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Essay on gender roles in literature
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For many decades, women in Literature have often taken a backseat.
Especially, in older Literature, women are often portrayed as just “mothers”, who
clean their house, keep their husbands happy, and take care of their children. In
the book, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, this is also the case, or more so, women
are simply absent.
Why so often are women portrayed in this way, or just left out? In The
Chosen, I think Potok did this for two main reasons.
Number one, because it is older Literature, (published 1967). And, because it
is a book highlighting the lives of Hasidic Jews. And, in the Hasidic Jewish
community, women often take the role of the stereotypical mother . In the Jewish
community it is often women are treated that way, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t
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respected. Jewish women are held in high regard, because in their religion, there are two legal requirements for men: 1) To get married, and 2) To have children. And, obviously, that is not possible without women. So, they are valued, but mainly for things such as bearing children, being a wife, mother etc. Although I respect their religion and customs completely, I find it frustrating, as a girl.
In older Literature many women were given the common women portrayal.
Probably, because it was the olden days, and also due to the predominance of
male authors. There are so many books where women play that role. You can’t
exactly diagnose a reason for each book, but mainly I assume, because men
back then just didn’t view women in any other form, besides the traditional one.
Back then, gender roles weren’t necessarily, “up for discussion”. The women
were almost invisible, or busy playing housewife. And, because of this
“traditional” thinking, it trickled across many cultures, societies, and places. In
many religions, not just the Jewish religion, women are raised to believe their
many priority in life is just being a good wife.
This basic way of thinking not only affects women, but men as well. It’s formed
the stereotypes that men can’t wear pink, or men should do all the work and
provide for their family. Or even simple things like bringing a newborn baby boy
home to a blue, sports themed nursery. I’m not only interested in advocating for
women’s rights whenever needed, but I find it important to always press for
equality, where it is not
visible.
illustrates the discrimination against women and the issues that arise from a gender double standard society.
Society stereotypes women in almost all social situations, including in the family, media, and the workplace. Women are often regarded as being in, “Second place” behind men. However, these stereotypes are not typically met by the modern day woman....
Parents play a crucial role in the development of children, varying from culture to culture. Although imperative, the mother and daughter relationship can be trivial. Many women writers have exercised their knowledge and shared their feelings in their works to depict the importance and influence of mothers upon daughters. Jamaica Kincaid, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Kiana Davenport are only three of the many women writers who have included mother and daughter themes in their texts. These writers explore the journeys of women in search of spiritual, mental and individual knowledge. As explained by these authors, their mothers' words and actions often influence women both negatively and positively. These writers also show the effects of a mother's lesson on a daughter, while following women's paths to discovery of their own voice or identity. In Kincaid's poem, Girl; Hong Kingston's novel, Woman Warrior; and Davenport's short story, The Lipstick Tree, various themes are presented in contrasting views and contexts, including the influence of mothers upon daughters.
view holds that gender is not biologically based, but rather it is a cultural construct that is
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Judy Seyfers Brady use a variety of rhetorical devices to sway their audiences. Each woman has a distinct style‒ Brady is satirical and frequently uses hyperbole in I Want a Wife, while Stanton is more formal and employs the ethos of the American Revolution in The Declaration of Sentiments. Overall, their pieces attack men by stating the offenses that men have committed, and declare their opposition to the offenses. They also highlight the oppression and the burden that men place on them and call for greater equality.
Women have played an important role in American literature. Unfortunately, this role was often negative, without cause to be so. Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby are examples of American literature in which women are needlessly vilified.
“Gender,” throughout the years has been defined and redefined by societies, and individuals. “Gender roles,” have, and still do contribute to these definitions. Literature contains prime examples of how gender roles were perceived in different time periods, showing readers the views of an author through the characters and their traits. Sophocles’ Antigone is a Greek tragedy, that heavily depicts the gender roles found in ancient Greek society, also providing insight into what would be seen as “normal” and “abnormal” behavior in relation to gender in Greece. In the play, Antigone, a daughter of the late King of Thebes, Oedipus, becomes distraught when she learns that her two brothers have killed each other, and furthermore, that her uncle and newfound king, Creon has forbidden the burial of one of her brothers.
On a daily basis people are exposed to some sort of misrepresentation of gender; in the things individuals watch, and often the things that are purchased. Women are often the main target of this misrepresentation. “Women still experience actual prejudice and discrimination in terms of unequal treatment, unequal pay, and unequal value in real life, then so too do these themes continue to occur in media portraits.”(Byerly, Carolyn, Ross 35) The media has become so perverted, in especially the way it represents women, that a females can be handled and controlled by men, the individual man may not personally feel this way, but that is how men are characterized in American media. Some may say it doesn’t matter because media isn’t real life, but people are influenced by everything around them, surroundings that are part of daily routine start to change an individual’s perspective.
Throughout the Victorian era, women were expected to meet the standards set by communities and submit to the power of men. A woman’s duty was to be a partner to man, to comply with their authority and be physically submissive, even if mentally, they were unrestricted. Women who defied society’s normalities and refused to have restraints put upon them were often seen as recalcitrant and difficult by the public. In Charlotte Brontë's, Jane Eyre, Jane defies the expected role of a Victorian era woman, and shows that females do not have to comply to societal norms. This is shown through Jane's rebellion, denial of love, and rejection of St. John.
The Portrayal of Women in American Literature Throughout American Literature, women have been depicted in many different ways. The portrayal of women in American Literature is often influenced by an author's personal experience or a frequent societal stereotype of women and their position. Often times, male authors interpret society’s views of women in a completely different way than a female author would. While F. Scott Fitzgerald may have represented his main female character as a victim in the 1920’s, Zora Neale Hurston portrays her as a strong, free-spirited, and independent woman only a decade later in the 1930’s. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, the main female character, Daisy Buchanan, is portrayed by, Nick, the narrator, only by her superficial qualities.
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.
Social Construction of Gender is a process, stratification system and structure. The day to day interactions emphasize gender as opposites. Take for instance, conversations, formalities of daily life, sayings, and so on. The social construction of gender is created through social interaction – through the things we do and say with other people. This means that gender it is not a fixed or inherent fact, but instead it varies across time and place.
That is why for years to come women will still be seen as motherly, passive and innocent, sexual objects, or they are overlooked or seen as unimportant entities. Whether it’s motherly birds on kids TV shows or scantily clad dancers on Monday Night Football, the portrayal of women has yet to catch up with what real life women are like. There are single women, obese women, and smart women. Women who are single mom’s, lesbians, or don’t have any children at all. Women are able to do the same type of work as men without being manly.
Society has formed several stereotypes throughout the past decades, mainly about gender. Gender stereotypes start at infancy and develop drastically through a person’s life seemingly until death (Watzlawik, 2009). Gender stereotypes are classified as a widely held belief about characteristics thought appropriate for males and females (Weisgram, Dinella & Fulcher, 2011). For example, when you walk into the toy section of a store, you don’t need a sign to indicate which section is for the girls and which section is for the boys. These are stereotype for children, usually boy’s toys are dark colors such as blue or green and girl’s toys are colorful such as pink or purple. Society has placed labels on genders which have ultimately led to stereotypes. These gender stereotypes state that men must act “masculine” and women must act “feminine”. Masculine is characterized
Outline and assess the view that patriarchy is the main cause of gender inequality (40 marks)