The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman

1055 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The tricky little fox analysis

Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes shows a large amount of feminism throughout the play. Lillian intertwines economical independent with feminism several times. Regina Hubbard is constantly the main character involved with the economical independence and feminism. Birdy and Alexandra Hubbard are portrayed for their ability to rise above the oppression that surrounds them during most of the play. Hellman’s portrayal of Regina shows her as the wickedest character. This serves as a foundation to the message that when women are powerless they will do anything to over come it (Friedman 81). Regina shows her true nature towards the end of the play. Regina was forced to stay with Horace after she married him because she had none of her own financial backing. Since Hellman had equated money with independence Regina has no choice but to stay with Horace until she gains her own money and in turn her independence. Her strife for independence highlights her feminist nature. She is willing to endure unhappiness for as long as it takes to be independent (Friedman 82). Regina appears cold and conniving. While her husband lays dying in the house, she tells her bothers and Leo that she can put them in jail for what they have done all while keeping it unknown that she does not really know what happened. Her calm and calculating demeanor as she negotiates shows her as a very focused person. Even though her husband lies dying she only appears to care about her money and how she can manipulate her brothers to her advantage (Galens 166). Regina says that she marries Horace solely for his money and status. She stats that she hates him and cannot wait until he dies. This outburst that shows Regina’s true feelings allows the reader to see her as a feminist in a way. She was so determined to get what she wanted that she bounded herself in a situation that she abhors for years just for a chance to achieve her goal (Galens 156). At the end of the play Alexandra ask her mother is she afraid (225). This line parallels the one in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf. This gives the idea that Regina only terrorized others as a coping mechanism to get over her own fears. Regina’s ability to overcome her fears shows her feminist side despite the immoral methods she chose (lord 146). Regina’s daughter Alexandra has had her decisions made for her by her mother in the early parts of the play.

Show More
Related

  • The Loons by Margaret Laurence

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short story "The Loons", Margaret Laurence writes the story of Piquette Tonnerre. A half-Indian girl who grows up under harsh circumstances in a society that suppresses half-breeds. The story is told through another girl, Vanessa, who comes in contact with Piquette through her father. As the title suggests the story also includes a special type of birds, the loons, and we can see an obvious comparison between the loons and Piquette. The loons are very special creatures; they are man-shy and can only be heard at night when they start their cry-like calling. It is said that one that has heard the loons cry, will not ever forget it.

    Read More

  • The Little Foxes Movie Vs Play

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many works of written stories such as plays, short stories, novels, and even people’s diaries have been modified and made into movies or screen plays. A screen play is different from a play because play productions are written for a stage and live people watching. Screen plays or movies are re-made for film, can be edited, modified, and left open to the director’s ideas. The Little Foxes is a play written by Lillian Hellman in 1939 and is considered a classic among 20th century drama. The Little Foxes was made into a screen play (movie) given the same title in 1941.

    Read More

  • Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate is the story of an African boy, Kek, who loses his father and a brother and flees, leaving his mother to secure his safety. Kek, now in Minnesota, is faced with difficulties of adapting to a new life and of finding his lost mother. He believes that his mother still lives and would soon join him in the new found family. Kek is taken from the airport by a caregiver who takes him to live with his aunt. It is here that Kek meets all that amazed him compared to his home in Sudan, Africa. Home of the brave shows conflicts that Kek faces. He is caught between two worlds, Africa and America. He feels guilty leaving behind his people to live in a distant land especially his mother, who he left in the midst of an attack.

    Read More

  • Little Red Riding Hood by Bill Delaney

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    At first glance the characters Connie from “Where are you going? Where have you been?” and Little Red Riding Hood from the classic fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” may seem to have nothing in common. However, from the start one can compare how much they actually have in common. Though these two characters are very different they are the same in many ways. Their story, from beginning to end, is similar. It is easy to see how alike and different they are with the description of Connie and Little Red Riding Hood’s lives, the relationship with their wolves, and their tragic endings.

    Read More

  • The Deception of Trifles: Gender Roles in the Play by Glaspell

    1559 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 19th Century, women had different roles and treated differently compared to today’s women in American society. In the past, men expected women to carry out the duties of a homemaker, which consisted of cleaning and cooking. In earlier years, men did not allow women to have opinions or carry on a job outside of the household. As today’s societies, women leave the house to carry on jobs that allow them to speak their minds and carry on roles that men carried out in earlier years. In the 19th Century, men stereotyped women to be insignificant, not think with their minds about issues outside of the kitchen or home. In the play Trifles, written by Susan Glaspell, the writer portrays how women in earlier years have no rights and men treat women like dirt. Trifles is based on real life events of a murder that Susan Glaspell covered during her work as a newspaper reporter in Des Moines and the play is based off of Susan Glaspell’s earlier writing, “A Jury of Her Peers”. The play is about a wife of a farmer that appears to be cold and filled with silence. After many years of the husband treating the wife terrible, the farmer’s wife snaps and murders her husband. In addition, the play portrays how men and women may stick together in same sex roles in certain situations. The men in the play are busy looking for evidence of proof to show Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. As for the women in the play, they stick together by hiding evidence to prove Mrs. Wright murdered her husband. Although men felt they were smarter than women in the earlier days, the play describes how women are expected of too much in their roles, which could cause a woman to emotionally snap, but leads to women banding together to prove that women can be...

    Read More

  • Regina George: The Plastics In High School

    1411 Words  | 3 Pages

    Regina George is a junior in high school who is described as teen royalty. As the leader of her clique referred to as “The Plastics”, she rules the school with her best friends Gretchen Weiners and Karen Smith loyally at her side. The three girls feed off of tearing the other girls in the school down and diminishing them by writing awful rumors and secrets in the “Burn Book”. With her tall and skinny physique, bright blonde hair and good-looks, she uses her sex appeal and superiority to manipulate and victimize the people around her including her family. Regina easily controls her family members. Her mother worships the ground Regina walks on and desperately looks to her for acceptance. Her ability to make other girls at school feel inferior fuels her power, as queen bee Regina is seen as the “it” girl. Everyone wants to look like her, dress like her, and be just like her. She uses her sex appeal to get any guy she wants and dangles them around everyone else to make them jealous.

    Read More

  • representation of women in much ado about nothing

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    (Essay intro) In the modern day, women have the luxury of belonging to themselves but unfortunately this was not always the case. During his life, William Shakespeare created many positive female characters who defied the traditional gender roles and brought attention to the misogynistic patriarchy of Elizabethan England. One of these true feminist icons is ‘Much Ado about Nothing’s. Beatrice. The women in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ defy traditional gender roles. Beatrice represents a brave and outspoken woman who defies the oppressive, traditional gender roles for the female sex. Her cousin Hero, however, represents those women who were successfully oppressed by the patriarchy and accepted the traditional gender roles without much complaint.

    Read More

  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

    817 Words  | 2 Pages

    has the mental age of a child and does not see the reason why George

    Read More

  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

    1511 Words  | 4 Pages

    Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Steinbecks novel, Of Mice and Men portrays the

    Read More

  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    one day want their own plot so they can 'live off the fatta the lan'

    Read More

  • Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    Controversial responses about the appropriateness of adolescent novels had been defied since the early 1800-1900 in America. Published adolescent books are continuously being challenged by parents, students, and even teachers in concern to the immoral values taught in the academic environment. The early exposure to the nature of sex, racism, death, and poverty marks the concern to many of these prosecutors. However, ironically these concerns fulfill the degree of adolescent maturity. Since young adults are encouraged to reach adulthood, it only makes sense to include these immoral values part as the young adult’s educational aim. Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck in 1937 is a novel that has the ability to cover the immoral values of reality, in which is depicted in each of Steinbeck’s characters in his novel. Given the opportunity for young adult’s to experience these immoral objectives may increase their discernment to life and prepare them for the world that is ahead of them; this is the universal dream of every parent.

    Read More

  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many tell us to keep dreaming. To chase our dreams until they come true, and that the unattainable can always be achieved with enough pursuance. Is this saying really true? In the novella Of Mice and Men, the story follows the life of two immigrants, George and Lennie. Lennie a gigantic man with a mental infirmity travels with a man named George, they dream of owning a farm, and living off of the land and thus only working for themselves. With Lennie’s disability, he repeatedly gets into trouble. As result, both Lennie and George flee from their old town, Weed, to find new jobs in the hopes to collect enough money to buy a piece of land. They find employment as barley buckers on a ranch and meet the other workers, Candy, and old swamper who’s hand is missing, Crooks, a black man with a bad back, and the only woman on the ranch, who is Curley, the boss’s son’s wife. Not long after does Lennie get into trouble once again. He breaks the neck Curley’s wife and runs to the stream where George told him to go if he were to get in any trouble. George then shoots Lennie in the back of his head to end him of his misery. They could not live by constantly running. Throughout the novel, a motif of unachievable American dreams is presented. American dreams are always a thirst, and although they are highly sought out, several unfortunately never make it to reality.

    Read More

  • Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through attention to detail, repeated comparison, shifting tone, and dialogue that gives the characters an opportunity to voice their feelings, Elizabeth Gaskell creates a divide between the poor working class and the rich higher class in Mary Barton. Gaskell places emphasis on the differences that separate both classes by describing the lavish, comfortable, and extravagant life that the wealthy enjoy and compares it to the impoverished and miserable life that the poor have to survive through. Though Gaskell displays the inequality that is present between both social classes, she also shows that there are similarities between them. The tone and diction change halfway through the novel to highlight the factors that unify the poor and rich. In the beginning of the story John Barton exclaims that, “The rich know nothing of the trials of the poor…” (11), showing that besides the amount of material possessions that one owns, what divides the two social classes is ability to feel and experience hardship. John Barton views those of the upper class as cold individuals incapable of experiencing pain and sorrow. Gaskell, however proves Barton wrong and demonstrates that though there are various differences that divide the two social classes, they are unified through their ability to feel emotions and to go through times of hardship. Gaskell’s novel reveals the problematic tension between the two social classes, but also offers a solution to this problem in the form of communication, which would allow both sides to speak of their concerns and worries as well as eliminate misunderstandings.

    Read More

  • The Day That Changed My Life Forever

    838 Words  | 2 Pages

    Regina Maywack lived just down the road from me. Before 5th grade I never knew who she was. As the year progressed we got closer and closer. Regina was extremely talented. She was, in my mind, a genius; she loved school and always did well. She was also blessed with athletic ability. Something I respected since most other kids we knew weren't involved in sports. No matter what day it was I always went to school knowing that Regina would be there with a smile on her face. It seemed as though she didn't have a care in the world. There were days I would show up mad at something my parents had done, or at something that hadn't gone my way, and she would just look at me with those honest eyes and tell me to be thankful for the good things.

    Read More

  • Gender In A Doll’s House And The Importance Of Being Earnest

    2000 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...her defiance to no longer comply with the gender constructions of society. Ibsen, therefore, criticises society’s compliance with the constructions of the culture and urges us to be more like Nora is at her epiphany. Lady Bracknell is memorable for her comically masculine traits and character. Not only does Wilde shatter our gender expectations, but ridicules the compliance of individuals in the performances that they make for society. Both plays raise questions regarding the submission of men and women to society’s presumptions and pressure regarding gender, and criticise individuals for conforming without asking questions. Each play makes us question our own performances for society and the performances of others in our lives. Nora’s realisation that she has married a construction is as unnerving now as it was to its contemporary audience because it forces us to look at our own behaviour and that of others around us, presenting us with a frightening and menacing awareness that we also may be existing in false and constructed lives.

    Read More

More about The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman

Open Document