to the roles they develop a sense of love, confidence, and understanding for themselves and others. In Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls” the theme of gender is an anchor that gives the story a deeper meaning and gives the reader insight on stereotyping and gender assignment among children. The genders are what develop the main character, her assumed gender or lack of show how she grows and acts throughout the story. Moreover, gender roles are very prominent and these stereotypes show the setting where the family lives. Lastly, the roles reveal