In the short story, “Sugar,” Sharon Leach demonstrates the parallel between the protagonist’s sexual desires and her need to provide for her impoverished family. From the very first line the main character, Sugar, reveals her innermost erotic cravings as she describes “the girl in the leopard-print bikini” (170). Sugar’s subsequent actions were self-rendered rational to “keep [her] mother and sisters and brothers fed and clothed for a while” (178). Vivid imagery, the pattern of dismissal, and first person narration facilitate Leach to emphasize human tendencies of sexual behavior while observing the importance of earning a living to provide for ones family and eventually afford the commodities that make Sugar envious of the hotel guests. The vivid imagery utilized lends this story a great deal of depth as it brings Sugar’s encounters to life in the mind of the reader. Right from the start, Leach swiftly establishes Sugar as a sexually ambivalent woman as she illustrates the leopard-print bikini girl’s strong legs and braids “hang[ing] down her back cascading like a waterfall at mid...
At the beginning of the 1900s, there was a “sexual revolution” in New York City. During this time, sexual acts and desires were not hidden, but instead they were openl...
Women during this Jazz era were freer about their sexuality, but due to this freeness, an article called “Negro Womanhood’s Greatest Need” criticized the sexuality of Black women. In this article, the writers criticized Black women of the Jazz era; one part stated “.“speed and disgust” of the Jazz Age which created women “less discreet and less cautious than their sisters in the years gone by”. These “new” women, she continued, rebelling against the laws of God and man” (p.368). Women expressing their sexuality is not only an act against God, but also against men. In Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” Twyla’s mother Marry had no problem expressing her sexuality because she was a stripper, who danced all night, she wore a fur jack and green slacks to a chapel to meet her daughter Twyla.
Sandra Cisneros short story “Woman Hollering Creek”, has many allegories about culture, morality, and gender roles.
In “‘A Language Which Nobody Understood’: Emancipatory Strategies in The Awakening,” Patricia Yaeger questions the feminist assumption that Edna Pontellier’s adulterous behavior represent a radical challenge to patriarchal values. Using a deconstructionist method, Yaeger argues that in the novel adultery functions not as a disrupting agent of, but, rather, as a counterweight to the institution of marriage, reinforcing the very idea it purports to subvert by framing female desire within “an elaborate code [of moral conduct] that has already been negotiated by her society.” A reading of The Awakening that can envision only two possible outcomes for its heroine – acquiescence to her role as good wife/mother or “liberation” from the marriage sphere through extramarital passion – suffers from the same suffocating lack of imagination that characterizes the most conventional romance tale. Thus, Yaeger contends, Edna Pontellier’s extramarital dalliances with Alcée Alobin and Robert Lebrun are hardly “emancipatory” or “subversive” as critics such as Tony Tanner would see them.
As Cliff walks into the Kit Kat club he enters the world of promiscuous uninhibited dancers, and people of the like. Men approach him to dance, and women entice him with their charms. He obviously wasn’t all that accustomed to this kind of happening, but he didn’t shy away from it. The first night he lived this almost unreal experience, he met a woman. Sally was a one of a kind woman of her time, being on her own, making her own living, whether that living be on stage or with a man who suits her interest for a while.
Prostitutes did not necessarily “enjoy” their sexual encounters with men, as Victorians tended to believe. Prostitution was their survival. Lower-class women did not become prostitutes because they wanted to. They became prostitutes because they had no alternate choice for survival. There were few options that allowed women to live off her own income instead of her family’s income, and once she e...
In Gilman’s story The Yellow Wallpaper, and in Chopin’s story The Story of an Hour are two feminist stories, which freedom is the main theme. In the nineteenth century, women were supposed to take care of their children and obey their husbands. “Women of the mid-19th century had no such choices. Most lived in a state little better than slavery. They had to obey men, because in most cases men held all the resources and women had no independent means of subsistence” (Wojtczak). The Yellow Wallpaper, takes a devastating look at the oppressive relationships between middle class husband and wife, doctor and patient. The Story of an Hour describes a moment of awareness when Mrs. Mallard realizes how she really feels about her life and situation. The news of her husband’s death shocks her into an awareness that seems to overtake her against her will. Mrs. Mallard and the narrator both express they want to be free, but unfortunately they achieve freedom through insanity and death. Freedom is accomplished in an unusual way in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an hour; the freedom these women attained is not readily obtainable to most women in the 19th century.
In the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the role of a woman in society is one of domestic duties. Jeenie, the protagonist’s sister-in-law, is a great example of this. The protagonist is forbidden, by her husband, to “work” until she is well again, so Jeenie steps in and assumes her domestic identity of a woman and wife. The protagonist calls her “a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper” and says she “hopes for no better profession” (Gilman 343). Jeenie clearly has no aspirations outside the confines of her domestic role. The protagonist herself worries she is letting her husband, John, down by not fulfilling her domestic duties. She says “it does weigh on me so not to do my duty in any way” (Gilman 342). Besides the domestic role, which she is unable to fulfill, the protagonist plays the helpless, fragile, role of a woman where she is deemed incapable of thinking for herself and is reduced to acting more or les...
The 19th century was a time when middle to upper-middle class women became ornamental. Their lives revolved around image, their husbands, and as much idleness as their husbands wealth could afford them(iii). There were servants to tend to the home and servants to tend to children. An afternoon tea and shopping expedition was an acceptable, even proper, way to spend ones day as a lady. The husband in The Yellow Wallpaper cannot see why his wife should be stressed or nervous. He tells her that she is allowing her mind to get carried away and that that is her sole problem. Her illness reflects directly on him as both her husband and her doctor adding to her overwhelming sense of anguish.
Without a husband to support her, Amanda tries to raise her children like upper class children. Unlike Amanda, Carrie Meeber, the protagonist of a naturalist novel Sister Carrie, starts out very poor, and after meeting two significant men, Drouet and Hurstwood, Carrie’s morals decline, but her finances increase exponentially. Amanda’s assets increase while she is with her husband, but when he abandons her, she struggles economically. Without a man like Tom to help her, Amanda and Laura would be hopeless. Following the standards of naturalism, Amanda reacts accordingly, and teaches her children to behave like members of the upper class. She strictly enforces proper manners; the importance of a well-rounded education, and the décor in her home is simulating value. In her regard, upper class members are often treated better, and she ...
First there is Gertrude, the protagonist’s younger sister. She grew up with the tribe in Ndotsheni, but upon reaching adulthood, left for Johannesburg. Her original profession is unknown, but she desired to be away from the restrictions of the tribe. There is no better way to remove yourself from a society than to do something unacceptable. Gertrude achieved this by defying one of the tribe’s and her family’s most sacred institutions, the church. She turned to prostitution as an answer to her desire freedom. She was in charge, she set the price. It made her feel good knowing that she was worth more than the tribe saw her as. She did not need a man to support her. She could discard the tribe’s ideas of marriage and family. It came at a price though. She lost all security. She believed that this was freedom. The truth is that she was never free as a prostitute, she was completely dependent on her customers. It was with her purity and innocence that she paid for the food on her table. If her body did not sell, she would have to lower the price, and the standards. Stephen brought to light the trap that she was in. At first she believed him, but after a ...
Imagine if you were a woman in nineteenth century America, what do you think life would be like? The obvious answer is that one would be subjected to being a housewife and only a housewife, but there was something else that went far beneath this surface oppression. For women, the nineteenth century was a dark period. Not only were they thought of as glorified maids, but they were also greatly oppressed and subjected to the rule of man. At this time, women weren’t allowed to vote and it was socially unacceptable for a woman to do much without the proper consent of her husband or father. In the story, The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the reader explores the idea of how deeply this oppression affected the average woman. In the story, the main character is denied the simple right of her own sanity and peace of mind wherever she expressed desires to be free. The nineteenth century was not a pleasant time for women, especially for those who were brave enough to ask to be treated like a man.
In the short story, by Kate Chopin “The Story of An Hour”, the reader is transported into an era of 19th century American South”; furthermore, they see into a life of a women who is ensnared. As the story reads, the theme of repression becomes ever so obvious in the marriage between Mrs. Mallard and Brentley Mallard.
In a decade where sex was so regularly silenced, Burroughs’ novel Naked Lunch could only be seen as a pornographic and invasive portrayal of an act that the people of the 1950’s believed should remain behind closed doors. Burroughs’ graphic descriptions of sexual acts...
The story “I Want a Wife”, is a narrative essay signifying the demand placed on females during the 1970's. The author goes on to demonstrate the expectations that our male counterparts placed on women during that era. The way in which the author brought this issue to the surface was enthralling. As described by the author, a wife was to be seen and not heard, she is to cater to every impulse her husband has.Written out in sequence, a woman's duties were overwhelming and needed to be brought to the light. Men were treated like royalty by their wives, while showing little appreciation. A wife was expected to take care of the family while nothing was required of the husband. In addition, a wife was expected to look her best while tackling all of life's problems. The essay does not provide a notable amount of detail, yet the s...