The Way the Male Characters are Presented in Tony Kytes, the arch-deceiver and Alison Ashworth by Nick Hornby

967 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The role of woman in literature

The Way the Male Characters are Presented in Tony Kytes, the arch-deceiver and Alison Ashworth by Nick Hornby

The two stories 'Tony Kytes, the arch-deceiver' and 'Alison Ashworth',

are both about a male character who is easily persuaded by the

opposite gender into marriage or a relationship. In the two stories,

both the male characters seem to have the females making their

decisions for them, but the setting of the two stories seem to have

great affect on the characters and how they react, because 'Tony

Kytes' is written in 1895 and 'Alison Ashworth' is written in 1995,

therefore each writer would have a different interpretation on the way

they see life.

In 'Tony Kytes, the arch-deceiver', the character Tony 'was quite the

women's favourite', and would 'hurt his looks in a woman's eye'. Tony

would flirt towards any girl whilst talking to them, by using words

like 'darling' to compliment them and to make them feel special. His

attitude towards women would be 'very tender' and 'as mild as he

could', to try and manipulate the girls to do what he wants. By using

his wit and charms, the women felt overwhelmed and obliged to do what

Tony asked. Tony's character found it hard to say 'no', when any of

the women asked for a favour. Unity asked 'My dear Tony, will you give

me a lift home?' and as Tony couldn't refuse, he replied 'that I will

darling'. Near the end of the scene, Tony's father tells Tony 'why if

you mean to marry Milly Richards, do it and there's an end o't. But

don't go driving about the country with Jolliver's daughter and making

a scandal'. This shows that in the olden days once you're engaged and

to be married you can't turn back or spend time with other girls. At

the beginning of the story, the author wanted us to feel a bit of

hatred towards Tony, because he keeps leading all these women on, but

as we get 'deeper' into the play, we realise that the character Tony

is 'typically male' and the women will do anything to have him.

Show More
Related

  • Gatsby Fight Club

    2329 Words  | 5 Pages

    Both novels are masculine narratives, where the male protagonists (Jay Gatsby and Tyler Durden), and the narrators (Nick Caraway and an unnamed Narrator) run toward or away from one of two versions of hyper-masculinity. One version is the wild, angry, sexual and raw fighter who uses the brute power of his body to cru...

    Read More

  • An Understanding Evil in Shakespeare´s Much Ado About Nothing

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    about an obsession with female sexuality and while it is hard to read a character such as

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Notes From The Underground And Death Of A Salesman

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    In my research essay for my English Composition 2 class, I will be analyzing the different gender roles in Notes from the Underground and Death of a Salesman. Often times, in American Literature work, gender roles are used very differently due to whomever wrote it. This story and play fall into the category of “traditional” gender roles that are given to males and females based off of society and what is expected of males and females. I will use the gender approach to explain that roles in families and society are based off of gender. I will also compare a feminist approach to the gender approach and see how they are different. In Author Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s

    Read More

  • The Role Of Female Women In Doris Lessing's A Woman On A Roof

    1666 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the most fascinating elements that female authors bring to light is their use of perspective—something that’s most commonly illustrated through the eyes of a man, a male author, or, more often than not, both. Women writers offer a different voice than their male counterparts, even if it’s simply by the subtle inclusion of their own experiences within the narrative of the central character. With that in mind, the question must be asked—how do these female authors present their male characters? It’s common for male authors to stick to stereotypes and caricatures of the women they include in their works; but do female authors choose to follow this style as well? How do they represent the “modern man” within their texts? Through Woolf’s

    Read More

  • Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ation of men and women to the reader; we accept the cliché’s and gender-roles as the collective standard.

    Read More

  • Interpreting the 'The Yellow Wallpaper': Beyond Subordination

    1149 Words  | 3 Pages

    The two main approaches to this type of criticism are very different, but help make distinctions in the text. Essentialists focus on the biologically determined sex of a character in literature, while others focus on constructivism or the qualities determined by society as strictly male or female. Constructivists argue that patriarchal gender roles harm women’s confidence and assertiveness, promoting stereotypes and false binaries. Gender constructivism favors the idea that gender and sexual categories are a societal construct that prefers men and restricts women. The application of this literary criticism to a text looks into the character and their relevance to the plot. Focusing on how the character promotes or rejects the imposed gender roles is a significant part in the use of this lens (Hildreth January

    Read More

  • Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

    1338 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ng it through Grace’s mother and Mrs. Humphrey. The novel depicts this construct of gender identity through society by molding Grace to believe women are subordinate and need to get married and be good housewives to be successful. This construct is seen through emotion as women who are emotional are seen as “abnormal” and sent to asylums, while men had to power to do so. The societal construct of gender identity was seen as men were to bask in their sexuality and be assertive, while women were to be passive and suppress their sexuality. Mrs. Humphrey challenged this construct as she was assertive and the instigator. Lastly, the societal construct of gender identity was challenged through Grace’s mother as she took over the males position of being the provider. Overall, women were looked at as subordinate to men in the Victorian age and Atwood challenged this belief.

    Read More

  • You Re Ugly Too Analysis

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both characters are made intentionally to fail to become the archetypes of their genders. However, these two characters portray the inner mentality of all people; that we, regardless of sex, all possess some kind of trait that distinguishes ourselves from others. In other words, no one can truly reach absolute femininity or masculinity; we will always acquire at least one characteristic that traditionally associates itself with the opposite

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In V For Vendetta

    1489 Words  | 3 Pages

    We come to scene which is most important when talking about dependency on male counterparts. Evey is caught in the act of prostitution by fingermens who then decide to do whatever they want with her and even kill her but that’s when V a character from V for Vendetta comes to rescue Evey as a damsel in distress (Moore and Lloyd 6). This shows how Evey’s character is defenseless and couldn’t take on a masculine role and is instead waiting for someone in a masculine role to come and save her. By showing that scene Moore and Lloyd have separated male from a female according to their bodies and their representation of masculine and feminine. In an article about gender stereotyping and under-representation of female character in children’s picture

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in The Great Gatsby

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gender Roles: In some respects, Fitzgerald writes about gender roles in a quite conservative manner. In his novel, men work to earn money for the maintenance of the women. Men are dominant over women, especially in the case of Tom, who asserts his physical strength to subdue them. The only hint of a role reversal is in the pair of Nick and Jordan. Jordan's androgynous name and cool, collected style masculinize her more than any other female character. However, in the end, Nick does exert his dominance over her by ending the relationship. The women in the novel are an interesting group, because they do not divide into the traditional groups of Mary Magdalene and Madonna figures, instead, none of them are pure. Myrtle is the most obviously sensual, but the fact that Jordan and Daisy wear white dresses only highlights their corruption.

    Read More

  • Compare and contrast how the three male characters are presented to us

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    short description and it is clear by the way he speaks that he is not

    Read More

  • The New Man In Disney Pixar By Ken Gilam And Shannon R.

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author focuses also on the fact that these lead male characters show signs of intimacy, emotion, and homo sociality. These characters.

    Read More

  • The Role and Influences of Male Characters in The Bluest Eye

    1244 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...bright spot shining through, such as Mr. Macteer, or some heroic or humorous act that pulled this story together. Overall the book was depressing, and I thought the plot line needed some fine tuning, but Morrison executed some good character development and conflict, and that combined with some creative point of view shifts made for an interesting chronicle of human life. I think Morrison made the male characters the way she did, because she wanted to portray this story in a way as real as possible. She based the story loosely on some of her childhood experiences, and don't forget, she was around in the racist period of time that was in this country, so you can see where all this negativity comes from. So in short, Morrison essentially used male characters to stimulate character development, and to basically tell her story of someone's poor, unfortunate childhood.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book traces or follows the life of men and women gender differences and common

    Read More

  • Reading Preferences Between Boys And Girls

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    Of the books with male-only characters, many harmful aspects of hypermasculinity were emphasized, such as that males must not be emotional, must excel and are responsible for the well-being of those around them (Langerman 134). In accordance with this, boys also prefer to read books that were more violent and included more physical action, as well as stories about war (Mead 17).

    Read More

More about The Way the Male Characters are Presented in Tony Kytes, the arch-deceiver and Alison Ashworth by Nick Hornby

Open Document