Fried Green Tomatoes Gender Roles

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Recommended: Society's impact on gender roles

The Pressure
From girls having to play with dolls and becoming a housewife to boys playing video games and working in a technical field, gender roles have been forced upon us since childhood and will always continue to do so. Society already decides how someone should dress like, how to handle emotions, and even the activities to partake in before they have any chance to choose so themselves. In the novel Fried Green Tomatoes, Fannie Flagg demonstrates that the gender roles from both men and women in comparison are unequal and unfair. Evelyn Couch who often visits Rose Terrance Nursing home quickly befriends an elderly woman named Ninny Threadgoode. Ninny shares the stories from her youth in Alabama, recalling all the adventures and troubles of Idgie Threadgoode. From becoming infatuated with someone in an abusive marriage to using the Whistle Stop Café as a haven during a murder case, Idgie’s ability to overcome her problems motivates Evelyn to turn her life around and finally confront her fears and troubles as a trapped housewife. Many of these troubles come from the gender roles she thinks she must live up to, to please the people around her. …show more content…

In a lot of situations one group or gender can speak out whenever they desire without being critiqued. For example, Evelyn shows her fear of being criticized as the narrator mentions “She had […] not been a feminist because she didn’t want to be called a queer and a man hater; never nagged or raised her voice so she wouldn’t be called a bitch…” (Flagg 305). From holding back onto her beliefs and not stating her mind, Evelyn believes that she can avoid the diatribes she expects from others. This is important because everyone deserves to be treated equally when expressing themselves. Without this equality, people are merely giving into the ideas of gender roles and its unfairness. Therefore, the creation of gender roles in society leads to unjust

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