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Characters in The Help are faced with an array of conflicts relating to their gender that confine them to a life that they are not satisfied with, but with time they grow the courage to lead the life they choose. Although, Skeeter is unable to speak her mind because society perceives her gender to be unknowledgable and overall useless other than completing the roles played by the typical housewife, she finds her voice. Skeeter becomes conscious of her community looking down on her for having a great deal of ambition in pursuing her career as a writer rather than finding a husband. Her quest to become a writer was not an easy one; she experienced a variety of struggles. Not only did her mother not support her, but most places were not hiring women. Stockett writes, “My eyes drift down to HELP WANTED: MALE. There are at least four columns filled with …show more content…
bank managers, accountants, loan officers, cotton collate operators. On this side of the page, Percy and Gray, LP, is offering Jr. Stenographers fifty cents more an hour”(69). Skeeter lives in a patriarchal society where people are hired based on their gender.
This is an immense obstacle for Skeeter to overcome in her venture to find a job that will allow her to pursue her dreams. Going against society’s expectations is one of Skeeter’s remarkable aptitudes, but for most that characteristic is not appreciated. The rules for how a woman in Skeeter’s society should behave are well defined. When people go about their life in a different manner than most it is automatically frowned upon for merely not fitting into the society’s standards. Skeeter’s mom questions her saying, "Are you…do you…find men attractive? Are you having unnatural thoughts about (…) girls or women? (…) Because it says in this article there's a cure, a special root tea —"(Stockett 22). Seeing that Skeeter has not found a husband within the timeframe allotted by society her mother accuses Skeeter of being a lesbian. Skeeter’s priorities are different from her mother’s and most of society’s and for that she is thought less of and written off as an outcast. It is expected of Skeeter to feel bad for not abiding by society’s
‘norm’.
After witnessing Abigail’s affair with Detective Len Fenerman, Susie recalls when as a young child, her mother used to tell her tales of mythology, such as Zeus and Persephone, rather than princess fairytales like most mothers would. The young mom liked to recount these stories because “she had gotten her master’s in English―having fought tooth and nail with Grandma Lynn to go so far in school―and still held on to vague ideas of teaching when the two of us were old enough to be left on our own” (Sebold 149). As mentioned, becoming a mother to Susie and Lindsey forced her to press pause on her ambitions to step further in her career and education. However, she held on to these dreams since there would be an opportunity to carry out what she had planned when her children grew up and no longer needed round-the-clock attention or care. These hopes were quickly crushed after the birth of Buckley, the third child in the Salmon family. Abigail realizes that she would be forever constrained to motherhood “since suburban life, for women, meant commitment to home and family, to house care and child care” (Hacht 143). Since she became a wife and mother in the late 1950s, Abigail Salmon represents how many women felt during the Seventies as ideologies of feminism and motherhood clashed. To these women, domesticity
Scout, the protagonist, is a young girl coming of age in a society trying to shove her into a dress and the role of a gilded daughter. For example, when Scout recalls a conversation with her Aunt Alexandra, a figurehead for society and one of the major female figures in her life, she begins to shine her own light on how to brighten her father’s life in a way that is true to herself. On page 108, Scout comes to terms with the fact that she is defying stereotypes, “I could not possibly be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra’s vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore, I should be a ray of sunshine in my father’s lonely life. I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said that one had to behave like a sunbeam, that I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year. She hurt my feelings and set my teeth permanently on edge,
Ever since she was a young girl. Jeannette had set high goals for herself. Since she was so advanced in school and genuinely enjoyed learning, it made sense that she would want to do big things with her life. Whether it was being a veterinarian or a geologist, her dreams extended far beyond her homes in little desert towns or Welch, West Virginia. However, because of her poverty-stricken home life, many people believed it didn’t seem likely that she would be so successful. One day, while living in Welch, Jeannette goes to the bar to drag her drunk father back home. A neighborhood man offers them a ride back to their house, and on the ride up he and Jeannette start a conversation about school. When Jeannette tells the man that she works so hard in school because of her dream careers, the man laughs saying, “for the daughter of the town drunk, you sure got big plans” (Walls 183). Immediately, Jeannette tells the man to stop the car and gets out, taking her father with her. This seems to be a defining moment in which Jeannette is first exposed to the idea that she is inferior to others. Although this man said what he did not mean to offend her, Jeannette is clearly very hurt by his comment. To the reader, it seems as if she had never thought that her family’s situation made her subordinate to those
In “Disorderly Women: Gender and Labor Militancy in the Appalachian South,” Jacquelyn Hall explains that future generations would need to grapple with the expenses of commercialization and to expound a dream that grasped financial equity and group unanimity and also women’s freedom. I determined the reasons for ladies ' insubordination neither reclassified sexual orientation parts nor overcame financial reliance. I recollected why their craving for the trappings of advancement could obscure into a self-constraining consumerism. I estimated how a belief system of sentiment could end in sexual peril or a wedded lady 's troublesome twofold day. None of that, in any case, should cloud a generation’s legacy. I understand requirements for a standard of female open work, another style of sexual expressiveness, the section of ladies into open space and political battles beforehand cornered by men all these pushed against conventional limitations even as they made new susceptibilities.
...y to put on a bathing suit from former Miss America Jacque Mercer or Ladies’ Home Journal of Betsy Martin McKinney, etc.. Furthermore, to make her essay more enjoyable, Peril did not use formal or polished voice, but a common parlance and included some humor, too. To illustrate, she depicted, “a woman who fears mice isn’t necessarily following the dictates of pink think. On the other hand, a woman who isn’t afraid of mice but pretends to be because she thinks such helplessness adds to her appearance of femininity is toeing the pink think party line” (Peril, 282). It would totally make me roar with laughter. It was extremely hard to say no when laughing. Therefore, by using funny anecdotes, the author has earned my attentions and assents. Lynn Peril chose an intelligent choice to make me go with her, and object the way of thinking about feminine ideal and pink think.
In most countries, women only earn between 60 and 75% of men’s wages, for the same work. Sexism is still a problem in today’s society, but it has improved since Scout’s generation in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Scout believes from an early age that girls aren’t good, and that she can avoid the judgement that comes with being a girl by not acting like one. Being a girl for Scout is less a matter of what she's born with and more a matter of what she does. Scout’s elders influence her perception of womanhood by putting preconceived sexist views in her head.
The protagonist in the story began to realize society’s views of her when her father introduced her to a salesman, while she was working outside, as his “new hired hand”. She was almost pleased until the salesman replied “I thought it was only a girl”. Even her grandmother bombarded her with commands, “Girls keep their knees together when they sit down.” And “Girls don’t slam doors like that.” The worst was when she asked a question and her grandmother answered “That’s none of a girl’s business.” Even after that, she continued to slam doors and sit awkwardly because she felt that it kept her free. In other words, she was not ready to accept and claim her gender identity.
The mother warns her daughter that men might bully her, so she teaches her “how to bully a man” (Kincaid 484). The mother also understands that her daughter is reaching sexual maturity and while she warns her to not become “the slut I know you are so bent on becoming,” (Kincaid 483) she also gives her helpful advice about sexually maturing. She tells her to “soak you little cloths right after you take them off,” (Kincaid 483) which indicates that her daughter has begun menstruating. Her mother tries to keep her daughter from becoming a “slut” by teaching her “how to behave in the presence of men” (Kincaid 483). The mother knows that she would receive a lower status if she was pregnant and unwed, so she instructs her on “how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child” (Kincaid 484). The mother knows that things might not always work out so she tells her daughter that “there are other ways,” and to not feel “too bad about giving up” (Kincaid 484). The mother knows this things because her mother told her the same
Social pressure to raise pleasant, good mannered children who become grounded and productive adults has been a driving influence for many generations. If our children do not fit into this mold then we’re considered failures are parents. Emily’s mother is tormented by the phone call which sets off a wave of maternal guilt. Emily’s mother was young and abandoned by her husband while Emily was still an infant so she had to rely on only herself and the advice of others while she raised her daughter. After Emily was born her mother, “with all the fierce rigidity of first motherhood, (I) did like the books said. Though her cries battered me to trembling and my breasts ached with swollenness, I waited till the clock decreed.” (Olsen 174). Then when Emily was two she went against her own instincts about sending Emily to a nursery school while she worked which she considered merely “parking places for children.” (Olsen 174). Emily’s mother was also persuaded against her motherly instincts to send her off to a hospital when she did not get well from the measles and her mother had a new baby to tend to. Her mother even felt guilt for her second child, Susan, being everything society deemed worthy of attention. Emily was “thin and dark and foreign-looking at a time when every little girl was supposed to look or thought she should look a chubby blond replica of Shirley Temple.” (Olsen, 177) she was also neither “glib or quick in a world where glibness and quickness were easily confused with ability to learn.” (Olsen 177), which her sister Susan had in
During this era, women’s roles changed greatly as the new high social class females called the “flappers,” developed. The flappers set ideal qualities such as beauty for a woman that high class men such as Gatsby sought after. The flappers in exchange for their beauty wanted access to the material wealth from the men. Fitzgerald shows the influence that American capitalism had over this development in women through Daisy’s relationship with Tom and Gatsby. American capitalism dictates relationships, “Even in the early stages of their relationship, part of his attraction to Daisy arises from his considering factors akin to the laws of supply and demand that influence a commodity’s price” (Little). Daisy’s reason for marrying Tom Buchanan was only so she could gain the riches that Tom possessed. While Tom’s purpose was to care for Daisy in order to keep her by his side to maintain his social appearance. This social exchange forms a perception that women were nothing but extravagant economic tools for men. As both men and women desired the economic benefits of the other, the social aspects of marriage became more about greatening each other’s social status instead of one 's pursuit of love and happiness. However, since Tom is part of the old rich, the new American social marriage belief does not affect him greatly as it does with the new rising rich class because to the old rich this is very similar to their usual marriage traditions. Evidence as Tom says to his new baby girl, “I hope she will be a fool – that is the best thing a girl can be in this world” (Fitzgerald 17). This is an indication that females should stick to their roles as being social tools for their husbands. Because female involvement outside social issues meant that husbands were
One of the major projects of Hilly Holbrook’s is to get a law passed requiring white families to build bathrooms for their black children to use. At one point in the story, Skeeter finally realizes that what is going on is wrong. She grew up with these women but realized she knew them. After she reads the Jim Crow laws in the library, she starts to understand. “But then I realize, like a shell cracking open in my head, there’s no difference between those government laws and Hilly building a bathroom in the garage, except ten mines worth of signatures in the state capital.”
The social status of women in class has always been considered a controversial topic. The transformation in the status of women has overcome drastic changes throughout the years. Women have experienced a series of events to be in the position that we are at today. In The book, 1984 written by George Orwell, their society is ruled by “Big Brother” and also by the ministries of love, peace and plenty. In this utopian society there is a Junior Anti-Sex League, members wore a narrow scarlet sash around their waist to show that they were part of the league. Women played a key role in serving as examples to demonstrate how the lives of women could have been back then. George Orwell states in the book “The only recognized purpose of marriage was to beget children for the service of the party.” (pg.65) Women also played the role of useless and wanting sexual affection from males. Mrs. Parsons is looked as useless when she goes to Winston for help about her sink. Julia, part of the Anti-Sex League, was seemed as a rebel for sleeping with multiple men from the party. In today’s
The film The Help explores the notion of women dealing with a variety of problems related to sex/gender and sexism, but their experiences differ due to race, class and age. Sexism is not created by law but enforced and created by society which change to what class and race you are in, a great example of this topic is the two main protagonist Skeeter and Aibileen who are the outcast to the social community that they belong to. The film shows the sexism within the southern parts of America and show us how the system works and how people obey the set rules. The Help challenges the ideas of sexism through the strengths and beliefs of people.
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...
Such is evident in the advice that the mother lists off, especially in her mention of “how to bully a man” and “how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child.” There is, however, some parts of the mother’s speech that one may find disconcerting because of its phrasing and harsh tones. Phrasing like “on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming” and “this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming” are prime examples of how poor the mother is handling her daughter’s transition from childhood to