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Every girl has her own problems; however, they all share one important problem: gender stereotypes. Despite all of the efforts that are made to stop this, it stills occurs around the world today . It masks the true power of girls. In a fact, without girls, there would not be a first American in space (congrats to Katherine Johnson). However, she did not it with ease. She had to fight the men at NASA in order to get the job. Similarly, the protagonist in “Raymond’s Run” Squeaky. Squeaky fights the girly expectations that her mother formulated for her. Also, She fights the bullies who bully her brother Raymond .Overall, she runs to defy gender stereotypes.
With stereotypes in the world, the character Squeaky fights her own in the story “Raymond’s
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Run”. Like in “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten, Squeaky fights high expectations placed upon her. A simple inference of her inner thoughts(based on fight song) might be: This is my fight song Take back my life song Prove I’m alright song This shows that she thinks that she is alright the way she is and that is all that matters;therefore, she is going to take back her life from stereotypes. This quote relates to the following quote from ¨Raymond’s Run¨: The biggest thing not the program is the Maypole dancing, which I can do without, thank you, even if my mother thinks it’s a shame I don’t take part and act like a girl for a change.You’d think my mother’d be grateful not to have to make me a white organdy dress with a big satin sash and buy me new white baby-doll shoes that can’t be taken out of the box till the big day. You’d think she’d be glad that her daughter ain’t out their prancing around a maypole getting the new clothes all dirty and trying to act like a fairy or flower or you’re supposed to be when you should be trying to be yourself, whatever that is, as far as I’m concerned, a poor Black girl, who really can’t afford to buy new shoes and a new dress you only wear once a lifetime, cause it won’t fit next year (pp.31-32, lines 175-190) In the quote above, Squeaky is emphasizing that you should try to be yourself.
In other words, she is trying to, “Prove I’m alright..”, as stated in the “Fight Song”. She does this by proving that girls do not have to follow feminine stereotypes. She also does this by running, for she is “..Miss Quicksilver herself” (p.31, Lines 170-175). This ongoing theme of fighting gender stereotypes can be seen throughout the story, especially in this gender stereotypical quote that relates to “Fight Song”:
I was once a strawberry in a Hansel and Gretel pageant when I was in nursery school and didn’t have no better sense than to dance on my tiptoe with my arms in a circle over my head doing my umbrella steps and being perfect fool just so my mother and father could come dressed up and clap. You’d think they’d know better than to encourage that kind of nonsense.I am not a strawberry. I do not dance my toes. I run. That is what I am all about. (p.32, lines 191-200)
Here, Squeaky explains how her mother encouraged her to follow girly stereotypes-until she got older, became smarter and was able to realize she did not have to do those things. Similar to the song, Squeaky is taking back her life. This shared message from ¨Raymond’s Run¨ and the “Fight Song”show how the protagonist and many other girls around the world face girly expectations set by society. Women may not tolerate this, but this does happen throughout the
world Like the protagonist of ¨Raymond’s Run¨(Squeaky), many girls face stereotypes in the world, like having to be the cook in their family, or having to wear a ¨white organdy dress with a satin sash¨(pp.31-32, lines 180-185). Girls like Squeaky are much more than that. They are resilient--runners, fighters--people who fight gender stereotypes throughout their whole lives, just like the protagonist in ¨Fight Song¨ who says, “This is my fight song/Take back my life song”. Squeaky represents those girls who have to face stereotypes and scream at them by doing what they want to do, instead of being ¨girly like¨. However, many girls are often brainwashed to believe in these stereotypes. People should not judge what feminine qualities girls should have, unlike what happens in “Raymond’s Run”, where her mother tries to brainwash her into to doing stereotypes. People who believe in stereotypes realize that girls should not follow stereotypes, and should prove others wrong about stereotypes, by doing whatever they want to do.
As I grew out of the the Veggie Tales phase, the idea of standing up for what I believed in became more relevant. Throughout primary school, I unquestioningly did what most girls did, and followed the status quo. However, upon entering middle school, I started to notice a stark juxtaposition between the behaviors of the boys and the girls in my class. Now, after years of observing overt stereotypes and prejudice, I have learned not only to question the patriarchy, but to stand up to it, as I believe that sexism is a crucial problem we face in today’s world.
Ray suspected that the boys' rejection was due to the fact that she was a girl, but her suspicions were repudiated when she saw a girl playing with them. The only difference between Janisse and the other girl was that the other girl was not wearing a dress. The Ray family's religious convictions required the females of the family to wear a dress, providing for the boys uneasiness when it came down to allowing her to play with them. Janisse, dress or not, felt capable of partaking in the sport. It is women like Ray, who will not take no for an answer, that has brought equal rights to their gender in sports, jobs and even around the house.
something. We might be sad or happy. We also have different opinions like the protagonist, Squeaky, in the story “Raymond's Run” by Toni Cade Bambara. In the story Squeaky is protecting her older brother because he acts differently. She also explains what is going on in her life and she introduces the people that she dislikes. For example, her mother wants her to be a bit more girly. However, Squeaky enjoys running and that is what helps her get through rough times as she says in the story. In the beginning of the story, she hates another character named Gretchen. Squeaky hates her and her sidekicks, Mary Louise and Rosie, because they insult and make fun of her brother. Even
The want to appear vulnerable can be demonstrated, through the quote, by Sylvia Plath’s mother when she says, “It was nicer, she felt, to have a boy first”. The submissive behavior, Plath depicts, allows the reader to assume that women are naturally accepting of having a man be depicted as the better gender. This can further be seen through the use of the word “nicer” when describing how Plath felt when loosing the contest to a male, describing it almost as an honor to lose to the young man. This type of submissive behavior can further be seen in commercials such as in the Avon commercial, as Jackie Joyner Kersee states, “You don’t have to worry about the shirt coming up or the skirt being too tight. It’s cooler, and it’s so feminine”. Femininity remains a concern for female atheists, which allows the reader to obtain a sense of vulnerability. This is because female sports wear has been modified in order to sculpt the female body, making female athletes’ main concern be to appear attractive to males. The reader can then assume, that the wearing of the skirt allows the athletes to obtain a more vulnerable appearance as they appear smaller, more constricted, and elegant. This concern for femininity in term takes the viewers’ attention from the sports away and focuses it on
From a young age girls are taught how to act in society and how society wants girls to act. In the three stories by Jamacia Kincaid, Alice Munro, and Joyce Carol Oates, we see how the mothers teach and reinforce the gender roles placed on women by society. The daughters in Annie John, “Boys and Girls,” and “Shopping” are all subjects of a greater force while growing up, and they try not to conform to gender roles and the ideals of women that the mothers have.
Orenstein explores the rise of Girl Power in the 1990s and the differences that are in today’s society. The rise and fast spreading message that girls receive from the Disney Princesses is one of her biggest issues. Not only does she disagree, but other mothers from Daisy’s preschool do as well. In the second chapter Orenstein invites all the mothers with daughters that are obsessed with Princesses to discuss the subject, one mother states that she sees no problem with encouraging being feminine and then states, “On the other hand, I a...
The poem starts with the line, “This girlchild was born as usual,” which suggests that as soon as a girl is born, society already expects her to learn the role she will soon play in when she hits puberty (1). Thus, showing why we are given dolls as little girls to illustrate how we should act and appear according to society. After we learn all the roles we will soon take part in, “the magic of puberty,” hits and girls immediately begin applying the ideals to their own lives (5). As if this attempt to conform is not enough we have other people telling us we are not to perfect. “You have a great big nose and fat legs,” says a classmate to the girl (6). This type of pressure can slowly but surely destroy even the little confidence women do have in themselves.
Within this film the sociological concept based around sex & gender is hit quite a few times. Missy, a new comer to her current school, tries out for the cheering team. She is put under lots of scrutiny from some of the members of the cheer squad. She is underestimated due to her appearance and she proves herself to the team. They already had a candidate in mind, but the captain lets the other two team members know that Missy will be on the team. Hearing this noise infuriated them and they called Missy an “uber dyke” which is a sex and gender stereotype. Missy was treated this way all based on the way she prefered to
In Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls” she tells a story about a young girl’s resistance to womanhood in a society infested with gender roles and stereotypes. The story takes place in the 1940s on a fox farm outside of Jubilee, Ontario, Canada. During this time, women were viewed as second class citizens, but the narrator was not going to accept this position without a fight.
In order to better understand the conflict, first we must define what conformity and self image are in the story “Boys and Girls”. Conformity is action in accordance with prevailing social standards, attitudes, and practices. In the time frame of the story, as well as through much of history, it was the social norm for women to be housemaids, and to rarely venture outside of the house to perform “man’s work”. The narrator however, has a different idea as to about how she wishes to live her life. She does not enjoy “work done in the kitchen” as she finds it tedious and “endless”. She does view the work of her father though as “ritualistically important” and far more interesting. This tomboy state of mind of the girl is part of her self image, defined as the idea, conception, or mental image one has of oneself. Upon reading the story, it is clear that her views come into direct conflict with her parent’s beliefs, and even mainstream society’s. While the protagonist’s self image of herself is a driving factor in the nature of her adventures and leisure, with enough outside pressure it can b...
“Boys and Girls” is a short story, by Alice Munro, which illustrates a tremendous growing period into womanhood, for a young girl living on a fox farm in Canada, post World War II. The young girl slowly comes to discover her ability to control her destiny and her influences on the world. The events that took place over the course of the story helped in many ways to shape her future. From these events one can map the Protagonist’s future. The events that were drawn within the story provided the Protagonist with a foundation to become an admirable woman.
Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls” is a story about a girl that struggles against society’s ideas of how a girl should be, only to find her trapped in the ways of the world.
In Alice Munro’s short story “Boys and Girls,” our narrator is a young farm girl on the verge of puberty who is learning what it means to be a “girl.” The story shows the differing gender roles of boys and girls – specifically that women are the weaker, more emotional sex – by showing how the adults of the story expect the children to grow into their respective roles as a girl and a boy, and how the children grow up and ultimately begin to fulfill these roles, making the transition from being “children” to being “young adults.”
...develops in. In Little Red Riding Hood, the grandmother, mother, and child all demonstrate the stereotypical woman in an ancient society where men are superior to women. The wolf and the male character that rescues the female validate the stereotypical male in that time period as the males become clever, brave, and strong throughout the entire story. These gender tactics appear in almost any work of literature to convey the message that the popular belief of genders can either be continued by the submission of individuals to society or altered by the recognition that these labels do not have to exist.
In Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls,” there is a time line in a young girl’s life when she leaves childhood and its freedoms behind to become a woman. The story depicts hardships in which the protagonist and her younger brother, Laird, experience in order to find their own rite of passage. The main character, who is nameless, faces difficulties and implications on her way to womanhood because of gender stereotyping. Initially, she tries to prevent her initiation into womanhood by resisting her parent’s efforts to make her more “lady-like”. The story ends with the girl socially positioned and accepted as a girl, which she accepts with some unease.