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Morality in literature
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Martyrdom as a means of Emancipation: A Comparative analysis of Grant Allen’s The Woman Who Did and George Gissing’s The Odd Women
“Of course. We need martyrs. And yet I doubt whether the martyrdom would be very long, or very trying, to intellectual people. A woman of brains who boldly acted upon her conviction would have no lack of congenial society. The best people are getting more liberal that they care to confess to each other. Wait until someone puts the matter to the test and you will see”. (Gissing 327)
This statement by Mrs. Cosgrove in Gissing’s The Odd Women makes one consider the issue of martyrdom which Gissing tried to portray in his novel, and question why martyrdom was so necessary, or whether it was necessary at all, or was it even possible to emancipate humankind through martyrdom. This paper, therefore, seeks to analyze the ethic of martyrdom that George Gissing tried to present in his novel in comparison to Grant Allen’s The Woman Who Did where the protagonist, Herminia Barton “had made up her mind beforehand for the crown of martyrdom, the one possible guerdon this planet can bestow upon really noble and disinterested action. And she never shrank from any necessary pang, incidental to the prophets and martyr’s existence.” (Allen ch.7)
The preoccupation with martyrdom in case of Allen’s heroine, therefore, shows how she had already made up her mind to suffer which will actually free her from the pangs of meaningless existence, and promote her ideal which she wished to endorse from the very beginning. It is quite apt to quote Eli Alshech in this respect, who in his essay, “Egoistic Martyrdom and Hamᾱs’ Success in the 2005 Municipal Elections…” states that “historical and sociological studies have shown that mos...
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...e can do which projects her as a true martyr. Hence, for her, it is not a loss, but a victory, a moral triumph. The fact that Allen ends his novel with Herminia’s death illustrates the pitch moments of her suffering, which is the ultimate embodiment of her moral success inspite of Dolly’s abrogation of the ethic of martyrdom. Herminia projects the suffering of an unwed mother, stigmatized by the society, as well as that of a struggling author, which parallels Allen’s struggle as an author.
Both Gissing and Allen, through the deaths of their respective protagonists represent the universal suffering, which is the suffering of a martyr. Whether naturally or through transition, Herminia, Rhoda and Monica, thus prove to be the martyrs for humanity through their suffering and sacrifice, and through their dedication to their cause, leading to the emancipation of womankind.
Walking next to his father through the woods on a cool winter day, young Mason hears the sound of a bullet entering his father’s body. As he looks ahead, he sees his mother, Xwelas, lower a shotgun. In the essay The Life and Murder Trial of Xwelas, a S’Klallam Woman, Coll-Peter Thrush and Robert H. Keller, Jr. recall the events before, during, and after the murder of George Phillips, a Welsh immigrant killed by his native wife. Xwelas’ the life before the murder, the actions which provoked Phillips’ death, and how the trial was influenced all help to describe the unusual history that took place in the seventeenth century.
The Kaleidoscope of Gender: Prisms, Patterns, and Possibilities written by Joan Z. Spade and Catherine G. Valentine is a book about the sociology of gender and the construct thereof. The writers use a metaphor of a kaleidoscope to illustrate their interpretations of the topic. A kaleidoscope is a toy consisting of a tube containing mirrors and pieces of colored glass or paper, whose reflections produce changing patterns that are visible through an eyehole when the tube is rotated. Utilizing the similitude of the kaleidoscope, this collection presents gender as a result of always transforming patterns get under way by prisms that underlie change, both straightforward and complex, bringing about an extensive variety of possibilities. The book
...as much determined that not even a deportation or imprisonment could not make her loose her focus. She is so much liked by the society since whenever she formed a group, she always found members to work with and help her attain the intended mission. Another thing about her is that she was much intertwined with Karl Marx’s Marxism theories such that, they had been inscribed on her tombstone making those who went to pay homage to her feel that they were in touch with Karl Marx.
With exaggeration, authors craft their writing to have an even greater, more impactful effect on their audiences. This enhanced effect found in Candide serves the purpose of highlighting how humans adopt a type of absolute viciousness and inhumanity in times of war. One example is the instance where Candide - a member of the Bulgar army, at the time - must choose between being “flogged” by the entirety of the military command, or to endure “twelve bullets in his brain” (24). Here, Candide is given a nonsensical, almost ludicrous, ultimatum. Voltaire offers an embellished example that serves to demonstrate the barbaric military practices that come with war. Being a recurring aspect of war, Candide is, essentially, forced to choose between death and death. In fact, along with exaggeration, Voltaire satirizes war even further as the choice of whether it be a gradual or speedy demise is Candide’s own luxury. Voltaire does not just simply antagonize the ramifications of war, but rather, he ridicules all facets of war. Another example within Candide is when the Old Woman reveals the story of her own life as proof of the grim hardship that she too has experienced. In the midst of another battle, “one buttock” was cut off of the live bodies of every woman present in the interest of feeding the starving soldiers (56).
We also see represntatino of violence within Marguertie Feitlowitz book, A Lexicon of Terror, although different than “The Offical Story,” in regards to how violence is presneted to the reader. Rather then having settle hints to the viewer and or the reader; violence is laid out through personal accounts of indvidudals who face such socital traumas. Within Feitlowitz book, she teels the story of a young women named Susan who on a normal day while riding the bus in broad daylight was abducted, Feitlowitz states: “ “Por el pelo, no” a women pleaded softly as Susana was dragged passed her, “not by the hair.” … What Susana members clearly is the silence: except for the women, no one said a word “ (173). It later states that Susana was being “stripped,
Throughout “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Ken Kesey builds up a feud between Randle McMurphy and Nurse Ratched to establish the novel’s climatic attack, a sexist exemplification that powerful women must be subjugated. Women are depicted as emasculators and castrators. The male patients seem to agree with Dale Harding, who states “We are victims of matriarchy here” (56). The patients correlate matriarchy with castration and mutilation, illustrating the dullness and repressiveness of the hospital as a result of a female dominator. The majority of the men in Nurse Ratched’s psychiatric ward have been damaged by relationships with dominant women. For instance, Chief claimed his mother became “Bigger than Papa and me together” (188). Similarly, Billy Bibbit was so afraid of his mother discovering that he engaged in sexual intercourse with Candy that he commit suicide.
Shirin Neshat is a filmmaker and photographer. She was born on march 26, 1957 in Qazvin, Iran. Because of the westernization in her family, her parents sent her to America for college. Shirin’s career of artist began after she came to America. She got her bachelor of arts and master of fine arts from University of California Berkeley. In 1990, she returned to Iran and was shocked by the change of society due to the Islamic revolution and the war between Iran and Iraq (Sheybani 1). The style and characteristics of her photographs and video installations also were inspired by her journey to Iran, which focus on contemporary Islamic cultures, women’s identity and women’s right in Islamic society (1).
In The Murder of Helen Jewett, Patricia Cohen uses one of the most trivial murders during the 1800’s to illustrate the sexiest society accommodations to the privileged, hypocritical tunneled views toward sexual behavior, and the exploitation of legal codes, use of tabloid journalism, and politics. Taking the fact that woman was made from taking a rib from man was more than biblical knowledge, but incorporated into the male belief that a woman’s place is determined by the man. Helen had the proper rearing a maid servant, but how did she fall so far from grace. Judge Weston properly takes credit for rearing her with the proper strictness and education. Was Helen seduced at an early age and introduced to sexual perversions that were more persuasive that the bible belt life that the Weston’s tried to live? Was Helen simply a woman who knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted? Through personal correspondence, legal documentation, census reports, paintings, and newspapers we are able to make our own determinations. Cohen provides more than enough background and history to allow any one to make their own opinion how the murder of a woman could be turned into a side show at a circus.
All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation. By Rebecca Traister. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2016, 339 pp., $10.79 (hardcover).
Traditional gender roles and expectations were strongly enforced in 1930s Western society, which restricted women’s personal freedom purely due to their gender. During this time, women were made to follow strict rules facing harsh consequences if they disobeyed these rules. In her novel, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O’Farrell explores the impact of patriarchy on Esme and Kitty Lennox through the lack of engagement with formal education, marriage and its impact on women and the visual imagery of clothing; thereby contrasting their realities with that of Iris Lockhart, their descendant. Using dialogue, symbols and narrative voices across time, O’Farrell influences the reader to feel sympathy towards Esme’s character.
Throughout an individual’s life-time, he/she has a vision as o what his/her should be. But when things do not go as planned and the unexpected occurs, does that person face it, or run away? In “An Act of Vengeance” by Isabel Allende, running away is not an option at well. Through the usage of plot, character and irony, Allende illustrates the cost of war.
... the liberation of women everywhere. One can easily recognize, however, that times were not always so generous as now, and different women found their own ways of dealing with their individual situations. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s character created a twisted image of the world in her mind, and eventually became mentally insane. While most cases were not so extreme, this character was imperative in creating a realization of such a serious situation.
Throughout the ages, the fight for women’s rights and equality has always been an uphill battle, from Abigail Adams’ famous reminder to her husband John to “think about the women,” to women earning less than their male counterparts when doing the same job in today’s society. This hindrance that comes with being a woman is also prominently featured in A Mercy, by Toni Morrison. Most of the female characters are vital to the plot, although almost all are made to be dependant on others in some form, while others are painted in a fashion not at all coveted. In A Mercy, women of all races and social classes are presented to have an undesirable socioeconomic status, through their family’s ranking, mental vulnerability, and their contrast to men in the book.
She attempts to accustom herself to living in a medieval society where women were believed to be inferior, a piece of property who need to depend on men to survive. CC befriends four women of that era who also uphold a stereotyped view of females and their role. “She remembered how cold and judgmental Isabel had been when they had first met, but CC had thought those days were over, that Isabel and the other women had begun to care for her as she had them” (Cast 248). This quotation depicts how CC diminished her old- fashioned friends’ mindset about women and how the women have become emotionally tied together. CC managed to help the women accept that they are not worth anything less than men, and transformed their outlook about CC’s courage and independence from a negative prospect to a positive prospect. The old women now care for CC as if they were family by maintaing their new belief that women demonstrate more power and strength together. The importance of this theme is to convince real world women that they are strong and are equal to men, and to change the views of bigoted people out there who emphasize the stereotypes of
Most women, especially in the seventeenth-century, are not given the right to choose their own destiny. Women are expected to serve for others, whether it is a husband, or owner, and not to have real fulfilling, genuine roles in the world. This restrain against women detains them from living the independent and free life that everyone deserves. In the novel, A Mercy, by Toni Morrison, the main female characters, Rebekka, Florens, Lina, and Sorrow, are victims of a controlled lifestyle, and are forced to live in a world that is shaped for them. Toni Morrison reveals the inferior, degraded, and vulnerable role of women during the late-seventeenth-century.