Societies, as far as history goes, have always been in the forms of a hierarchy. As the role of the family became stronger, the hierarchy added patriarchy to solidify the dominance of man. This type of hierarchy does not work for everyone though, and some push back. This is true for Linda Pastan’s “Marks”. Although society is calling for male dominance, the woman in the poem is realizing that she does not want to conform to her role in patriarchy. Linda Pastan’s poem, “Marks”, exposes the patriarchy’s denial of subjectivity, instrumentality, and silencing, and the speaker’s rejection of her traditional roles.
Pastan uses denial of subjectivity from the beginning to expose the lack of empathy the family has for their mother. The speaker’s husband
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The woman’s husband gives her, “An incomplete for my ironing” (Pastan 3), and so he is merely using her for his needs. In his eyes she is a tool for his benefit. He is not grateful that she does the ironing, but instead comments on its incomplete state when he would not do it himself. The husband grades her again with: “A B plus in bed” (Pastan 4). By giving her a grade on how well she pleased him, so is degraded an instrument for his pleasure, instead of his equal. Additionally, even though they were both participating, by grading her, he is stating that only his feelings matter, while she is there for the sole purpose of pleasing him. The husband’s patriarchal role makes him believe that women are just a tool to improve a man’s life, so this is how he treats his wife. As a woman, especially a wife and mother, her role is to do what those around her need instead of what she may want. In this case it is pleasing her husband without any regard for herself, and he, because of patriarchy, feels powerful enough as to tell her exactly how she did. She is being reduced to less than a person; she is a device for others to use as they need. Instrumentality is one aspect of the patriarchy that directly affects this …show more content…
The mother’s son calls her, “An average mother, but if/ I put my mind to it/ I could improve” (Pastan 6-8). The son is a male and, therefore, feels it is his to tell his mom that she is only “okay” and she could do better. In doing this he does not expect her to say anything back. She, as a woman, is expected to accept this critique and move on. Throughout the whole poem, the woman’s family gives anything similar critiques to her and she does not comment on them once, not until the last line of the poem. What the sons says helps carry the patriarchal belief of the woman being the silent submissive figure of the family. The son and grading the mom on her performance as a mother, and because of her status in society she stays silent. The daughter also grades the mothers, “My daughter believes/ in Pass/Fail and tells me/ I pass” (Pastan 9-11). Again, the mother stays silent at this critique. Her daughter, because of the society she is growing up in, holds the belief that women should be judged and should change to fit this critique, but to never talk out against it. Being silent is exactly what the mother does. She allows her daughter to judge her, and she says nothing about it. Women should fit this perfect image that men have for them, and the daughter sees that, and by grading her mother, she is buying
She was merely teaching her son a lesson, or maybe she was scolding him, and using that as a life lesson. Either way, she was the inspiration for the poem. I was unable to locate online the reason that the poem was initially written - however, I can only assume that he is remembering a time when his mother was right, and he’s wishing he had listened. Maybe he is now older, wiser, and faced with a decision where he wants two things equally, and needs to make a decision.
Throughout this essay he focuses on keeping the tone light and humorous so as to entertain and yet still educate. We see him casually admitting his and others shortcomings as men and directing the humor at himself as he makes fun of his horrible behavior. In doing so, he makes this piece very easy for the reader to relate to; whether you are a woman
The mother is a selfish and stubborn woman. Raised a certain way and never falters from it. She neglects help, oppresses education and persuades people to be what she wants or she will cut them out of her life completely. Her own morals out-weight every other family member’s wants and choices. Her influence and discipline brought every member of the family’s future to serious-danger to care to her wants. She is everything a good mother isn’t and is blind with her own morals. Her stubbornness towards change and education caused the families state of desperation. The realization shown through the story is the family would be better off without a mother to anchor them down.
The speaker is supposed to be writing a love poem to his wife, but the unmistakable criticism he places on her makes one wonder if this is really love he speaks of. It may not be a "traditional" love story, but he does not need to degrade his wife in this manner. Reading through this poem the first time made us feel defensive and almost angry at the speaker for criticizing his wife so badly. Although it is flattering to be the subject of a poem, we do not think many women would like to be written about in this way.
...ther is losing her daughter to time and circumstance. The mother can no longer apply the word “my” when referring to the daughter for the daughter has become her own person. This realization is a frightening one to the mother who then quickly dives back into her surreal vision of the daughter now being a new enemy in a world already filled with evils. In this way it is easier for the mother to acknowledge the daughter as a threat rather than a loss. However, this is an issue that Olds has carefully layered beneath images of war, weapons, and haircuts.
The author of “Mother to Son”, Langston Hughes, displays the attitude of hopefulness in the poem to show that life will not be easy for the son, but he should never give up because the mother did not. The author uses literary devices like figurative language, imagery, and diction. By using these literary devices, Hughes creates a sympathetic mood in the poem in order to emotionally draw in the reader.
As the story begins, the narrator's compliance with her role as a submissive woman is easily seen. She states, "John laughs at me, but one expects that in marriage" (Gilman 577). These words clearly illustrate the male's position of power in a marriage t...
This is because the mother assumes that a woman’s reputation and respectability predisposes to the quality of a woman’s life in the community. The mother inherently concludes that there are only two types of women: respectable women and “sluts.” Through the entire story, the mother often implicates the daughter of being bent on becoming a “slut.” Her suspicion doesn’t appear to be aggravated by the daughter’s behavior. The daughter resembles good behavior; this is shown by her first input in the story, “but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school” (171).
The second person point of view helps the reader to connect with the girl in this story. It shows the reader a better understanding of this character and how she is being raised to be a respectable woman. This point of view also gives us an insight on the life of women and shows us how they fit into their society. Through this point of view, the reader can also identify the important aspects of the social class and culture. The daughter tries to assert a sense of selfhood by replying to the mother but it is visible that the mother is being over whelming and constraining her daughter to prepare her for
Both the narrator and Mrs. Marroner are searching for peace in her male conquered world. The narrator of the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, is symbolic for all women in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, a prisoner of a confining society. Just like society, her husband, John, controls and determines much of what his wife should or should not do, leaving her incapable of making her own decisions. Because he is a man and a physician of high standing, she accepts his orders. When reflecting on men’s behavior, Hausman said, “Gilman tried to prove that what the men think is a biologically ordained pattern of behavior was, in fact, a convention specifically related to their society and the biohistorical organization of human culture” (Hausman). Men treated their wives poorly because that is what they experienced in previous generations. Repression of women’s rights in society stereotype that women are fragile. Men believed they should not work and be discouraged from intell...
... In fact, the mother even recollects how like an infant he still is as she reflects on his birth and "the day they guided him out of me", representing her denial at her son's pending adulthood. The son's rite of passage to manhood, his acceptance of the role of host and peacemaker and unifier, is a shocking one for both speaker and reader. To unite his comrades, he comments "We could easily kill a two-year-old" and the tone of the poem changes finally to one of heartlessness at the blunt brutality of the statement.
Immediately, the narrator stereotypes the couple by saying “they looked unmistakably married” (1). The couple symbolizes a relationship. Because marriage is the deepest human relationship, Brush chose a married couple to underscore her message and strengthen the story. The husband’s words weaken their relationship. When the man rejects his wife’s gift with “punishing…quick, curt, and unkind” (19) words, he is being selfish. Selfishness is a matter of taking, just as love is a matter of giving. He has taken her emotional energy, and she is left “crying quietly and heartbrokenly” (21). Using unkind words, the husband drains his wife of emotional strength and damages their relationship.
Traditionally, men have held the power in society. Women have been treated as a second class of citizens with neither the legal rights nor the respect of their male counterparts. Culture has contributed to these gender roles by conditioning women to accept their subordinate status while encouraging young men to lead and control. Feminist criticism contends that literature either supports society’s patriarchal structure or provides social criticism in order to change this hierarchy. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, depicts one women’s struggle against the traditional female role into which society attempts to force her and the societal reaction to this act.
Throughout history, men are taught that they are the head of the household. This idea is implicated in everyday society. At some point in history women were expected to submit to a men commands. One poem in particular that gives us an inside idea of what it was like growing up during the 1950s is called Sixth Grade written by Marie Howe. This poem speaks about sexual harassment that can be interpreted as six grade version of rape, innocence, and gender role. Howe uses limited use symbolism but crucial to connect her to her audience and to make a statement about where the origin of male violence originated.
Kandiyoti begins her analysis with a description of the multiple instances where the term patriarchy has been used in relation to the Middle East, before she goes on to define it for her own purposes. Radical feminists used the term as a means to explain the degrading placement of value on women, while marxists saw the male “superiority” of a patriarchal system as another classist, and thereby evil, category for the separation of people. By describing the changes in purpose that the term patriarchy has undergone, Kandiyoti begins to shape her own definition of patriarchy. By her meaning, patriarchy is the historical and social, inequality between the genders, in favor of males, that has an influence in multiple aspects of everyday life, including but not limited to; sustaining the family unit or the women’s roles in the social order. “Classic Patriarchy”, as Kandiyoti believes it to be, describes the male-lead households, that focus on the