The Emphasis on Existentialisim in Lispector’s Work Due to The Traditional Roles of Women

1498 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender inequality novelists

The Emphasis on Existentialisim in Lispector’s Work Due to The Traditional Roles of Women

The human mind often creates traumatized, twisted beliefs about the world after cataclysmic events have occurred. Picture 1920- the world has just been ravaged by bullets, bombs, and baleful butchers with malicious intent. The aftermath of World War II leaves the country of Ukraine encompassed in terror, anguish, and famine. Imagine being ravenous enough to consider devouring a decomposing relative, and then putting that consideration into action. Imagine a country where pogroms- violent attacks on ethnic groups, mainly Jews, that included the destruction of homes, businesses, and churches –are not only regular, but not surprising occurrences. Imagine suppression, repression, oppression, all the “-ions”…Now insert a nine-year old girl struggling to live in this madness, add the rape and death of that girl’s mother, and there is the childhood of the renowned Brazilian author, Clarice Lispector. These experiences, which would alter anyone’s views on life, influenced and helped to develop Lispector’s existentialist ways of thinking. In these past occurrences, gender inequalities were very much prominent, which explains why Lispector focuses on the fate of women in

her writing. Due to the oppressive government, women were confined to their traditional roles and in showing the lack of freedom, both mentally and physically, that this imposes on them, Clarice Lispector justifies her existentialist viewpoints through her writings; life is pain, misery, and inevitably death. These viewpoints are imminent when discussing the overall lack of freedom in Lispector’s stories “The Chicken”, “The Smallest Woman in the World”, and “Preciousness”.

Within...

... middle of paper ...

...for giving birth, her obedient stay after being caught, and her sudden yet unsurprising death describes, in Lispector’s viewpoints, the natural course of an average female’s life. Although Lispector wrote these stories in the 1940’s, reflecting on the then current gender inequalities and

hardships of life during the aftermath of WWII, these themes are evident in all time periods, for as Lispector has shown, the innate traditional roles of women along with the pre-conceived notion of men being more significant than women are evident even in our time. These limits reflect Lispector’s existentialist viewpoints in showing that the life of a woman is restrained; women’s lives are filled with pressure, sadness, and ultimately death.

Show More
Related

  • Revolutionary Mothers Summary

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book begins by explaining the roles that women in this time were known to have as this helps the reader get a background understanding of a woman’s life pre-war. This is done because later in the book women begin to break the standards that they are expected to have. It shows just how determined and motivated these revolutionary women and mothers were for independence. First and foremost, many people believed that a “woman’s truth was that God had created her to be a helpmate to a man” (p.4). Women focused on the domain of their households and families, and left the intellectual issues of the time and education to the men. Legally, women had almost no rights. Oppressed by law and tradition, women were restricted their choice of professions regardless of their identity or economic status. As a result, many women were left with few choices and were cornered into marriage or spinsterhood, which also had its limitations. As a spinster, you were deemed as unmarried who was past the usual age of marriage. Patronized by society, these women were left and stamped as “rejected”. On the other side, If the woman became married, all that she owned belonged to her husband, even her own existence. In exchange to her commitment, if a woman’s husband was away serving in the military or if she became a widower, she could use but not own, one-third of her husband’s property. This left her to manage the land and serve as a surrogate laborer in her husband’s absence. Needless to say, a day in a woman’s life then was filled with a full day of multi-tasking and as circumstances changed, more women had to adapt to their urban

    Read More

  • Ap European Women Dbq Essay

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    The First World War presented European women with ample opportunity to step up and demonstrate their strength; however men of this era had conflicting opinions of how capable women were to take on a man’s occupation. Therefore, it was necessary for women to prove their abilities and destroy the widespread belief of their stupidity and ignorance. To begin, it was during this era of World War 1 and directly after this that women were able to prove themselves as vital members of the economy and society of Europe. In Document 1, a picture depicts the harsh patriarchal society that women were forced to change by showing a woman being ignored by a man. The purpose of this photo of a female figure arguing that women were strong enough to save men

    Read More

  • Women in World War Two

    1430 Words  | 3 Pages

    “There was much more to women’s work during World War Two than make, do, and mend. Women built tanks, worked with rescue teams, and operated behind enemy lines” (Carol Harris). Have you ever thought that women could have such an important role during a war? In 1939 to 1945 for many women, World War II brought not only sacrifices, but also a new style of life including more jobs, opportunities and the development of new skills. They were considered as America’s “secret weapon” by the government. Women allowed getting over every challenge that was imposed by a devastating war. It is necessary to recognize that women during this period brought a legacy that produced major changes in social norms and work in America.

    Read More

  • The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter

    1656 Words  | 4 Pages

    The film titled, “The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter”, looks at the roles of women during and after World War II within the U.S. The film interviews five women who had experienced the World War II effects in the U.S, two who were Caucasian and three who were African American. These five women, who were among the millions of women recruited into skilled male-oriented jobs during World War II, shared insight into how women were treated, viewed and mainly controlled. Along with the interviews are clips from U.S. government propaganda films, news reports from the media, March of Time films, and newspaper stories, all depicting how women are to take "the men’s" places to keep up with industrial production, while reassured that their duties were fulfilling the patriotic and feminine role. After the war the government and media had changed their message as women were to resume the role of the housewife, maid and mother to stay out of the way of returning soldiers. Thus the patriotic and feminine role was nothing but a mystified tactic the government used to maintain the American economic structure during the world war period. It is the contention of this paper to explore how several groups of women were treated as mindless individuals that could be controlled and disposed of through the government arranging social institutions, media manipulation and propaganda, and assumptions behind women’s tendencies which forced “Rosie the Riveter” to become a male dominated concept.

    Read More

  • Flappers In The Roaring Twenties

    1972 Words  | 4 Pages

    When the war was over, the survivors went home and the world tried to return to normalcy. Unfortunately, settling down in peacetime proved more difficult than expected. During the war, the boys had fought against both the enemy and death in far away lands; the girls had bought into the patriotic fervor and aggressively entered the workforce. During the war, both the boys and the girls of this generation had broken out of society's structure; they found it very difficult to return.

    Read More

  • I Have Lived a Thousand Years

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed…“(Wiesel 32) Livia-Bitton Jackson wrote a novel based on her personal experience, I Have Lived a Thousand Years. Elli was a Holocaust victim and her only companion was her mother. Together they fought for hunger, mistreatment and more. By examining the themes carefully, the audience could comprehend how the author had a purpose when she wrote this novel. In addition, by seeing each theme, the audience could see what the author was attacking, and why. By illustrating a sense of the plight of millions of Holocaust victims, Livia-Bitton Jackson explores the powerful themes of one’s will to survive, faith, and racism.

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Feminism in Trifles and A Jury of Her Peers

    1103 Words  | 3 Pages

    As a strong feminist, Susan Glaspell wrote “Trifles” and then translated it to a story called “A Jury of Her Peers.”  These works express Glaspell’s view of the way women were treated at the turn of the century.  Even though Glaspell is an acclaimed feminist, her story does not contain the traditional feminist views of equal rights for both sexes.

    Read More

  • epq

    923 Words  | 2 Pages

    Knowing this you would think women would portray themselves more seriously, but the exact opposite is happening. These continuous loops of failure have severely weakened women’s physical presence, and because of this, are continuously singled out in world discussions on topics such as war or threats to national security, and are constantly burdened with tasks regarding health and family life. In my research I read many books from the nineteenth-century onwards, such as, Stuart Mill’s book ‘The Subjection of Women’ (1869) to Butler’s ‘Gender Troubles’ (1990), both of these and many more books has helped in my quest to conjure up a personal concept of women, but out of all of them I found Berger’s ‘Ways of seeing’ the most fruitful in terms of a literal explanation of women.

    Read More

  • Equal Rights for Women in The Natural by Bernard Malamud

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    Literatures had always been the reflections of the world’s issues. These literatures showed the problems within society in the period of time. In the book, “The Natural”, by Bernard Malamud had developed how women were seen as an object to men that they did not have the equal rights and social status as men. Also, women in the novel were classified as the trophies to men, whom they were either gold diggers digging for massive fortunes for the future, or accomplishments for men to chase after them. The author had established several female characters to optimize these issues. In the novel, Harriet Bird, Memo Paris, and Iris Lemon were representing different figures of female in that period of time. Both Harriet and Memo were being the negative effects to the main protagonist, Roy Hobbes, while Iris was the positive hope for Roy. The author chose to use these few characters to criticize the stereotypes of women in that period, and how they affected the others around them.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Ofelia's Struggle In The Foreign Legion

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Clarice Lispector 's short story The Foreign Legion, images of birth and motherhood are repeatedly contrasted with those of imprisonment and helplessness. The latter of those are linked to a mother 's responsibility for others, keeping her from acting on her own desires and effectively trapping her in her role. Though still very young, both motherly tendencies and wishes of her own are present in the character of Ofélia. Her struggle is to unite those two conflicting desires within herself.

    Read More

  • The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    This short story was published during the aftermath of the women’s rights movement and during WW2. John Steinbeck cared about the political and societal malpractices and portrayed his views in his writings. This short story belongs in a collection called The Long Valley.

    Read More

  • Social Criticism in The Yellow-Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    This creates a despair, of hopelessness and of downheartedness. The woman, on multiple occasions, wrote down, “And what can one do?” This lets the reader know that women as a whole were very oppressed in ...

    Read More

  • Critical Response To Virginia Woolf Thought's On Peace In An Air Raid By Virginia Woolf

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    In her article “Thought’s on Peace in an Air Raid (1940),” Virginia Woolf speaks on the stipulations of being a woman and the emancipation from mental fear in the Second World War. As the German’s use of power causes a sense of intimidation, there is a great aspiration for a unified peace amongst all. Woolf recaptures the traumatic experiences and effects of this war. She speaks on unification: those that should come together and put their minds to great use to help devise solutions in light of great turmoil. She also addresses the physical responsibilities of war as it relates especially to women. Though Woolf speaks a lot about women in this article, the idea is that she wants these women to be catalysts to a greater cause: awakening minds and being an aspiration to others. The mind is a very powerful thing: it holds no restrictions and can be both destructive and victorious. This article is clever in its emphasis to awaken and enlightening minds to conceive the necessity for change for the benefit of all mankind.

    Read More

  • Clarice Lispector

    1403 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thus, in a nutshell, social roles of women have evolved over the course of history. However many aspects remain consistent, such as subjugation of women and fertility. This prejudice might continue throughout the span of time, which is why the people of Lispector’s generation were able to analyze the role of women and why those aspects of society still exist today. Change might occur; however, as it only takes one person with a voice to bring upon attention to an issue, which is what makes a writer great, such as Lispector.

    Read More

  • Society and Femininity

    1549 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... is not willing to give up the fight by her amazing desire to want that child to live. Although the book does not show Claudia in adulthood, one can envision her as the epitome of a strong woman. These three main characters defy society because of their strength. These books become timeless because of the female characters. Each novel defies the expectations of society in its own way. They exemplify women who rise above the average to become greater than what most people are. The novels show the female spirit in all its glory; they portray its strengths and ability to overcome obstacles.

    Read More

More about The Emphasis on Existentialisim in Lispector’s Work Due to The Traditional Roles of Women

Open Document