“In the Zone” opens with surveillance. In the initial scene, Davis enters the forecastle and sees Smitty perusing the contents of the black box. O’Neill writes that “A puzzled expression comes over his face, followed by one of suspicion, and he retreats further back in the alleyway, where he can watch Smitty without being seen.” Already, the fear and suspicion of Smitty’s difference is established. The fact that Smitty has a secret that the others fear, echoes the “gay panic” that haunts the work of a number of English-language writers, which Sedgwick writes about in Epistemology of the Closet. Gay panic, she says, has its roots in opposition: “The respectable "versus" the bohemian, the cynical "versus" the sentimental, the provincial "versus" the cosmopolitan, the anesthetized "versus" the sexual … The name of …show more content…
Smitty downplays the risk of attack for the SS Glencairn, while the other men seem to be terrified of that possibility (probability, in their minds). Smitty’s dialogue in the play appears orthographically, whereas the other characters’ dialogue is written in an attempt to signify a thicker regional accent. Smitty’s accent, his background, his social status (the men’s nickname for Smitty is “Duke” and “His Lordship”), and his general lack of knowledge of the customs of men at sea (Smitty, for instance, leaves his cups out after he finishes his coffee), all indicate Smitty’s separateness from the rest of the group. The suspicion of the play is heightened even more given the men's fear is of a subterranean nature; the men fear both potential underwater attacks from German submarines or mines and also German double-agents living in their midst. It seems logical to conclude that the text is asking the reader to understand and interrogate the ways that otherness often comes under surveillance by the majority, itself a principal concern of queer
To an extent, the characters in the play represent aspects of the Australian identity and experience. However, Rayson's vivid grasp of speech patterns to evoke character, and her ability to manipulate the audience with humour and pathos move the text beyond mere polemic and stereotype. In an almost Brechtian way, she positions us to analyse as we are entertained and moved.
...win discusses how Americans have an idea of reality that is not quite true and a writer’s responsibility is to bring to light the truths that Americans are too busy or too ignorant to notice. A novel of the 1950s cannot just be an idealized picture of heterosexual couples and their nuclear families living in suburbia. An accurate depiction of the 1950s needs to discuss homosexuality. It must discuss revolutionary pieces of literature on the subject, like Kinsey’s Sexual Behavior In the Human Male. It must also illustrate how macro events, such as the Cold War, influenced micro events, such as the Lavender Scare. Homosexuals were met with persecution and oppression in postwar America. Without the inclusion of homosexuality in a depiction of the 1950s, the American identity will continue to be incoherent and confine itself within a myth of the American experience.
An angry old man flaps open his bathrobe, exposing himself to young girls taking their piano lessons in "June Recital," a display that provides, according to Johnston "a blatant show of phallic strength, [as] he attempts to silence the female voice."In the context of the story, however, the narrator freely voices her estimate of this "old turkey gobbler" and suggests he poses no such potent threat. Some of Johnston's most convincing readings concern Welty's identification with her characters, refuting the assumption that the heroine is the author's stand-in. By keeping her eye on the writer of "June Recital," Johnston astutely reminds us: "Welty identifies with Miss Eckhart, but she writes Virgie's story. (Thomas)
In the graphic novel Fun Home, by Allison Bechdel, sexual self-discovery plays a critical role in the development of the main character, Allison Bechdel herself; furthermore, Bechdel depicts the plethora of factors that are pivotal in the shaping of who she is before, during and after her sexual self-development. Bechdel’s anguish and pain begins with all of her accounts that she encountered at home, with her respective family member – most importantly her father – at school, and the community she grew up within. Bechdel’s arduous process of her queer sexual self-development is throughout the novel as complex as her subjectivity itself. Main points highlight the difficulties behind which are all mostly focused on the dynamics between her and her father. Throughout the novel, she spotlights many accounts where she felt lost and ashamed of her coming out and having the proper courage to express this to her parents. Many events and factors contributed to this development that many seem to fear.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, he uses the theme of manhood to create motives for characters to act like a man. This is seen in many occurrences in Macbeth where characters try to act like men for certain reasons. Characters that apply this action are Macbeth, the first murderer, Macduff, and Young Siward. These actions are seen throughout the play, and play a key role in the development of the performance.
The boys call the girl’s slags, bitch and slut through out the whole play, but it's not just the name-calling, it’s the way males talk about having sex with the female characters. It is evident that all the male characters think the females are there for their own personal use. In the play, Enright display’s how male characters talk to the females. In the play, the male characters tell the women to piss off throughout the whole play. This is no way to talk to women. The males in this play are always insinuating sex; for example Scott makes a sexual remark to Shana. Shana says you know why I wear it, so when it rings, Scott cuts her off, then says so you know when I’m coming. This is just one of the instances in the play when males disrespect the females in how they talk about
A prominent theme in William Shakespeare’s novel Macbeth is the idea of universal masculinity. Throughout the play, Shakespeare utilizes male gender stereotypes to present conflicting views on the definition of manhood. Macbeth tells the reader about a man who allows both societal pressures inflicted upon him by his wife and his intense ambition to drag Macbeth into a spiral of committing obscene acts of violence. Characters often associate being a man with courage, cruelty and power. This pervading caricature of a “man” is evident to the reader throughout the play. Lady Macbeth, for instance, goads Macbeth about his masculinity to the point of murder. Additionally, Malcolm and Macduff’s rigid discussion on revenge reveals a defined notion of “true” masculinity. Perhaps the culmination of rigid gender stereotypes is evident in Macbeth's pondering of the legitimacy of the hired murderers' manhood. Clearly, Shakespeare upholds male gender stereotypes throughout Macbeth.
In this play, the men and women characters are separated even from their first entrance onto the stage. To the intuitive reader (or playgoer), the gender differences are immediately apparent when the men walk confidently into the room and over to the heater while the women timidly creep only through the door and stand huddled together. This separation between genders becomes more apparent when the characters proceed in investigating the murder. The men focus on means while the women focus on motive: action vs. emotion. While the men...
The second strategy he used is the diction as well. He illustrated, “In Boston, the press referred to areas like these as ‘death zones’—a specific reference to the rate of infant death in ghetto neighborhoods—but the feeling ...
In the play we get to read about the white superior boy Hally and their two helpers who are Sam and Willy, who in many instances engage in debates or dialogue with the young boy. They relates their topic by referring to certain events or historic happenings that took place and are consider to have shaped the world in a positive sense or could be used to help everyday life to be lived better by all people.
The men are a vital role in the poem, as the general, uses his military background to help guide and train the “privates” he also distinguishes the role that the men will have to play later on with after the war is done and over with. To help realize this idea it is developed through the speaker, imagery and irony
In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth‚ the theme of masculinity is explored. As Macbeth matures‚ there are times when his masculinity is put to the test, mostly after the murder of Duncan. There are four main themes in which masculinity is presented in the play.
This play shows just how close the boys were in the war and how close
*Practically ever speech in this play contains examples of Dublin dialect mispronunciation. Typical samples include vowel sounds distorted and spelt phonetically:
On the other hand Brantenberg’s novel exploits the real worlds views of sexuality and applies them in th...