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Social impacts of peer pressure in societies
Social impacts of peer pressure in societies
Social impacts of peer pressure in societies
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Conformity and defying social norms were a common theme this week. In Toni Morrison’s book Sula, Sula Peace actively opposes gender roles. She does this by doing what she would like to do without the burden of her town’s expectations. Sula enjoyed sex and disregarded all of the opinions of the townspeople around committing adultery. Eli commented that it was even more unacceptable in that time period, but Sula’s main priority is being authentic. Even though she urged men to cheat she was still a risk taker and lived spontaneously, which was even more forbidden for a black woman and like Lauren said, the men were also to blame, not just Sula. Not many people in the Bottom share that trait because they are afraid of social isolation. For example, Nel didn’t stray far from the status quo due to her upbringing. Nel’s mother taught her to be proper and follow the set of rules given to her. Her mother often reminded her to “pull her nose” (28) so Nel could have a more appealing nose. On the other hand, Sula lived in an unconventional household with a constant flow of different people coming and going out of the house. Since she was not exposed to a father figure, she was not tainted by patriarchal expectations of the genders. She didn’t witness …show more content…
her mother doing housework while her father worked elsewhere, like in most households. Sula was raised by her mother who took on twice the work. Her mother also slept with people whenever she pleased. As a result, Sula followed her example. Unlike Sula, Nel stayed in Medallion her whole life and settled down with a man, just as her mother did. Morgana Bailey, an activist, decided to break from conformity as well.
As she discussed in her TED Talk “The Danger of Hiding Who You Are,” she hid for a while so she did not have to face discrimination based on her sexual orientation. As Kayla said “Sula was comfortable with being different. Morgana was first afraid to be different because society is homogeneous.” What makes Bailey different from Sula is that Sula was content with her nonconformity, ever since she was young. When being harassed by a few boys Sula showed them her courageousness by cutting her own finger (54). Especially in the early 1900s, women are expected to be submissive and polite. Sula is more worried about her and Nel’s safety than these
expectations. Mr. Christensen wrote on the board that “Sula is what each of us could be if we disregarded what the world wanted from us.” Toni Morrison writes in the forward that “the image of the woman who was both envied and cautioned against” (xv) came to her mind when writing the book. What I collect from both of these statements is that Sula is a character but also an idea. As she continues to rebel against her town’s expectations and becomes the “pariah” of the Bottom. This is similar to how bold women are treated in society today. What makes this book relevant in every time period is that Sula, as Mr. Christensen said, is what we want to be: a free spirit. Despite this desire within us all, Morrison also depicts the fear that comes with rebellion: ostracism. Brittney commented that in literature women are seen as helpless and need to be saved. This is especially noticeable in fairy tales. Women were frequently portrayed as the “damsel in distress” that need a man to save them. Morrison chooses to respond to that trope with her book Sula, featuring a woman who does not need to be saved or held down by a man. She creates her own identity instead of taking on the typical female identity of a passive home maker. In the TED Talk “Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders” by Sheryl Sandberg, Sandberg discusses the identities handed to women. She says that “57% of men negotiate their salary while only 7% of women did the same”. Like the identities handed to them, women are expected to be happy with whatever is given to them in general. Often when women choose to advocate for themselves they are seen as ungrateful or irritable. Sula was seen as both of these because she chose not to settle down or be content with what she had. Lauren said that women are often expected to be a mother and have kids. Men are expected to make a living and be successful while the women stay at home. Like the author Jessica Valenti writes, “women need to put personhood before womanhood” (TheNation.com). Kendra says that going to college made Sula even more of a trailblazer. Going to college is an instance where she is putting personhood before womanhood. While Nel was having her own children and fulfilling the motherhood role, Sula was getting educated.
Society continually places restrictive standards on the female gender not only fifty years ago, but in today’s society as well. While many women have overcome many unfair prejudices and oppressions in the last fifty or so years, late nineteenth and early twentieth century women were forced to deal with a less understanding culture. In its various formulations, patriarchy posits men's traits and/or intentions as the cause of women's oppression. This way of thinking diverts attention from theorizing the social relations that place women in a disadvantageous position in every sphere of life and channels it towards men as the cause of women's oppression (Gimenez). Different people had many ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities amound women, including expressing their voices and opinions through their literature. By writing stories such as Daisy Miller and The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic that took a major toll in American History. In this essay, I am going to compare Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” to James’ “Daisy Miller” as portraits of American women in peril and also the men that had a great influence.
The lack of support and affection protagonists, Sula Peace and Nel Wright, causes them to construct their lives on their own without a motherly figure. Toni Morrison’s novel, Sula, displays the development of Sula and Nel through childhood into adulthood. Before Sula and Nel enter the story, Morrison describes the history of the Peace and Wright family. The Peace family live abnormally to their town of Medallion, Ohio. Whereas the Wrights have a conventional life style, living up to society’s expectations.The importance of a healthy mother-daughter relationship is shown through the interactions of Eva and Hannah Peace, Hannah and Sula, and between Helene Wright and Nel. When Sula and Nel become friends they realize the improper parenting they
When they were in their mother's presence, they were happy, but still resent their mothers. Resenting their mothers for not being able to take care of them, they both ended up in an opposite appearance compared to their mothers. Roberta’s mother being religious and conservative led her to being freer about her sexuality. While Twyla’s mother was more open, she was more conservative, working a regular job, and having a normal family. Problems for women or anyone being able to express their sexuality can come from their upbringing.
In the book Sula by Toni Morrison, Morrison’s ambiguous link between good, evil, and guilt, she is able to show that these terms are relative to each other and often occur mutually. In her comparison of good and evil, Sula states that "Being good to somebody is just like being mean to somebody. Risky. You don't get nothing for it" (145). Good and evil are being compared as if they are equal and that is how the book is structured. For instance, Eva's burning of Plum is a complex conjunction of motherly love and practicality and cannot be described as simply being a good act or a bad one. The killing of Chicken Little is a similarly ambiguous situation from which Sula and Nel's feelings are unclear. Lastly Sula, upon her death bed, questions what it means to be good and suggests that it what may be considered bad could in reality be good. Both in the syncopated style of Morrison's writing and the morally ambiguous portrayal of characters, cause the reader to question morals and think about them on a larger scale.
Octavia Butler’s trilogy Lilith’s Brood contains a myriad of characters who would be marked as “different” in contemporary American society, whether it is because of their race, gender, sex, or species. Their differences are often the catalyst for conflict between others who see themselves as more normal and, therefore, better and higher ranked in the human hierarchy. Butler’s disdain for human hierarchical tendencies is clear in Lilith’s Brood as she often calls human intelligence and hierarchy “the human contradiction”. Using the protagonists Lilith, Akin, and Jodahs, Butler criticizes the misconceptions formulated about race, sex, and gender and, through their interactions with others, underlines the illogical harassment that often derives from the fear of what we do not yet understand.
The lives of men and women are portrayed definitively in this novel. The setting of the story is in southern Georgia in the 1960’s, a time when women were expected to fit a certain role in society. When she was younger she would rather be playing ...
In the story, “Recitatif,” Toni Morrison uses vague signs and traits to create Roberta and Twyla’s racial identity to show how the characters relationship is shaped by their racial difference. Morrison wants the reader’s to face their racial preconceptions and stereotypical assumptions. Racial identity in “Recitatif,” is most clear through the author’s use of traits that are linked to vague stereotypes, views on racial tension, intelligence, or ones physical appearance. Toni Morrison provides specific social and historical descriptions of the two girls to make readers question the way that stereotypes affect our understanding of a character. The uncertainties about racial identity of the characters causes the reader to become pre-occupied with assigning a race to a specific character based merely upon the associations and stereotypes that the reader creates based on the clues given by Morrison throughout the story. Morrison accomplishes this through the relationship between Twyla and Roberta, the role of Maggie, and questioning race and racial stereotypes of the characters. Throughout the story, Roberta and Twyla meet throughout five distinct moments that shapes their friendship by racial differences.
Milkman is born on the day that Mr. Smith kills himself trying to fly; Milkman as a child wanted to fly until he found out that people could not. When he found, "that only birds and airplanes could fly&emdash;he lost all interest in himself" (9). The novel Song of Solomon is about an African American man nicknamed Milkman. This novel, by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison was first published in 1977, shows a great deal of the African American culture, and the discrimination within their culture at the time Song of Solomon takes place. In part one, the setting is in a North Carolina town in the 30's and 40's.
With The Bluest Eye, Morrison has not only created a story, but also a series of painfully accurate impressions. As Dee puts it "to read the book...is to ache for remedy" (20). But Morrison raises painful issues while at the same time managing to reveal the hope and encouragement beneath the surface.
There are many aspects of story that come together to create a complete narrative. A lot of the tools used by writers are intentional and serve the purpose of driving home certain aspects of the story or creating and engaging, and entertaining narrative. Toni Morrison—the author of Sula—is no different. Morrison employs many writing techniques and tools in her narrative Sula. It is important for the reader to be aware of and understand some of these narrative tools that the author uses because it allows the reader to gain a better understanding and appreciation for the narrative. In Sula a few narrative techniques that allow for the argument of women experiences to shine through are the use of a third person narrator, and gaps; throughout the story these tools allow the reader to become interested in and focus in on women experiences.
Sula has a feminist spirit and refuses to melt into the typical mold of a woman. She "discovered years before that [she was] neither white nor male, and that all freedom and triumph was forbidden to [her]" (52). Because of this she decides to lead her life on her own terms. Sula encounters both racism and sexism and is placed in a situation in which she has no release for her wild spirit. She cannot live out in the world with the freedoms of a man, but doesn't want to live as a stereotypically sheltered woman either. In attempting to break these boundaries she is hated by the town and viewed as an "evil" person by the community in which she lives.
In the novel Sula, there were other important characters besides Sula. The character in this book I would like to focus on most is Eva Peace. Eva is a woman who has a disability but remains strong, and this will be the focus of this paper since it wasn’t focused on so much in the book.
In Toni Morrison’s novel Sula, the theme of the story is good versus evil. It’s embodied into the story in various forms to question what defines right and wrong. Good versus evil is presented in forms that are understood on the surface and beneath the surface which gives it multiple meanings. The relationship between Sula and Nel is the main expression of this theme, however, there are also many other contributors such as color schemes, gender and race differences, and life and death. This theme sheds light on the significance and interpretation of issues of everyday reality which includes controversies related to identity struggles, super natural forces, the impact and relevance of upbringing on development, family structure, and racism. Morrison demonstrates the importance of good versus evil with her writing in the way that she overlaps them and interprets them as products of one another. The friendship of Sula and Nel creates a presence of good and evil within their relationship to each other and their community.
Through her powerful words she is able to speak to both men and women on how feminism is not art all what society labels it to be. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaks the puissant words, “The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. Imagine how happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn't have the weight if gender expectations (Adichie, 18:31).” These extremely powerful words are the basis for the beginning of the comprehension of why character’s resist the influence of conformity, yet the question as to how much one rejects societal norms and how this passion for nonconformity alters the minds of the authors and their characters conveyed. Unfortunately, this extreme drive we see can be altered into one’s own contorted ideals that in the end does not lead them in the right direction. Through the words of Dick Hickock, he evades conformity even to his very last breath. While on the gallows, he does the complete opposite of what you might expect a dead man to do. Instead, he shakes the hands of the men who captured him and says that he is going to a better world
When you see a man who is hurt or in pain a realistic answer instead consoling him would be " be a MAN, stop being such a GIRL." Now if a woman was hurt, an instinctual thing to do is ask " are you okay? or do you need help?" Why do we have such differences. What’s really happening between women and men in contemporary society? Society loves to say "You’ve come a long way, baby" whenever an individual woman rises to the top of a "male" profession. It also enjoys turning househusbands into afternoon talk show guests. Throughout history, women have had the misfortune of being labeled as “the other” to men. According to many philosophers, women are the second sex. This idea of women as the second sex is fueled by the notion that the feminine is a mistake, and that masculinity is the correct approach to life. This idea has even been given a new name recently: androcentrism. Androcentrism is a new kind of sexism that, rather than just favoring men over women, favors masculinity over feminist universally. In Paradise, Toni Morrison shows through her style of writing and the way she sets up the chapters shows different images of how men in the town of Ruby are oppressing these women in the convents.