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Gender roles and societal expectation
Gender roles and societal expectation
Gender roles and societal expectation
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Throughout previous class periods in English, I’ve encountered a lot of class discussion about gender role in the recent units we’ve read. Since the beginning of the era when gender quality came upon there has always been an issue. These problems people face have been expressed in their daily living. Several authors such as Eveline, Charlotte Gilman, Virginia Woolf, and Mary Leapor have well-known writings on gender issues. In their writings, they express how they felt about the issues of the gender and what they’ve experienced while being held to an expectation.
In the story of Eveline, Eveline has been portrayed as daughters should be just like their mothers. Eveline is a young lady at the age of 19. She had faced many conflicts that left
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It is obvious that Eveline is held accountable due to cultural expectations. Though, Eveline had the right mindset she just didn’t have the guzzlers to do so. Her father is an unreliable man. Her father cares so much about alcohol he is oblivious that he is pulling his kids away from him. Sadly, he seems to always find a way to her heart that leaves room for sympathy and fear when she engages in living for the better. Eveline only wanted one thing was to see her family but her father would not allow it. This leaves Eveline to suffocating thoughts she doesn’t cope with well. She will drive out thoughts that make her life distraught. Only strength she can be relied on is her imagination of escape. Eveline had been outcast as the weaker sex just like other women. Males role always were known as the aggressive type. During those time of years it was right for a man to be the head, the protector, and provider. Women tend to be the home overseers and they had no option but to cater to their husbands, provide food, stability, and care. In this time of gender expectation, women had no say so. They were the last resort for anything. As stated in her story, “This indifference or concealed hostility of …show more content…
Gilman focuses on a sense in why gender roles consequences are made by male-dominated societies back in the nineteenth century. Gilman represents a marriage in which the narrator and her husband are trapped because of their irresponsibility. Because of this the narrator and her husband fail to come to an agreement. The woman suffers from a disorder called, post pardon syndrome. Due to this syndrome instead of her husband loving her, he tends to misguide her by loving her at a distance. Since her disorder is handle misunderstood by a physician, John who is her husband. He considers the best treatment will be the “rest cure.” At the time gender roles were a tad bit rigid. Silly to say that John, the physician is the person that people consider the serious person to go to. In this reading, you can see how Gilman is struggling to defend her argument on the reason male and female gender role has such a negative effect. The woman is being overwhelming by her emotions because it’s like her husband the one who supposed to care for her is taking her as a joke. She says her husband” “hates to have [her] write a word” (5)—and wallpapering her room (6). John is afraid for his wife to write only because he feels this will rekindle her thoughts of being a mother and wife again. Like before women aren’t the ones that will be the stronghold. “It is so hard to talk with
Society continually places specific and often restrictive standards on the female gender. While modern women have overcome many unfair prejudices, late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century women were forced to deal with a less than understanding culture. Different people had various ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities, including expressing themselves through literature. By writing a fictional story, authors like Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James were given the opportunity to let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic.
Gilman expressed the roles of women through a concept of patriarchy. The narrator’s job was that of attending to her husband and fulfilling his expectations and requests. The concept of family belonging to the man is a large aspect of the storyline and its symbolism. “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” The woman is sharing her arrogance pertaining to her husband’s view of her. He treats her as if she has entirely lost her awareness and considers her a belonging. John shows no understanding or backing towards his wife. Instead, John retorts by telling her it "was a draught, and shut the window". He disregarded her belief of her condition and vowed that it really was not anything worth discussing.
Throughout the story, the reader is called to trust the narrator although it is clear she is going crazy, for she is the only telling the story. Gilman is able to develop the theme through this character’s point of view by showing that the narrator has no choice in the world in which she lives-- she must obey the men in her life above all else. If Gilman chose any other perspective, the story would not have been able to portray the woman’s oppression as well, because the reader would not have been able to see into her mind as it slipped away well into insanity.
Throughout most of literature and history, the notion of ‘the woman’ has been little more than a caricature of the actual female identity. Most works of literature rely on only a handful of tropes for their female characters and often use women to prop up the male characters: female characters are sacrificed for plot development. It may be that the author actually sacrifices a female character by killing her off, like Mary Shelly did in Frankenstein in order to get Victor Frankenstein to confront the monster he had created, or by reducing a character to just a childish girl who only fulfills a trope, as Oscar Wilde did with Cecily and Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest. Using female characters in order to further the male characters’
She analyzes the significant languages, images, and symbols used in the text. After Barbara analyzed the short story, it basically pinpoints that Gilman’s was trying to make a feminist statement. Suess also goes into details about the representation of patriarchy in society and she tied it to text. The article showed that a form of patriarchy is introduced in the story, and that Gilman used John to represent a patriarchy and society. Barbara stated that in the story, John is a clear representation law, order, and reality. The article revealed that John 's suppression of Jane 's efforts to gain control of her own life through her choice of medicine and the opportunity to write reflects the more general oppression of Jane, as a woman and as a mentally ill person. I believe this article would be beneficial for my research paper because it goes into details about the story and talks about specific symbols used in the text that point towards my theory of how Gilman is making a feminist statement in the
...ble to see that it actually incorporates themes of women’s rights. Gilman mainly used the setting to support her themes. This short story was written in 1892, at that time, there was only one women's suffrage law. Now, because of many determinant feminists, speakers, teachers, and writers, the women’s rights movement has grown increasing large and is still in progress today. This quite recent movement took over more then a century to grant women the rights they deserve to allow them to be seen as equals to men. This story was a creative and moving way to really show how life may have been as a woman in the nineteenth century.
The current text speaks to my gendered performance in the way that it appeals to my inner desire to be protected and taken care of. My current role in life is that of a caretaker, my family (my sister her children and grandchildren, my mother), my children and my husband who all depend on...
Her mother passed away when she was young and her father was killed by Norsefire. She knows that a father has a masculine representation in her life. V doesn’t fit in the father or lover companion, and that make her confused in where she fits. Not only does she have mixed up feeling for V but also Gordon who she lives with and at first has a father figure and later a lover. Evey has a dream about her father who turns into Gordon and tries to have sex with her (Moore and Lloyd 143). Since Evey only knows two types of male companions she ended up with both who portray protection and guidance. Once again she is dependent on her male counterpart Gordon, to feel protected. Her dream of her as a young child portrays that she is still a child in need of guidance and protection and is defenseless. Beauvoir writes, “Thus, women may fail to lay claim to the statues of subject because she lacks definite resources, because she feels the necessary bond that ties her to a man regardless of reciprocity, and because she is often very well pleased with her role as the other (2). Evey feels a necessary bond to V and Gordon but there is no mutual conditions of favors or relationship, she’s just illustrated to show how she is dependent to a man. Evey is also pleased as the role of the other because she doesn’t understand anything more than that. Her role as a female and how to behave according to social rules is all she
Suggested roles of all types set the stage for how human beings perceive their life should be. Gender roles are one of the most dangerous roles that society faces today. With all of the controversy applied to male vs. female dominance in households, and in the workplace, there seems to be an argument either way. In the essay, “Men as Success Objects”, the author Warren Farrell explains this threat of society as a whole. Farrell explains the difference of men and women growing up and how they believe their role in society to be. He justifies that it doesn’t just appear in marriage, but in the earliest stages of life. Similarly, in the essay “Roles of Sexes”, real life applications are explored in two different novels. The synthesis between these two essays proves how prevalent roles are in even the smallest part of a concept and how it is relatively an inevitable subject.
In the story, Eveline's family is described poor, and they probably don't live a very comfortable life. The dust and Eveline's struggle for money mentioned in the story all go to explain the misery in their life: "Besides, the invariable squabble for money on Saturday nights had begun to weary her unspeakably"(Joyce5). This misery also appears in other stories by Joyce like 'The Sisters' and 'Araby'. Joyce could have related his childhood days when his family was in some financial crises to the family background of Eveline in the story: "but the [Joyce's] family fortunes took a sharp turn for the worse during Joyce's childhood" (Gale Group). From the story, we are told that it is from this misery, and her father's attitude that Eveline decides she would leave home, although, she does not leave at the end of the story. Joyce could have been writing about the urge the had to leave Dublin during his youth because he: "[cites] the city of Dublin as the center of paralysis" (the Gale Group).
“Eveline,” by James Joyce, is a story about a woman who is all alone and can’t escape the life that she is living. She is naïve and wants to move on to have a better life but has many things holding her back. The main thing being her promise to her mother. The whole story she sits in the house alone in a chair surrounded by dust. Eveline is isolated from the rest of the world but can’t leave when she has a man right in front of her that she thinks she loves.
Eveline's relationship with her father certainly adds to her fear of change. Her father tries to stop her from changing many times in her life. He demonstrates to her how he fears and thoroughly dislikes change of any kind. In her life as a young child he expresses his distaste for the changing demographic in their neighborhood, "Damned Italians!" Later, he discourages Eveline from growing into an independent woman by forcing her to fill some of the roles her mother used to fill such as caring for the house and shopping for and preparing the family's meals. He also discourages Eveline fro...
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.
The scene in which Evelina requests some figure of provision to “raise and support [her] with others” happens when she states that Mrs. Selwyn is “so much occupied in conversation” that she cannot help Evelina (242). These words perform perfectly in rebuffing women who chose to ignore social convention and eagerly speak their minds. Again, Evelina encourages the patriarchal idea that women are without valuable thought and thus, should not voice their ideas or opinions in the presence of company. Evelina is desperate to remain in the good graces of those around her and thus, admonishes Mrs. Selwyn in her letter to Mr. Villars to show that she is still respecting the societal rules, which are sympathetic to patriarchal control. When Evelina admonishes Mrs. Selwyn for rejecting the rules of conversation and society and begging for Mr. Villars approval in all of her actions, she is functioning under the patriarchy. This seemingly youthful and naïve hope is what makes it possible for Evelina to rebuff those that attempt to harm her because she is writing of the horrors to Mr. Villars and asking him, directly or indirectly, if it is acceptable that she rejects such
Indisputably, roles and characteristics of opposite genders have been ubiquitous, since historical evidence proves so – dating back to when the practice of oral tradition was favored over written language. This historical evidence is especially apparent in literature from previous time periods. In these works of literature, men and women often have very different social and economic positions within society. Particular duties, or tasks, are practiced depending on the gender of these individuals. However, in the advancing world we are currently living in, these duties are beginning to intertwine in an effort to allow equal rights amongst opposite genders. This effort to break the sexist barrier, which encompasses our world, has already begun rattling the chains of politicians and the like. However, with the progressions made thus far in retaliation to sexism and unequal gender privileges, the United States of America is heading in a positive direction towards gender equality. Nonetheless, the female gender is perceived as a lesser entity in society while the male gender is dominant and controlling. The masculine individuals in literary works usually govern, or direct the feminine individuals. These characteristics are often evident in various literary works – including “Hills Like White Elephants,” and “A&P” written by Ernest Hemingway and John Updike, respectively. The slow and steady transformation from a sexist society to one that allows inferior genders to perform similar tasks, if not the same as their superior counterparts, may disturb the ideological mindset of figures with authority; however, it provides inferior genders with the opportunity to branch out socially, economically, and politically.