Carol Ann Duffy's "Little Red-Cap” and “Delilah"
“During the 1980s, a unique type and style of women-led peace protest strategies emerged that relied on the powerful language, and particularly the powerful imagery of women as a group engaged in an extended protest against nuclear weapons” (LaWare 18). Carol Ann Duffy’s book, The World’s Wife, was first published in Great Britain in 1999, and two of its dramatic monologues similarly rely on the powerful language and imagery of women engaged in a protest against historically patriarchal narratives and male violence. “While some peace encampments [in the 1980s] included men and women, many were women only, including one of the first and longest lasting peace encampments, the Women’s Peace Camp at Greenham Common in Newbury, England, which evolved into and ignited a women’s peace movement” (LaWare 18). “[T]housands of women from Britain and the world… later visited and lived at the camp during its almost twenty years of existence, until the last group of women left in 2000[,]” and while it’s not clear whether Duffy visited the camp, the camp’s strategies of resistance are embedded in two of her poems (LaWare 19). The speakers of “Little Red-Cap” and “Delilah” employ the camp’s strategies of physically embracing a symbol of male violence, subsequently defacing the symbol through an act of creative nonviolence, and finally transforming the symbol’s patriarchal sphere into a space filled with peace and feminine imagery.
First, the speakers of Duffy’s two poems resemble the protestors at Greenham Common who physically embraced a symbol of male violence:
[T]he Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp gained both
national and international attention in D...
... middle of paper ...
...orld’s Wife. New York: Faber,
1999. 28-29.
---. “Little Red-Cap.” The World’s Wife. New York: Faber, 1999.
3-4.
Holy Bible, New International Version. Zondervan, gen. ed.
International Bible Society, 1984. BibleGateway.com. Gospel
Communications International. 14 May 2005
search=judges%2016&version1=31>.
LaWare, Margaret L. “Circling the Missiles and Staining Them
Red: Feminist Rhetorical Invention and Strategies of
Resistance at the Women’s Peace Camp at Greenham Common.”
NWSA Journal 16.3 (2004): 18-41.
Little Red Riding-Hood Picture Book. London: George Routledge
and Sons, circa 1870. The Little Red Riding Hood Project.
Ed. Michael N. Salda. Dec. 1995. The de Grummond Children’s
Literature Research Collection, University of Southern
Mississippi. 14 May 2005
Mrs. Dove-Wilcox and Miss Hazel advocate for violence as one of the only tools left to them. The “strong militant” action that they call for is, according to Mrs. Dove-Wilcox’s speech, something that they will “have to adopt in the near future”; the language used leaves room for nothing but necessity. This necessity is echoed by historian June Purvis, who agrees that “militancy was a necessary step for winning the vote”, just as Mrs. Dove-Wilcox argues for the past failure of purely “constitutional”, peaceful methods. In a similar vein, Miss Hazel argues that women must be militant, because they cannot participate in any of the state forces levelled against the suffragettes, claiming that women are only “strong enough to attack public property…all we can do is talk and be
Women and all of mankind need to live a life together, not of solitude, working towards the greater good for all. Sadly, this key concept is often discovered aftermath of mass destructions, devastations, ill treatment, in-equality, and so forth. Feminism and women’s movements were not created for women to be “bigger and better” than men, but for women to work their way up to what men have. Many misunderstood this then, and continue to do so
... During the Total War, men were sent to war and women were needed therefore women were free and as free citizen must help their nation. As soon as the war was over they were no longer needed and sent back home and continue their unpaid domestic work. As one of the propaganda image showed in class illustrated women who didn’t help during wartime can be prosecuted for murder. How are women free if they can’t make their choice of rather or not to be involved in a war? Where is the freedom of choice? Wood’s book illustrates how women are utilized as both babas and comrade or Mary and Eve with this notion of women emancipation. The government really believes women are primitive and unintellectual since they are playing with their desire and making them their little puppet. In time of war, used them for work and in time of peace used them as babas and subordinate to men.
Tatiana de Rosnay’s Sarah’s Key, though speaking about a particularly touchy subject, identifies feminist/ gender equality through a series of historical hardships that many had endured during the Holocaust. Keeping this in mind, Sarah’s Key is used for Mrs. Rosnay’s approval of the advances of feminism, and how women were limited by a low glass ceiling.
The source allows readers to direct their attention toward issues, such as women’s suffrage, that were not generated because of the war, but were detrimentally and severally affected by the occurrence of it (Grayzel, Susan R.2002). The feminist movement for women’s rights, especially for the right to vote, was a highly significant movement during the 20th century. The document analysed in this essay exhibits that this movement was still trying to gain momentum even when the largest players of the world were at war with one another, an event so extensive it would make movements such as these irrelevant for the period being. But Brion allows historians to identify that there were still people using these movements to not only further their own agenda but prove to the rest of society the pointlessness and unjust nature of the conflict taking place. The document enables individuals to place things into context, to identify that although the Great War was extravagant and large-scale, it was not the only thing going on in history during that time, and it wasn’t always accepted by people within the nations fighting it. Brion’s statement allows readers to connect historical events, ideas and themes within society during World War 1, especially in regards to the lack of rights women had during this period and to what extent they had no say in such a
Throughout history, women have struggled with, and fought against oppression. They have been held back and weighed down by the sexist ideas of a male dominated society which has controlled cultural, economic and political ideas and structure. During the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s women became more vocal and rebuked sexism and the role that had been defined for them. Fighting with the powerful written word, women sought a voice, equality amongst men and an identity outside of their family. In many literary writings, especially by women, during the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s, we see symbols of oppression and the search for gender equality in society. Writing based on their own experiences, had it not been for the works of Susan Glaspell, Kate Chopin, and similar feminist authors of their time, we may not have seen a reform movement to improve gender roles in a culture in which women had been overshadowed by men.
Woolstoncraft, Mary. A Vindication of The Rights of Woman. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd Ed. Volume D. Ed. Martin Puchner. New York: Norton, 2013. 134-136. Print.
...nd bloodshed. Women gave a reason to go to war, a reason to come back from the war, and oddly, a reason to want to return to the war. The men were in a fraternity of life, and with no women around for so long they began to rely on themselves, and no longer had the needs that were provided them by women. They wanted to play in the jungle with their friends, only this time with no guns. They missed the life that they spent together eating rations and swapping stories. When they went home they were veterans, like the old men of the World Wars. If they stayed, they were still heroes, warriors, and victims. They still loved deeply the women at home, because they had no reason to fight or bicker, or possibly realize that the women they assumed would be waiting for them had changed in that time. The men were torn between love of women, and the love of brotherhood.
Since the war began women were led to believe that they were the ones who had to be the patriotic sacrifice until the men came home from war. The film reveals how the government used the media to alternately urge women to give up such elements of their feminin...
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
In the analysis of the issue in question, I have considered Mary Wollstonecraft’s Text, Vindication of the Rights of Woman. As an equivocal for liberties for humanity, Wollstonecraft was a feminist who championed for women rights of her time. Having witnessed devastating results or men’s improvidence, Wollstonecraft embraced an independent life, educated herself, and ultimately earned a living as a writer, teacher, and governess. In her book, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” she created a scandal perhaps to her unconventional lifestyle. The book is a manifesto of women rights arguing passionately for educating women. Sensualist and tyrants appear right in their endeavor to hold women in darkness to serve as slaves and their plaything. Anyone with a keen interest in women rights movement will surely welcome her inexpensive edition, a landmark documen...
A woman's world may be disconnected from the realities of the actual world, but it acts as a safety blanket to secure sanity for not only herself, but also for a man to avoid losing hope. When Marlow, a sailor who sets off to the Congo for exploration, speaks to his aunt before his departure, he sees how women's worlds are “too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset” (77). The world of a woman is set up so that she can bloc...
Throughout history society has been controlled by men, and because of this women were exposed to some very demanding expectations. A woman was expected to be a wife, a mother, a cook, a maid, and sexually obedient to men. As a form of patriarchal silencing any woman who deviated from these expectations was often a victim of physical, emotional, and social beatings. Creativity and individuality were dirty, sinful and very inappropriate for a respectful woman. By taking away women’s voices, men were able to remove any power that they might have had. In both Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”, we see that there are two types of women who arise from the demands of these expectations. The first is the obedient women, the one who has buckled and succumbed to become an empty emotionless shell. In men’s eyes this type of woman was a sort of “angel” perfect in that she did and acted exactly as what was expected of her. The second type of woman is the “rebel”, the woman who is willing to fight in order to keep her creativity and passion. Patriarchal silencing inspires a bond between those women who are forced into submission and/or those who are too submissive to maintain their individuality, and those women who are able and willing to fight for the ability to be unique.
In just a few decades The Women’s Liberation Movement has changed typical gender roles that once were never challenged or questioned. As women, those of us who identified as feminist have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at...
To what extent does Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Medusa’ challenge stereotypical masculine and feminine attributes?