Barbara Wels’ short story “Gorgeous” is a satire of an obsessive-compulsive woman who seeks a lifestyle mirrored by beauty and perfection. Wels’ writing style composed of carefully arranged lists of words, experimental narrative structure and third person voice, emulates the persona “Gorgeous” and her crazed nature for control and organised stillness in all aspects of her life. By focusing on the treatment of surface and superficially, through Wels’ use of cyclic narrative and the portrayal of the detailed-orientated “Gorgeous” this will link Wels’ story to the broader social context of a materialist culture and the importance of humour in the generating a response to the story. The character of “Gorgeous” is focused purely on the superficial …show more content…
She continually lists items throughout the story, measuring out her life in a compulsive manner. As in “4/ bathroom cabinet” the alphabetical listing of every item in her bathroom cabinet, also reveals Gorgeous as a product of consumerist culture. With the satirical proclamation of a “New You for Just $9.50 a month plus postage and handling” Gorgeous sees herself through products and the processes of beauty therapy. Thus, Wels’ continues to focus on the ‘surface’ where the character of Gorgeous can only be read in relation to the products surrounding her and her arrangement of …show more content…
Thus the illusion of beauty is still possible and even Gorgeous displays emotion despite knowing this “she adores her work from a distance for such a long time and it makes her cry”. Therefore, the irony in this story still exists for Gorgeous to end up being in a relationship with an artist. The personification of beauty continues as Wels’ remarks “Their relationship is the usual kind in which beauty and appreciation are dancing partners”. As she becomes a ‘model’, again ‘stillness’ is idealised as the trademark of beauty. As a result, the humour in Wels’ story also becomes tragic with Gorgeous’ realisation that beauty is fabricated and that the most beautiful are those that are
In conclusion, it is true that beauty pleased our eyes and consciousness. People have gone far trying to make themselves look lovely. Consequently most of them end up by getting killed or having some disease such as skin cancer. Instead of having only some people being happier than others, as Morrison introduced Twyla, I believe people should be all equal as Vonnegut advocates in her story, that way there will be no longer such as killings, rapped or even manipulating other because of their beauty. Can beauty help to rebuild our society?
Following Joan Jacobs Brumberg throughout her conveying research of adolescents turning their bodies into projects the reader is able to see where all of the external beauty fascination came from following up to the 21st century. Brumberg effectively proves her point, and any girl of today’s age knows the struggle of which she continuously portrays throughout her book. Beauty has become such a preoccupation that it has gone from soap and washcloths, to makeup, to cosmetic reconstruction of body parts.
With imagery she provided a detailed visual of what that looks like, how it sounds and gave readers an understanding of what magic feels like. Finally, characters told the tale with ambiguity so that each and every member of the audience could relate and draw references to the people in their own lives. The poem perfectly unified beauty with basics, showing that true beauty does not always have to be elaborate. True beauty lies within the simplistic details, the character of those involved, the love that is felt and the goodness of mankind, that alone is magic. The theme that all moments are worthy of gratitude no matter how often they occur or how simple they appear is beautifully exemplified in the poem “Common Magic”.
Fletcher is not the only one obsessed with looks. Leota is a beautician after all. The setting of the story taking place in a beauty parlor is significant, as is Leota’s job as a beautician. Leota’s character is almost stereotypical in appearance from what is learned, she has black and blond hair, long red nails, and obsessed with a single pastel color, lavender (Welty 1094). Her occupation is to enhance the beauty of women but it is no secret that she lives up to the gossiper stereotype surrounding beauticians. There is not a single person who does not gossip with the person who cuts their hair, especially if they go to a beauty shop. In this shop, the ugliness of gossip and judgment rears its head, ironic is a place where women come to make themselves
story points out that beauty has its cost as well, the power of being beautiful holds a great
In such a cruel society young woman tend to feel pressured with keeping up a perfect image or appeal just to please everyone around them. The speaker in this poem is third person, the audience is very clear focusing on society and parents raising young girls. The overall theme is how society has a standard of how pretty someone is. It causes woman to feel pressured into looking and acting a certain way. A “girl child” is born and once she hits puberty, she is humiliated for what other people point out and see as her flaws. Soon she tired of trying so hard to be what she was not. She eventually got what she wanted which was to look pretty, though it cost her own life. In this eye opening poem “Barbie Doll”, Marge Piercy gives a great representation of how society’s view affects a young woman’s self-image using similes, gruesome symbols, and strong irony.
Claudia has a strong desire to be included, but her different opinions about life unfortunately create difficulties for her fitting into society. She sees the world from a very different perspective than others. From very early on, Claudia's desires differ from the majority's opinion. She desires to have emotions; society,though, desires possessions. Furthermore, Claudia is physically revolted by what seems to be the epitome of beauty in society's eyes. She feels that she is the only one who feels that little white baby dolls with yellow hair and blue eyes are not beautiful. In a bold attempt to destroy the common perception of beauty, Claudia mangles the dolls she receives, "to see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me, but apparently only me" (20). She desires to be included in the unity of society. However, Claudia wants to be included on her own terms. She does not want to limit or conform her beliefs to fit what society wants her ...
she was pretty and that was everything” (225). This captivation with herself along with the constant looking in the mirrors and thinking her mother was only pestering her all the time because her mother’s own good looks were long gone by now (225) shows a sign of immaturity because she believes everything revolves around whether or not someo...
Maureen, her nanny, whose face is riddled with defects, still inspires Coralie to think that, “she [is] beautiful, despite her scars” (10), despite the imperfections she, herself, posses. Then I realized: Isn’t this the true nature of life? Don’t we often look at ourselves, picking out the flaws that we think others will notice? I do this too often, never once thinking that, in reality, people often don’t notice these imperfections or look down on us for them. For instance, Dove had created a commercial that placed women in a position where they had to describe themselves in front of an artist. Accordingly, other women with whom they had met previously were asked to describe them. Of course, the outcome is completely different, yet many women can’t see that. Due to this blind nature, people often try to remove their faults, alike to Coralie, who “attempted to rid herself of the webbing with a sharp knife…” (19), which seems extreme, however many nowadays go through cosmetic procedures to ‘fix’ themselves too. This struggle of accepting ourselves is by no means new—it is an eternal static that doesn’t seem to
In “The Undefinable,” by the end of the young woman’s first visit, the narrator is appraising her body for its worth in a portrait. The woman views this appraisal with disdain, mocking the “rounded form, healthy flesh, and lively glances” that appeal to the painter, common tropes of upper class portraits (Grand 285). Over the course of her next two visits, the narrator begins to worship and “glorify” her being (Grand 285). In the midst of her glorification, the man is able to paint in “love and reverence” a woman as she is, so that he “may feel her divinity and worship that!” (Grand 282, 284). The goddess-like terms of exaltation that the narrator describes the women with come with a frenzy to paint the ‘soul’ of the young woman, who was “a source of inspiration the like of which no man hitherto has even imagined in art or literature” (Grand 287). The inspiration, which solidifies the woman’s role as the muse, comes from a desire for her soul, not her
An elevation of beauty is treated as a form of improvement, both for men and for women. Simply put, women emphasize their differences in order to gain a sense of equality and avoid comparison from men. However women are limited in the sense that beauty in itself is very restricting. And the fact that women direct their beauty towards men shows us that men are the basis and the end means of beauty. In which this beautification is not really a form of self-improvement; there is no real flourishing...
As stated by ‘The Duchess’, Margaret Wolfe Hungerford’s famous quote “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” As a result, beauty can describe as an inspiring view present in everything that can be seen. To begin, beauty can be viewed in a building as large and extravagant as the white house to the small hometown market or even in the sight of a single flower to a field filled with a million flowers. Also, beauty can be seen in the sunrise over the peaks of the mountains and also in the sunset glowing across a calm lake surrounded by the bright colors of the fall trees. Furthermore, people have physical beauty, which can be found in a person’s features, figure, or complexion. In the poem “Beauty & Dress” by Robert Herrick he explains the beauty he sees in his wife. Herrick states,
...e ability to achieve anything in life. Hopefully, readers would learn from this novel that beauty is not the most important aspect in life. Society today emphasizes the beauty of one's outer facade. The external appearance of a person is the first thing that is noticed. People should look for a person's inner beauty and love the person for the beauty inside. Beauty, a powerful aspect of life, can draw attention but at the same time it can hide things that one does not want disclosed. Beauty can be used in a variety of ways to affect one's status in culture, politics, and society. Beauty most certainly should not be used to excuse punishment for bad deeds. Beauty is associated with goodness, but that it is not always the case. This story describes how the external attractiveness of a person can influence people's behavior and can corrupt their inner beauty.
Ruth Handler and her two young children, Barbara and Ken, were merely sightseeing in Lucerne, Switzerland, when Mrs. Handler first saw the doll she herself had been trying to create (Lord 29). In the window of a small gift shop was an eleven and one-half-inch tall plastic doll with a slender woman’s body and a long blond ponytail. Her name was Lilli (“Bad Girl” 1). She had been created from a cartoon character in a West German tabloid similar to the National Inquirer (Lord 8). Dressed provocatively, and with a seductive look in her eye, Lilli had become a “popular pornographic gag gift for men” (“Bad Girl” 1). Excited to see her long-time idea a reality, Mrs. Handler bought three of the dolls and hurried home to begin work on her own doll (“Bad Girl” 2). It was 1956, and within three years, Mattel Creations began marketing the “teenage fashion model” as “a new kind of doll from real life” (Tosa 30). The new doll, deemed “Barbie”, was named after her own daughter Barbara, who’s many years of play with paper dolls had actually inspired her to begin designing the three-dimensional adult doll (Lord 30).