The conduct of Life (1985) is another famous play by Maria Irene Fornes; it tackles women issues and depicts woman's resistance against the oppression inflicted upon her in a male-dominated society. The play is set in an unnamed Latin America country ruled by an oppressive political regime. Women's resistance is embodied in the character of Leticia, a middle class but uneducated woman, who is a victim of the unjust, harsh and brutal treatment of her husband, Orlando. Orlando is an ambitious, ruthless and opportunist middle class military officer who is ten years younger than Leticia. Leticia is abused and oppressed by Orlando who cares only for himself. Early in Scene I, he maintains:
Thirty three and I' m still a lieutenant.
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In two years I'll receive a promotion or I'll leave the military. I promise I will not spend time feeling sorrow for myself [...]. I will study the situation and draw an effective plan of action [...]. I will make the the acquaintance of people in high power. If I cannot achieve this on my own merit, I will marry a woman in high circles. Leticia must not be an obstacle [...]. Man must have an ideal, mine is to achieve maximum power. (Fornes, Conduct 1986, 68 ). Leticia suffers from the maltreatment and oppression of Orlando who wants to achieve his ambitions at any cost. Initially, he did his best to achieve his aspirations so as to become a lieutenant commander. However, as he says in the above soliloquy, if he fails to attain his goal, the alternative is to abandon his wife, Leticia, and marry another one of higher rank. As Assunta Bartolomucci Kent expresses it ''Orlando is no longer interested in his doting wife and he has begun to consider discarding her in order to make a new marriage more advantageous to his career'' (1996, 170). Orlando is fierce, and does not hesitate to give up Leticia despite the fact that she has devoted herself to him. In a telephone conversation, she tells her friend Mona: He is violent. He has become more so. I sense it. I feel it in him. I raised him. I practically did. He was a boy when I met him. I saw him grow. I was the first woman he loved. That's how young he was. I have to look after him, make sure he doesn't get into trouble''. (Fornes, Conduct 1986, 85) Orlando's violence is due to the fact that he tortures political prisoners opposing the regime, and this is why he is soon promoted as a lieutenant commander as we know in Scene II.
However, Orlando's violence has its terrible consequences on Leticia who suffers from his maltreatment, abuse and harshness.
Leticia is exploited by Orlando who is an opportunist; he exploits her, and his relationship with her is a utilitarian one. He loved her when he was young since he was in need for her. Eventually, he no longer loves her; furthermore, he regards her as a mere housekeeper; he ''maintains his marriage to Leticia only because she keeps the house for him (Gies Oct. 1990, 302). Leticia complains her predicament to their friend Alejo, a lieutenant commander, saying:
He told me that he didn't love me, and that the sole relationship to me is simply a marital one. What he means is that I am to keep this house, and he is to provide for it [...]. That explains why he treats me the way he treats me. I never understood why he did, but now it's clear. He doesn't love me. I thought he loved me and that he stayed with me because he loved me and that's why I didn't understand his behavior. But now I know, because he told me that he sees me as a person who runs the house. (Fornes, Conduct 1986,
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69) Leticia is in great pain due to the harsh treatment of her husband who humiliates and belittles her . On discussing hunting deer as a sport in the presence of Alejo, Leticia expresses her rejection of such a sport as she regards deer as ''the most beautiful animal in the world'' (Fornes, Conduct 1986, 68). Orlando outbursts violently saying, ''Must you have an opinion about every damn thing! Can't you keep your mouth shut when you don't know what you're talking about?'' (Fornes, Conduct 1986, 69) He silences her and ridicules her opinion which he regards as utter madness. Moreover, he intends to cut her from his will. He considers her a ''foolish woman'' since she is kindhearted and has a desire to share her wealth with the poor; he regards such a wish as extreme silliness. He tells Alejo that Leticia ''has no respect for money'' simply because if she had money, she would ''distribute it among the poor'' (Fornes, Conduct 1986, 69). In fact, the problem of Leticia is that she devotes herself solely to her husband and her, and forgets herself and identity. As a middle class woman, she turns her back to the outside world and becomes concerned only with her duties towards her husband in order to satisfy her sexual and material needs. In her book The Feminine Mystique, the American feminist Betty Friedan, is of the view that fidelity to husband and house only does women immense psychological harm because it makes them see themselves only as wives and lose any sense of their identity. Freidan proceeds: the problem of women today is not sexual but a problem of identity [...] the Victorian culture did not permit women to accept or gratify their basic sexual needs, our culture does not permit women to accept or gratify their basic need to grow and fulfil their potentialities as human beings, a need which is not solely defined by their sexual role. (2000, 101) Accordingly, Women should resist in order to assert their identity in society, and this is actually what Leticia decides to do. She resolves to resist the oppression inflicted upon her; her resistance is embodied in her insistence not to be self-reliant and cease to yield to the authoritative role of Orlando. she should be financially independent and have the freedom of determining her life. Like Mae in Mud , Leticia decides to resist the oppression and subjugation she undergoes under patriarchy by establishing her identity through learning to read and write and pursuing higher education. She tells Alejo: He [Orlando] has no respect for me. He is insensitive He doesn't listen. You cannot reach him. He is deaf. He is an animal. Nothing touches him except sensuality. He responds to food, to the flesh[...]. I cannot change him [...]. I want to study so I am not an ignorant person. I want to go to the university. I am tired of being ignored. I want to study political science [...]. I would like to be a woman who speaks in a group and have others listen. (Fornes, Conduct 1986, 69- 70) In addition to Orlando's mistreatment and degradation of Leticia, she is against his violent attitude towards political prisoners. In a telephone conversation, she tells her friend Mona, ''He [Orlando] is violent. He has become more so. [...] He tortures people. I know he does. [...] How awful Mona He mustn't do it'' (Fornes, Conduct 1986, 85). Furthermore, Orlando psychologically tortures Leticia by bringing Nena, a street young girl of twelve, whom he kidnaps to his warehouse in order to rape her. Later, he keeps her in his basement ''as a sex slave'' (Portified 2000, 208). He repeatedly rapes her even in the presence of Leticia who hears him ''making love with her'' (Fornes, Conduct 1986, 81). As Scott. T. Cummings states, Leticia's ''gradual recognition of Nena's presence in the house parallels her gradual recognition of Orlando as a professional torturer'' (2013, 112). This actually results in the fact that she starts to suffer from intolerable pain due to her husband's cruelty, animality and oppressive practices against her. In her article ''Gender Perspectives and Violence in the plays of Maria Irene Fornes'', Catherine Schuler points out: Fornes turns over and reveals aspects of male psychology and heterosexual intimacy that are profoundly disturbing [chiefly that] our society condones, encourages, and even venerates male brutality, and violence against women has for centuries been strategic device that preserves traditional gender hierarchies.( Qtd in Cummings 112) In fact, in her play The Conduct of Life as well as in the previously discussed plays, Fornes actually pinpoints the various kinds of abuse committed against women in patriarchal societies where women, as formerly elaborated, are regarded as inferior and subordinate to men. Fornes wants to emphasize the fact that, as Sara Gamble puts it, ''patriarchy is the primary form of human oppression, without whose elimination other forms of oppression_ racial, political or economic_ will continue (2001, 31). The last Scene of The Conduct of Life play exhibits Leticia's extreme resistance against the abuse and maltreatment of Orlando.
Leticia can no longer accept the unendurable treatment of Orlando who oppressively accuses her of having a lover and tortures her in front of Nena and Olympia, the servant, in order to get a confession. He interrogates her as if she were a political prisoner and attacks her physically. Resisting his brutality, Leticia ''goes to the telephone table, opens the drawer, takes a gun and shoots Orlando. Orlando falls dead'' (Conduct, 1986, 88). Leticia no longer tolerates Orlando's violence, savageness and maltreatment. To put an end to his oppression and abuse, she shoots him
dead. To conclude, Maria Irene Fornes is quite conscious that literature has a great vocation. Subsequently, as a playwright, she aims at employing theatre as a vehicle for social change. In her attempt to improve the conditions of women, she masterfully manages to represent a successful portrayal of women's resistance against the abuse and violence imposed upon them in male-dominated societies. In her plays, Fefu and her Friends, Mud and The Conduct of Life, she skillfully discloses the oppression, degradation, exploitation and violence women suffer from under patriarchy in an attempt to urge them to resist; meanwhile she prescribes the means of putting an end to the unjust treatment committed against them through establishing themselves in society in the case of Fefu and her friends, searching for knowledge and leaving home in the case of Mae, and learning to read and write as well as pursuing higher education in the case of Leticia . It is true that some female characters such as Fefu and Leticia eventually resist violently when Fefu shoots Julia whom she regards as an obstacle in women's search for their liberation, and Leticia when she resists her husband's brutality by shooting him; yet, by depicting them in such a violent way, she intends to send warnings to both men and society.
In the article Threshold of Violence published by The New Yorker Magazine, author Malcolm Gladwell alludes to the cause of school shootings and why they transpire. Gladwell tries to make sense of the epidemic by consulting a study of riots by stanford sociologist Mark Granovetter. Granovetter sought to understand “why people do things that go against who they are or what they think is right, for instance, why typically non-violent, law-abiding people join a riot”(Granovetter). He concluded that people’s likelihood of joining a riot is determined by the number of people already involved. The ones who start a riot don’t need anyone else to model this behavior for them that they have a “threshold” of zero. But others will riot only if someone
Believers of the Old and New Testaments claim that violence is a sin and can only lead to more brutality and death; poet Tony Barnstone firmly agrees. In his poem “Parable in Praise of Violence” Barnstone lambastes the American obsession with violence-- that it is often triggered by inevitable events which could be handled in different manners. The speaker in “Parable in Praise of Violence” reflects on all parts of his “sinful” culture and comes to the realization that people often use violence as a way to deal with emotions of grief and anger caused by events and concepts they cannot explain.
Sally is a common occurrence in Esperanza’s community; she lacks self-confidence and determination. In “Linoleum Roses,” Esperanza describes Sally’s post-marriage life. She says, “Sally says she likes being married because now she gets to buy her own things when her husband gives her money… Except he won’t let her talk on the telephone. And he doesn’t let her look out the window. And he doesn’t like her friends, so nobody gets to visit her unless he is working. She sits at home because she is afraid to go outside without his permission.” Sally lacks the qualities of self-confidence and determination; due to this, she lets herself fall into a trap disguised as marriage. Now, she has no control over her life. Her husband decides everything for her, and she is afraid to say no to him. Sally’s lack of two important qualities lets her give herself away to her husband. Now, her fate lies solely in his
Throughout an individual’s life-time, he/she has a vision as o what his/her should be. But when things do not go as planned and the unexpected occurs, does that person face it, or run away? In “An Act of Vengeance” by Isabel Allende, running away is not an option at well. Through the usage of plot, character and irony, Allende illustrates the cost of war.
At the beginning of the story, the protagonist, Cleofilas, had an illusion that all romances are like the ones she has seen on television. However, she soon realizes that her relationship with Juan Pedro was nothing like what she had dreamed it would be. Cisneros wants to emphasize the idea that when men bring home the primary source of income in the family, they feel they have power over their wives. Cisneros uses Juan Pedro in the story to portray this idea. For instance, Cleofilas often tells herself that if she had any brains in her, she would realize that Juan Pedro wakes up before the rooster to earn his living to pay for the food in her belly and a roof over her head (Cisneros, 1991, p.249). Cisneros wants to make a point that when men feel that they have power over their wives, women begin to feel a sense of low self-worth.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a short story that is about a fifteen year old pretty teenager named Connie, who does not get along with her mother and is irritated by her sister. Her sister can do no wrong in her mother's eyes while she is constantly getting criticized. Connie enjoys listening to music, watching movies, and spends a lot of time going out with her best friend and meeting boys. Until one day, a creepy guy, she had seen out one night shows up in her driveway when her family is out. He introduces himself as Arnold Friend and insists that Connie go for a ride with him and threatens to harm her family if she doesn't. In the story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates portrays Arnold Friend as a rapist; he creates the climax of the story in which Connie is taken from her home and family, by him through violent means.
How is it that in the year 2016 violence is not only increasing but is also being accepted at a startling rate? Most teenagers in modern days believe “that it was acceptable for a boyfriend to act aggressively towards his partner in certain circumstances.” (Statistics). If teenagers today believe that acting aggressively towards your partner is okay, will they grow to believe that other forms of violence are acceptable as well? Will they create a world where domestic violence, rape, and murder are “no big deal”?
Beli’s impulses allow her to ignore the fact that falling atomically in love with the Gangster, a man she meets in a luxurious nightclub, is wrong. In a world where no one gives her such feeling, the Gangster makes Beli feel beautiful. But, the Gangster is a pimp and exploits women, which shows the degradation of women such as Beli. The Trujillo system in the Dominican Republic, under which the Cabaral’s are associated with, exploits women and the Gangster, just like Trujillo did exactly that. This path of life that Beli embarks on is the wrong choice because it is plagued with the fukú. She sees the Gangster as an escape out of her current life because he is extremely rich. The Gangster promises her a house in Miami with as many bedrooms as she wants. Beli is naïve and does not realize that the Gangster cannot help her escape her life that she is unhappy with. Instead all the Gangster can bring to Beli is bad luck. The Gangster ends up being married to Trujillo’s sister, who is extremely cruel and lives up to the name of Trujillo. The Gangster’s wife has Beli beaten until she almost dies. Beli is vulnerable because the Gangster has power over her; she truly believes that he is an escape from her Dominican world. All along La Inca sees otherwise and tells Beli that she is crazy. La Inca also implies that a man cannot save her, but Beli continues to make
Rafaela is married to an older man and “gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too beautiful to look at” (79). The narrator Esperanza notes that because Rafaela is locked in the house she gives the passing kids money to run to the store to bring her back juice. Esperanza states that “Rafaela who drinks and drinks coconut and papaya juice on Tuesdays and wishes there were sweeter drinks, not bitter like an empty room, but sweet sweet like the island, like the dance hall down the street where women much older than her throw green eyes easily like dice and open homes with keys. And always there is someone offering sweeter drinks, someone promising to keep them on a silver string” (81). Esperanza is being to notice a common occurrence in the treatment of women on Mango Street. Rafaela is locked away by her husband as he wants to keep her from running off. This mirrors the relationship between Earl and his wife. Rafaela is described in more detail however allowing readers a deeper connection to her experience in her marriage. Esperanza witnesses Rafaela’s confinement in the house each time she passes by with friends and Rafaela sends them down money to buy her a drink from the store since she is unable to go herself. There is also an interesting comparison in which the confined room is compared to being bitter whereas the sweet drink is compared to being the
At the beginning of the story, the protagonist, Cleofilas, had an illusion that all romance is like the ones she had seen on television. However, she soon realizes that her relationship with Juan Pedro was nothing like what she had dreamed of. Cisneros wanted to emphasize the idea that when men bring home the primary source of income in the family, they feel they have power over their wives. Therefore, Cisneros used Juan Pedro in the story to portray this idea. For instance, Cleofilas often tells herself that if she had any brains in her, she would realize that Juan Pedro wakes up before the rooster to earn his living to pay for the food in her belly and a roof over her head (Cisneros, 1991, p.249). Cisneros wanted to make a point that when men feel that they have power over their wives, the woman begins to feel a sense of low self-worth.
Throughout the plays, the reader can visualize how men dismiss women as trivial and treat them like property, even though the lifestyles they are living in are very much in contrast. The playwrights, each in their own way, are addressing the issues that have negatively impacted the identity of women in society.
However, Kant’s moral philosophy view is not without its problems. This is because the good will is not always inherently good without being qualified despite what Kant may claim. This can be seen as even if a person is an altruist who always tries to do their duty they can end up generating misery instead of pleasure. For example, say that you are going out and stealing from the rich to give to those less fortunate. In doing this you are only trying to help people and follow a duty to aid your fellow man, and it does not matter what consequences you may face due to your actions as you are supposed to have a good will even if it will get you into trouble. For a more extreme example say you are hiding Jews in your attic in Nazi Germany. The
I will now look at a passage focusing on Rene Girard’s ideas from his book Violence and the Sacred. “Once his basic needs are satisfied (indeed, sometimes even before), man is subject to intense desires, though he may not know precisely for what. The reason is that he desires being, something he himself lacks and which some other person seems to possess. The subject thus looks to that other person to inform him of what he should desire in order to acquire that being. If the model, who is apparently already endowed with superior being, desires some object, that object must surely be capable of conferring an even greater plenitude of being. It is not through words, therefore, but by the example of his own desire that the model conveys to the
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest provides dialogue that portrays the social expectations and stereotypes imposed upon women in Elizabethan times. Even though the play has only one primary female character, Miranda, the play also includes another women; Sycorax, although she does not play as large a roll. During many scenes, the play illustrates the characteristics that represent the ideal woman within Elizabethan society. These characteristics support the fact that men considered women as a mere object that they had the luxury of owning and were nowhere near equal to them. Feminists can interpret the play as a depiction of the sexist treatment of women and would disagree with many of the characteristics and expectations that make Miranda the ideal woman. From this perspective, The Tempest can be used to objectify the common expectations and treatment of women within the 16th and 17th Centuries and compare and contrast to those of today.
In Fantomina, her first persona of a prostitute is a simple and naïve exploration of how men react to women of lower ranks than herself. Beauplasir establishes his power over the lowly Fantomina, who is a helpless prostitute, in their first sexual encounter by forcing himself onto her. “In fine, she was undone; and he gained a victory, so highly rapturous, that had he known over whom, scarce could he have triumphed more.” (2743). Beauplasir’s joy at his forcing himself upon Fantomina is a prime example of how men could take what they wanted without fear of consequence, even as she objects to the coupling. This interaction convinces Fantomina that she is in love with Beauplasir and grants him the power to manipulate her into becoming his mistress. Next, Fantomina assumed the role of a maid to regain his attention that had waned from his sexual satisfaction with the prostitute role, she then assumed a slightly higher ranking in society to create a new relationship with Beauplasir. “…as he had ordered, he catched her