In Caroline Rody’s Burning Down the House, Rody accounts for the feminine empowerment through a female subjectivity that revives the mother-daughter text and logic of female conversation. Rather than telling the story as the text itself, Rody refers to the text as a literary history. She effectively demonstrates the feminine empowerment in female conversation and her distinction between literay history and the literary text further acknowledges Rhy’s intent in leaving the death of Antoinette as a symbol of rebellious, but empowering liberation.
Rody believes the “acceptance of Bertha’s martyrdom seems an acknowledgement of the tragic nature of literary history--which is, after all, history” Rather than killing off Antoinette because of her
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In fact, Rody validates this claim as she recounts the linearity of Rhys’s writing. Antoinette first dreams of burning down the house, awakens and interprets this dream only to in the very end, attempt to carry out this act. Rody perfectly describes this as “neatly recapitulated process by which a person reads a text, interprets in her own terms, and sets out to rewrite it” Rhys does exactly this. She expresses a sentiment not previously expressed in nineteenth-century novels. Antoinette rebels against literary plots. She rewrites the ending of her story and in doing so, Rhys transforms the female conversation. Rhys shifts away from the self-imposed death and instead apts for a historic death. A historic death grants the writer freedom. The very illustration that “her precursor has restricted her to a predetermined narrative is liberating.” Rody argues the novel then stands as proof of this female liberation. Despite, the actual death or intended death of Antoinette/Bertha, the reader reimagines the meaning behind this death. Rather than accepting the death, the text is treated as
Do you believe all women are smart enough to get an education or strong enough to go to war? In countries like Afghanistan and even America, there is a preconceived notion that women are simply best for bearing children, raising them, cleaning, and cooking for their husbands. From a young age, many women are given gendered roles, such as being taught by society to find husbands and care for children. For instance, girls are given baby dolls and kitchen sets for their birthdays instead of books. In Flashes of War, by Katey Schultz, the two stories “Deuce Out” and “Aaseya and Rahim” the protagonists Stephanie and Aaseya may live in different worlds, but they share much more than we think. Because of predetermined expectations that society has imposed upon women, Schultz’s book comes to a surprise since it defies pre-conceived notions of women.
Literary historicism, in the context of this discussion, describes the interpretation of literary or historical texts with respect to the cultural and temporal conditions in which they were produced. This means that the text not only catalogues how individuals respond to their particular circumstances, but also chronicles the movements and inclinations of an age as expressed in the rhetorical devices of its literature. Evaluating the trial of Anne Hutchinson within such a theoretical framework means speculating on the genesis of her theological beliefs with recourse to prevailing theories of gender, class, and interpretation. Because texts are self-contained spheres of discourse, nuanced interpretations of them can be undertaken with greater assiduity than in the case of individuals whose private experiences remain largely concealed from the interpreter's knowledge. A historical analysis of Anne Hutchinson herself is hence, in the present discussion, secondary to the analysis of how she comes across in textual discourse as a palimpsest of seventeenth century gender controversy.
In her article “‘But is it any good?’: Evaluating Nineteenth-Century American Women’s Fiction,” Susan Harris provides methods and criteria for examining Women’s Fiction in what she calls “process analysis” (45). To apply Harris’ guidelines to Catherine Maria Sedgwick’s A New England Tale, I must first “acknowledge the ideological basis of [my] endeavor” (45) as a feminist/equalitist critique of the text. Furthermore, I identify the three-fold approach that Harris describes as historical, in distinguishing early nineteenth-century from mid- to late-century attitudes, rhetorical, in labeling Sedgwick’s communication to readers didactic, and ideological, by understanding my objections stem from twenty-first-century attitudes. Harris also explains, “If we look at them as both reactive and creative…we can understand [texts’] aesthetic, moral, and political values” (45); I consider A New England Tale to have a sentimental aesthetic, a Christian morality, and a support of female subordination.
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.
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.
Already full of self-criticism and self-loathing (Grigg 140), Antoinette begins feeling an “unconscious sense of guilt,” the result of an identification with someone to whom the person has been erotically attached; and it is “often the sole remaining trace of the abandoned love –relation” (Grigg 141). While Rochester is determined not to love her, he cannot help but feel responsible for her, after all part of the exile, and therefore her undoing is attributed to him. Unable to walk away from the marriage, he sets out to make the best of it the only way he knows how, by locking her away, exiling her
William Faulkner takes us back in time with his Gothic short story known as, “A Rose for Emily.” Almost every sentence gives a new piece of evidence to lead the reader to the overall theme of death, isolation, and trying to maintain traditions. The reader can conclude the theme through William Faulkner’s use of literary devices such as his choice of characters, the setting, the diction, the tone, and the plot line.
Within Rhys’s novel, he incorporates the normality of the West Indies during the nineteenth and mid- twentieth centuries. Antoinette, the main character, who happens to be a white Creole, is mistreated and discriminated because of her identity. Throughout the text, characters are victimized by prejudices. For example, Antoinette and Annette become victims of traumatic experience as they face numerous kinds of mistreatment. Antoinette had to deal with an arranged marriage, which results her becoming distressed. Throughout this marriage, she was treated irrationally by her husband, Rochester and servants. She was unable to relate to Rochester because their upbringings were incompatible. She had to stomach the trauma of being shunned because of her appearance and identity. She was called names, mainly “white cockroach”, and was treated as an
“Feminism is the radical notion that women are people” as infamously quoted by Marie Shear, a writer for feminist magazine New Directions For Women. While feminist ideology is more widely accepted in modern society, the quest for women to be legally recognized as persons wasn't always so attainable. Emily Murphy was a Canadian women's rights activist and the leader in a group of five women who sought out legal action to answer the question of whether women were indeed considered persons in the eyes of the law. When taken to the Supreme Court of Canada, the final vote was to dismiss the motion. After the British Privy Council overturned the Supreme Courts's decision, Murphy and the other women (known as the Famous Five) were victorious in
Nevertheless, after the death of her father, Blanche lived under the control of the Revolutionist “September Mothers.” As the narrator reports, “if during that dreadful September night she had been the symbol of our unhappy country, there was in this continuance of suffering a tragic rightness.” This “living” which she endured under the September Mothers was, in reality, a loss of all sense of feeling and merely a maintenance of existence, suffering all the while. During this ordeal of psychological martyrdom, Blanche was often found crouched alone in a dark corner within a rear room in her home, perhaps in an attempt to cope. However, thrown into such a state of despondency as she was, Blanche found within her courage at the moment she required it most.
How does one compare the life of women to men in late nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century America? In this time the rights of women were progressing in the United States and there were two important authors, Kate Chopin and John Steinbeck. These authors may have shown the readers a glimpse of the inner sentiments of women in that time. They both wrote a fictitious story about women’s restraints by a masculine driven society that may have some realism to what women’s inequities may have been. The trials of the protagonists in both narratives are distinctive in many ways, only similar when it totals the macho goaded culture of that time. Even so, In Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing we hold two unlike fictional characters in two very different short stories similar to Elisa Allen in the “Chrysanthemums” and Mrs. Louise Mallard in “The Story of an Hour”, that have unusual struggles that came from the same sort of antagonist.
Sandra Cisneros reveals her feminist views through her novel The House on Mango Street. She does this by forcing the reader to see the protagonist as an alienated artist and by creating many strong and intelligent female characters who serve as the protagonist's inspiration.
Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” shows in society how a woman should be placed and what it means to be a woman. A women doesn’t question her partner, instead she is subservient to him. A woman’s duties include staying at home taking care of the children and cooking; while the man works and brings home the money. A feministic approach to Kincaid’s “Girl” points to the idea of the stereotypes that women can only be what they do in the home, they should only be pure and virtuous, and their main focus should be satisfying their husband.
Throughout literature’s history, female authors have been widely recognized for their groundbreaking and eye-opening accounts of what it means to be a woman in society. In most cases of early literature, women are portrayed as weak and unintelligent characters who rely solely on their male counterparts. Also during this time period, it would be shocking to have women characters in some stories, especially since their purpose is only secondary to that of the male protagonist. But, in the late 17th to early 18th century, a crop of courageous women began publishing their works, beginning the literary feminist movement. Together, Aphra Behn, Charlotte Smith, Fanny Burney, and Mary Wollstonecraft challenge the status quo of what it means to be a woman during the time of the Restoration Era and give authors and essayists of the modern day, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a platform to become powerful, influential writers of the future.
Alice Walker's use of characterization in her novel The Color Purple depicts her main theme of female empowerment and the importance of maintaining an assertive voice. The tyrannical male characters, the victimized female characters, and the development of the protagonist, Celie, express Walker's firm views of female independence in a male dominated society. Her feminist views have been influenced by her experiences with discrimination as an African-American woman as well as her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. These experiences serve as an inspiration for developing the character Celie, a young black woman discovering her own sense of self while battling a male dependent environment. The progression of civil rights for black women that existed throughout the twentieth century mirrors the development Celie makes from a verbally debilitated girl to an adamant young woman. The expression of racism and sexism that evidenced itself during the postmodern era presented Walker with an opportunity to compose a novel that reveals her strong animosity toward discrimination. Without these outlets, Walker would not have had the ability to create a novel with such in-depth insights into the lifestyle of an immensely oppressed woman.