Throughout the novel Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie explicitly illuminates gender stereotypes and paternal and maternal qualities of the Victorian era. In the early 20th century, patriarchal society strictly defined men and women’s roles in the community. Traditionally, men were expected to attain manhood in the eyes of other men in society, find a spouse, achieve success and respect, provide for their wife and family, work through hardships, live adventurously, and financially succeed. A woman’s main role in life was her responsibilities to her family- primarily seen as wives, mothers, and caretakers, with her place being in a domestic setting. Through Peter Pan, Mr. and Mrs. Darling, Wendy, and Peter Pan each adhere to the classic gender stereotypes …show more content…
Although Peter negates to play father to Wendy’s maternal role he fulfills the conventional Victorian era male part by serving as the leader, protector, and breadwinner, much like Mr. Darling. Mr. Darling and Peter are both set in their customary ways and are extremely certain of themselves: “Peter not coming! They gazed blankly at him, their sticks over their backs, and on each stick a bundle. Their first thought was that if Peter was not going he had probably changed his mind about letting them go. But he was far too proud for that. ‘If you find your mothers,’ he said darkly, ‘I hope you will like them.” (135) Desperately in need of nurturing, Peter pursues Wendy for himself and the lost boys, aligning with the need to find a spouse to take care of you. At the end of the novel, Barrie describes Mr. Darling as “quite a simple man; indeed he might have passed for a boy again if he had been able to take his baldness off; but he had also a noble sense of justice and a lion courage to do what seemed right to him...” (184), which coincides with Peter’s immature and childish character traits. By playing a father figure to the lost boys, defeating Captain Hook and the pirates, serving as a strong leader, measuring hollow trees for hiding places, building Wendy a house, and saving Wendy, Peter fulfills his role as a dominant male figure in the novel. By the end of the novel, Peter rejects his voluntary role of fatherhood with Wendy, but he still exhibits traditional male
During the Victorian Era, society had idealized expectations that all members of their culture were supposedly striving to accomplish. These conditions were partially a result of the development of middle class practices during the “industrial revolution… [which moved] men outside the home… [into] the harsh business and industrial world, [while] women were left in the relatively unvarying and sheltered environments of their homes” (Brannon 161). This division of genders created the ‘Doctrine of Two Spheres’ where men were active in the public Sphere of Influence, and women were limited to the domestic private Sphere of Influence. Both genders endured considerable pressure to conform to the idealized status of becoming either a masculine ‘English Gentleman’ or a feminine ‘True Woman’. The characteristics required women to be “passive, dependent, pure, refined, and delicate; [while] men were active, independent, coarse …strong [and intelligent]” (Brannon 162). Many children's novels utilized these gendere...
Ann Wilson explains the anxieties expressed in Barrie's Peter Pan as a reaction to the changes occurring in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, and is resolved by Humphrey Carpenter who explains that this statement is linked to the desire to remain a child and avoid the real world.
In 1939, Victor Fleming made a film version of L. Frank Baum’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” However, both the novel and the film focuses or touches on the same moral, it features the protagonist Dorothy who resides in Kansas the farm, along with her aunt Em and uncle Henry as well as her dog Toto. Both Baum’s novel and Fleming’s 1939 film adaptation the setting is in Kansas which is described as a small farm which Dorothy lives in which in Baum’s novel is picturized as gloomy, grey and dull. Throughout Fleming’s adaptation of Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” there are a number of differences which presents itself in a direct manner on screen as well as similarities. The variety of changes in the film’s adaptation tends to take away from the meaning of L. Frank Baum’s depiction in his novel to a certain level and extent.
William Golding’s book Lord of the Flies is a novel based on a group of schoolboys that were flying on a plane to escape World War II and were shot down. They were shot down over a deserted tropical island in Britain. The boys suffered a large fire that burned the island, little food, and a boy that is out to kill everyone by the end of the book.
This forgetfulness is because of the fact that time is inconsequential and he is trapped as a child, so to remain a child mentally he can never retain the lessons he learns. One example of this happens when Peter is fighting Captain Hook and Hook him betrays him by lashing out at Peter unfairly. This happening to him sends him into a daze as though this is the first time this has ever happened to him. Rather than it being the first time “ He often met it [unfair treatment] but he always forgot. I suppose that was the real difference between him and all rest” (120). This difference is also made clear by his inability to remember the adventures he and Wendy went on together, at one point in “An After-Thought” he asks Wendy who Captain Hook is, to which she exclaims “Oh, Peter, you forget everything”(284). This lack of memory disconnects Peter from the people around him, leaving him lonely even though he is always being surrounded by new groups of people and supernatural beings. Unlike these groups though, Peter does not fit into the category of, for example, a pirate or a fairy. Peter is not even exactly like the lost boys, leaving him uniquely alone in the
In society, there has always been a gap between men and women. Women are generally expected to be homebodies, and seen as inferior to their husbands. The man is always correct, as he is more educated, and a woman must respect the man as they provide for the woman’s life. During the Victorian Era, women were very accommodating to fit the “house wife” stereotype. Women were to be a representation of love, purity and family; abandoning this stereotype would be seen as churlish living and a depredation of family status. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Henry Isben’s play A Doll's House depict women in the Victorian Era who were very much menial to their husbands. Nora Helmer, the protagonist in A Doll’s House and the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” both prove that living in complete inferiority to others is unhealthy as one must live for them self. However, attempts to obtain such desired freedom during the Victorian Era only end in complications.
... the male characters reveals that not all female characters were written to be “timid [and] dependant.” She also makes a deal with Captain Hook, the antagonist character. Tinker Bell is a representation of the fatal female, where a female tries to accomplish her hidden purpose by using feminine guiles such as charm and beauty. She is also manipulative and full of negative emotions, which were not seen appropriate in a female in the late Victorian era. However, despite Tinker Bell contrasting from the usual female gender roles, she does conform in terms of love. The women share unrequited attractions to Peter, and consequently their feelings are imprisoned in a limited range between their jealousy of one another and silent yearning for Peter.
Throughout many fairytales, Cinderella more evidently, there is the stigma of male roles and female roles. The man is the prince, the knight in shining armor, the strong protector and able provider, and the woman is the princess. Dainty and innocent, weak and capable only of looking pretty, fostering children and maintaining appearances of house and home. These roles of placement have been around long before fairy tales, and they’ll be around long after fairy tales, but the inclusion of these roles through characters in fairy tales does nothing but enforce the idea that this is the way things are meant to be, and women who do not assume these roles are wrong and unworthy. In her article, Orenstein refers to Cinderella as “the patriarchal oppression of all women”, and she is exactly right (Orenstein “What’s wrong with Cinderella?”). The impression left of these gender stereotypes travels off the pages of the fairy tale and into the real world when studies show that there is a “23% decline in girls’ participation in sports and other rigorous activity … has been linked to their sense that athletics is unfeminine” (Orenstein “What’s wrong with Cinderella?”). The blatant disregard for equality in these stories can be summed up with a term Orenstein coined, “relentless resegregation of childhood”, which ultimately defines what it means to be a boy or a girl in the terms of set behaviors and life duties (Orenstein “What’s wrong with Cinderella?”). Whether it be Cinderella or any other princess, the fairy tale business makes it a point to create a place for women with their stories, and unfortunately that “place” is demeaning and still practiced
The fact that Barrie chooses this location for both the beginning and the end of the novel shows the importance of domestic life and maternal care in Peter Pan. After the Darling children complete their adventures in Neverland, they come back to the womb in an embrace of the nursery room to be taken care of again by those maternal figures. However, Peter distrusts mothers because he believes that his own mother betrayed him, but he dislikes them because they turn children into adults. “Keep back, lady,” he yells at Mrs. Darling: “no one is going to catch me and make me a man.”
In present day society, where political correctness and equality are at the top of the priority list, by reading essays such as the one by Karol Kelley we find that this might not have been the case in earlier days. Fairy tales such as Cinderella have been found guilty of possessing subliminal socialization traits. Classifying genders as inferior and molding young girls into the female that society expects them to be. In Charles Perrault’s version, which is considered the most common, Cinderella is seen as passive, limited, dependent and inferior. As critics argue, these traits can hinder a child’s self esteem. Karol Kelley states that the “expectations and the promises
...nd great intelligence. Both in “The Beauty and the Beast” and “Fowler’s Fowl”, men do not play the part of redeemer as women expected in fairy tales. On the contrary, the female protagonists who are brilliant and persistent acquire happiness. These similar kinds of fairy tales thus admonish women for relying on men and marriage by taking risks with their future. Women should believe in their own abilities and strive to achieve a wonderful future.
In a society unbridled with double standards and set views about women, one may wonder the origins of such beliefs. It might come as a surprise that these ideals and standards are embedded and have been for centuries in the beloved fairy tales we enjoyed reading as kids. In her analytical essay, “To Spin a Yarn: The Female Voice in Folklore and Fairy Tales”, Karen Rowe argues that fairy tales present “cultural norms which exalt passivity, dependency, and self-sacrifice as a female’s cardinal virtues.” Rowe presents an excellent point, which can be supported by versions of the cult classics, “Cinderella” and “Snow White”. Charles Perrault’s “ The Little Glass Slipper” and the Brothers Grimm’s “ Snow White” exemplify the beliefs that females are supposed to be docile, dependent on the male persona and willing to sacrifice themselves. In many cases, when strong female characters are presented they are always contradicting in these characteristics, thus labeled as villainous. Such is the case of the Cinderella’s stepsisters in Perrault’s “Cinderella” and the stepmother in the Brothers Grimm’s “Snow White.” These female characters face judgment and disapproval when they commit the same acts as male characters. With such messages rooted in our beloved fairy tales it is no wonder that society is rampant with these ideals about women and disapprove of women when they try to break free of this mold.
Throughout literature, authors employ a variety of strategies to highlight the central message being conveyed to the audience. Analyzing pieces of literature through the gender critics lens accentuates what the author believes to be masculine or feminine and that society and culture determines the gender responsibility of an individual. In the classic fairytale Little Red Riding Hood, the gender strategies appear through the typical fragile women of the mother and the grandmother, the heartless and clever male wolf, and the naïve and vulnerable girl as little red riding hood.
Some fairy tales are so iconic that they withstand the passing of time. One of those fairy tales is that of Cinderella. The rags to riches story that gives even the lowliest of paupers, hope that they may one day climb the social ladder. While the core message of the story has transcended time, over the years it has been adapted to address a variety of audiences. One of those renditions is Perrault’s Cinderella where the traditional idea of gender is conveyed and therefore associated with good/evil. This idea is challenged by a fellow 1600’s French author, L’heriter de Villandon’s, who’s version of Cinderella brings about a female protagonist who is also the heroine.
During the late 1800s, gender inequality was one of the common issues that existed in the society. Men and women were often distinguished among themselves. Men were regularly portrayed as the one who had power and strength, whereas women were supposed to do all the household work and they were seen as weak and trivial. Henrick Ibsen shows a prefect illustration of this example in the play A Doll’s House. Ibsen develops a notion of how the existence of gender roles in society affected one’s lives. The protagonist Nora, whose identity is shaped after seeing her husband’s actions, which depicts his beliefs of gender inequality, demonstrates this idea.