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Portrayal of women in literature
Roles of women in the Victorian era
Portrayal of women in literature
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“The Dinner Party” by Mona Gardner talks about how a cobra, hidden underneath an occupied dinner table, frightens a guest after seeing the hostess’ servant place bait outside. This guest showed everyone a game of silence, so they wouldn’t frighten the snake. After the cobra leaves, the other people were praising and pointing out that men have good nerve control. The guest questioned the hostess as to how she knew the snake was there and she replied, “It was crawling across my foot.” This story is about how men and women have equal nerve control, rather than what some people say. At the beginning of the story, a discussion arises between a young girl and a Colonel. The conversation is about whether or not women have outgrown their time of
The worst essay from this semester is Magical Dinners by Chang-rae Lee. Why even have this atrocity on the syllabus? Magical Dinners is very blandly written (almost as bland as the food his family makes). This was made obvious by the fact that nobody in our class was into it and there was silence during the whole discussion instead of lots of participation. Furthermore, the only rhetoric I could find Lee even attempting to use was code grooming, which was highly unsuccessful because the meals that his mom made did not sound good and were unable to grab my attention or appetite. This is illustrated when Lee writes “She cooks an egg for me each morning without fail. I might also have with it fried Spam or cereal or a slice of American cheese,
From Here to Eternity follows the story of numerous Army men and their exhilarating experiences during 1941. James Jones’s dense novel is filled with a spectrum of emotions from pure anger, violence, racism, suicide, happiness and depression that by the end of the novel the reader experiences an emotional roller coaster. The Army men in this novel are portrayed as strong, independent, and in charge. On the other hand, women in From Here to Eternity are seen as subordinate and treated like objects that can be bossed around by men. The women in this novel are living in a hierarchical male dominated society where they are seen as objects of desire for men. It appears there are only two options presented at the time for women in this novel; they can either be a prostitute or a housewife.
Kathy Harrison starts her personal story happily married to her childhood sweet heart Bruce. Kathy was living a simple life in her rural Massachusetts community home as the loving mother of three smart, kind, well-adjusted boys Bruce Jr., Nathan, and Ben. With the natural transitions of family life and the changes that come with career and moving, she went back to work as a Head Start teacher. Her life up until the acceptance of that job had been sheltered an idyllic. Interacting in a world of potluck suppers, cocktail parties, and traditional families had nothing in common with the life she would choose after she became a Head Start teacher.
The following three paragraphs compares “The Story of an Hour” and the poem “O Captain! My Captain!” to American culture in the 19th century. These two works of literature are centered around slavery and women’s roles in the American culture at this era which shared similarities.
Since the war began women were led to believe that they were the ones who had to be the patriotic sacrifice until the men came home from war. The film reveals how the government used the media to alternately urge women to give up such elements of their feminin...
Leroy and Norma Jean in the short story, “Shiloh” by Bobbie Ann Mason, are a married couple, and they experience a series of events, which shapes them and determines there future. The final setting, Shiloh, works well to highlight the battles of war to the battles between Norma Jean and Leroy. Throughout the story Mason is focused on the persistency of grief, the instability of gender roles, along with the distance and lack of communication separating Leroy and Norma Jean from each other. Mason illustrates how marriage can be a struggle striving to work out to the very end.
These cadet’s moral issues against women and them self’s steamed from the oppression that they suffered at the hands of the college’s relentless ego shattering and extreme hazing that would come from the seniors to the knobs. Right from the start of their schooling these men are subjected to horrendous prolonged unjust treat meant where they are told that masculinity is now a way of life. Treatment that was so unforgiving that these men could not even walk away with a clear really of who they were any more instead they would pay attention to the social cues around them and as a result they conform, and obey there male dominating leaders. Then with some hope of regaining some control in their lives they lash out to other class mates this motivational treatment affects any one around them regardless of gender as long as they were seen as weaker. These men were forced to not only play the role of the female, but also that of male causing gender confusion for many of these cadets. By forcing these young men to not only shower together in non-stalled showers and to relay on each other to dress each other with the proper shirt tuck and do all the domestic house work it at times even being dresses as women during etiquette-training, created a highly dysfunctional reality for these young men that they should
Mary Anne is initially introduced to the audience, narrated by Rat Kiley, as an innocent and naïve young woman present in Vietnam solely to visit her boyfriend, Mark Fossie. She arrives in “white culottes” and a “sexy pink sweater” (86), and is deemed by the other soldiers as no more than a happy distraction for her man. As Mary Anne settles in though, her abundant curiosity of Vietnam and the war heighten, and she soon enough possesses as much interest in the war as many of the men. Forward, Mary Anne’s transformation into a soldier begins as she leaves her sweet femininity behind. No longer caring for her vanity, she falls “into the habits of the bush. No cosmetics, no fingernail filing. She stopped wearing jewelry, [and] cut her hair short” (94). Mary Anne’s lost femininity is also evident when she handles powerful rifles like the M-16. Not only does the weapon literally scream out masculi...
My interviewee went through a lot during World War II and sharing her amazing story left me evaluating her words for a long time, rethinking and still not willing to imagine the pain. She was one of the 150,000 American woman served in the Women’s Army Corps during the war years. They were one of the first ones to serve in the ranks of the United States Army. She recalls being teased a lot about being a young woman in a uniform but was very proud of it. Women finally were given the opportunity to make a major contribution to the national affair, especially a world war. It started with a meeting in1941 of Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers and General George Marshall, who was the Army’s Chief of Staff. Rogers asked General to introduce a bill to establish an Army women’s corps, where my interviewee, Elizabeth Plancher, was really hoping to get the benefits after the World War II along with other women. ( Since after World War I women came back from war and were not entitled to protection or any medical benefits. )
...as Mary Ann in the novel show that women can do so much more than sew and cook. Without women, all wars would have been a lot harder. Although men tend to keep a macho facade in order to calm others (such as the women in their lives), inside they may be like glass, easy to break. A society set on the ideal stoic, fearless warrior who acts ruthlessly and saves the damsel in distress (also showing that women are weak) obviously is one where doomed to sexism. Without the comfort and inspiration, men would have deteriorated in the face of death. All and all, women provided the needed comfort, nursing, “manpower”, and love that the soldiers of Vietnam need, something that helped them endure the havoc of war. O’Brien’s expert use of the feminist lens allows the reader to know that women indeed were a powerhouse in the Vietnam war, without whom, men would have perished.
However, when the war was over, and the men returned to their lives, society reverted back to as it had been not before the 1940s, but well before the 1900s. Women were expected to do nothing but please their husband. Women were not meant to have jobs or worry about anything that was occurrin...
The author of the book M.T Anderson made sure Violet's character stood out. Violet represents change, resistance, and rebel. She was a much bigger person than what the feed had to offer and she in the end didn't give in. The feed is what mostly everyone wants to fit in and have the latest stuff. The feed is just like a huge catalog that suggest things that you don’t need but want. For example, with the legions, where people were getting them cosmetically all over. At Links party where Violet couldn't take how people were just ignoring what was happening in their world and having fun by looking over everything that was going wrong. Where her body was self-destructing because of the hacking, due to her feed being installed after her brain was
Scout's narration and the character's dialog prove that Alexandra is characterized by her traditional values while Miss Maudie is characterized as a modern woman. The issues of gender roles are still a large part of society today and it affects a majority of adolescents because they feel the need to conform and ignore their individualism and that is why this novel is still relevant to society today.. The lessoned to be learned here is to be comfortable in one's own skin and don't listen to negative feedback if it is not constructive.
Many of the ladies take turns talking about the people in Africa and the poor conditions they live in. They talk about their willingness to donate and help support the cause but yet talk badly upon their neighbors of the same decent. Mrs. Merriweather gripes about having to pay her maid so much because she has been sulking around. Scout doesn’t really understand how these ladies could be so two-sided, especially Miss Gates. Miss Gates, Scout’s third grade teacher, taught a lesson on Adolf Hitler and the persecution of the Jews. She explained how he was an evil man for killing the helpless Jews. This really confused Scout because later she tells Jem about a conversation she overhears between Miss Gates and Miss Stephanie Crawford. “‘I heard her say it’s time somebody taught ’em a lesson, they were gettin‘ way above themselves, an‘
...she describes the pompous women. The author uses the women's conversations to emphasize the reasons Scout remains a tomboy and refuses the traits of Maycomb females.