Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Gender in 20th century literature
Womens perceived social status
Gender role in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Gender in 20th century literature
Did you know that the average gender wage gap in America, as of 2015, was
21%? In 1910, however, even in a time where a lot of common workers were not paid as much as they should have been, women were paid up to 45% less. In the book Uprising, by Margaret Haddix, the main characters are two women, named Bella and Jane. The story is set in the early 1900s and both women are subjected to discrimination and bias because of their gender. Bella and Jane are both very different though, because Jane is rich and Bella is very poor, but they both are faced with injustice because they are women and both of them react to it in their own way.
In the book Uprising, Bella is mistreated, cheated and discriminated against many times because of her gender.
…show more content…
Jane is the mistress of her house as her father is away on a business trip and he's gone Janes governess is very mean and rude to Jane, Bella and Yetta so Jane threatens to fire her governess, Ms. Milhouse. “You’re even more foolish than I thought! You can’t fire me! You’re just a girl. You’re nothing. Just a bit of fluff your father’s going to use to marry off, to enhance his business. That’s all you’re worth. That’s all any girl is worth.(Haddix 167). Janes governess Ms. Milhouse tells Jane, that she’s powerless and can do nothing and then tells Jane that no girl is worth anything but a business exchange. This is another example to what a great extent this bias and sexism goes, to that even Jane’s governess as a girl herself, still says extremely sexist things. Jane like Bella also naturally retaliates against this injustice because she knows that her treatment is unfair. ‘“Please!” Jane shouted at him, sliding into the backseat. “You have to take me to . . .” Where could she go? Somewhere away from this house, away from her father.”(Haddix 203). Jane rebels against this unfairness by running away because she’s upset and mad. Though this may seem like a slightly childish reaction her purpose is to attract her inattentive fathers attention. Jane though in a very different setting is still treated poorly because she’s a girl and she too rebels against her unfair treatment though in a very different
Jane has been dealt a rough hand of cards, she hasn’t felt love or care from anyone, she doesn’t know what love feels like. She has owned very little, and throughout the book she refers to herself as dull and plain. “ ‘Did you expect a present, Miss Eyre? Are you fond of presents?’ and he searched my face with eyes that I saw were dark, irate and piercing. ‘I hardly know, sir; I have little experience of them: they are generally thought pleasant things’” (Brontë 81). Now that Jane left Lowood it seems to be as if she wants more independence. She doesnt like being bossed around. She wants to do her own
This was true in the 1940’s, and it’s still a relevant issue today. Then, it was rare for women to earn even slightly more than fifty cents to every man’s dollar. Now, the average woman earns anywhere from sixty to eighty percent of a man’s salary for the exact same job. Ranges vary depending on the specific career field. However, women of minorities remain stuck in injustice, systematic trends.
Though any pay disparity between women and men is a pressing issue, the “wage gap” is much more complicated than people believe because of misleading statistics, unaccounted for variables, and the different social and economic choices of men and women. The common idea that women make 77 cents on every dollar men make in the workplace is very misleading. It is true, however, this statistic ignores any factors that justify different pay. The wage gap is just the difference
From an early age Jane is aware she is at a disadvantage, yet she learns how to break free from her entrapment by following her heart. Jane appears as not only the main character in the text, but also a female narrator. Being a female narrator suggests a strong independent woman, but Jane does not seem quite that.
When President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963 into law, he hoped that it would allow working women to finally earn the same amount of money as men; however, more than half a century later, men continue to out earn women in almost every field of work (Lipman para. 4). Male dominated fields tend to pay more than female dominated fields at similar skill levels. In 2012, women earned an average of $691 per week while men earned an average of $854 per week. Furthermore, the majority of women remain unaware that they are earning less than their male colleagues (Hegewisch para. 1).
The wage gap is a prevalent issue in the United States and must be closed in order to increase the quality of life for women across all fields of expertise. In 2014, female full-time workers made only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 21 percent (“Pay Equity & Discrimination”). As a woman who does the same amount of work for the same amount of time, just as well as as her male counterpart, the existence of a wage gap
The United States has one of the highest gender pay gaps among the developed countries. In the country, the gender pay gap is measured as the ratio of female to males yearly earning among workers in full-time, year round (FTYR) earnings. In 2009, female FTYR earned 77% (0.77) as much as the FTYR male workers (US Census Bureau, 2013). The history of Gender Gap earning reveals USA has made big strides towards reducing the gender pay gap from 1980. For instance, in 1980 the gender pay gap ratio was 0.62 while in 1990, the gap stood at 0.72. Further from 1990 to 2000, the gap reduced to 0.73 and then to 0.77 in 2009. Currently, the gender pay gap stands at 0.76 and continues to persist (US Census Bureau, 2013).
The reader first learns of Jane when she is an inhabitant of Gateshead. At Gateshead, Jane was excluded from the rest of the family. She was merely an outsider looking in on a nuclear family, excluding the father, who had died. We know that Jane’s Uncle Reed, the father and dominant figure of Gateshead, when alive, was a kind man. He was the guardian for Jane and when dying made his wife promise to always care for Jane. After his death, his wife resented the little girl and did not want to care for her. Knowing what we know of family life in the nineteenth century, we know that Jane’s life would have been much different if her uncle Reed had not died. Being the master of the home one can assume that he would have made sure that everyone in the household would have treated Jane well and with love and respect. A father’s authority was unquestioned. Once Mr. Reed had died, the masculine dominance was somewhat given to his son who did not care for Jane and made her life miserable by all of his cruelty and abuse. Although he did not rule the home, due to his young age, his authority as seen by Jane was unquestioned.
In the beginning Jane seems a strong character who is very rebellious; In the Victorian times it was considered “deceitful” for a child too speak out. Jane wishes to overcome this. And she does when she says, “I must keep in good health, and not die.” (28). At Gateshead it became obvious Jane is self-willed and has a temper. An example of this is when Jane stands up to her aunt saying, “You think I have know feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness, but I cannot live so: and you have no pity.” (33). Here Jane makes her first declaration of independence. She will no longer be considered a secondary member of the Reed household. Jane wants more than anything at this time to be loved and she feels she will not have it because of al the things Mrs. Reed told Mr. Brocklehurst, and she displays her temper again, “I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you but I declare I do not love you . . .” (32). This fight led to Jane saying she will never call her “Au...
Jane is always being reminded that she is poor, and that is not very helpful, she is also always reminded that she is alone and her aunt and her cousins consider her to be of a lower class, due to the fact that she will not inherit any money. Jane thinks that she beneath everyone, even the people who are in the same household, who are all of a low social class, though in reality, she is above all the individuals in the house. Aunt Reed and others just seem to shove these horrible ideas down Jane’s throat, even when they are not true.
During the era were Jane lived it was thought to be a selfish for women to show desire, it was a bad emotion that women were expected to control and keep quite. To perform one's duty to society was thought to be respectful and should be put before anything else. Desire is a term to want something or someone very strongly no matter what the outcome is. Duty in contrast, is a moral obligation to something that somebody is obliged to do for moral, legal, or religious reasons , which is thought to be selfless. The decisions made regarding these emotions are significant throughout Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte shows us Jane’s integrity helps her find the balance between duty to herself, and desire to stay.
Jane had wondered to herself as to why life was set up that way and why was the suffering always for the less fortunate like herself. “Why was I always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, for ever condemned? Why could I never please? Why was it useless to try to win any one's favour?” (pg. 16) This thought by Jane opened a lot of others throughout the novel, but it also lead Jane to the conclusion that as long as she remained in this position of poverty she will always be treated this way. During Jane’s childhood she often rebelled due to the horrible treatment she got due to her status as an orphan. Jane viewed herself as essentially useless due to her lack of money and status. Due to this thought Jane was turned to the ideology of how people of her status had no one to truly turn to or benefit but God himself. This stance is something Jane turned away from because she often question the role of God throughout her readings due to no proof she found
Soon after Jane is settled at Lowood Institution she finds the enjoyment of expanding her own mind and talents. She forgets the hardships of living at the school and focuses on the work of her own hands. She is not willing to give this up when she is engaged to Rochester. She resists becoming dependent on him and his money. She does not want to be like his mistresses, with their fancy gowns and jewels, but even after she and Rochester are married, she wants to remain as Adele's governess. She is not willing to give up her independence to Rochester, and tries to seek her own fortune by writing to her uncle. In the end, when she does have her own money, she states, "I am my own mistress" (Chapter 37).
At the beginning of the book, Jane was living with her aunt Mrs. Reed and her children. Although Jane is treated cruelly and is abused constantly, she still displays passion and spirit by fighting back at John and finally standing up to Mrs Reed. Even Bessie ‘knew it was always in her’. Mrs. Reed accuses Jane of lying and being a troublesome person when Mr. Brocklehurst of Lowood School visited Gateshead. Jane is hurt, as she knows she was not deceitful so she defends herself as she defended herself to John Reed when he abused her, as she said “Wicked and cruel boy! You are like a murderer – you are like a slave driver – you are like the Roman emperors!” to John Reed instead of staying silent and taking in the abuse, which would damage her self-confidence and self-worth. With the anger she had gotten from being treated cruelly, she was able to gain ...
Women, in all classes, were still living in a world which was misogynistic and male-dominated. Their purpose in life was to produce male heirs and maintain the home by hiring and overseeing servants. It was also taboo for one to marry significantly below one’s social class. This is one reason that Jane is not a conventional heroine for the society of her time. Although, as a governess, she is not considered to be as low as a housemaid, she is still part of the hired help in the house. This is why it is unconventional for her and Mr Rochester to be in a relationship. Yet this is not as peculiar as how Jane Eyre ends their relationship due to her sense of betrayal. It would have been considered extremely foolish for a working-woman’s sense of betrayal to end and turn down a man of great wealth.