In The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, a book written by Mordecai Richler, women are represented as if they are of a lower status and importance than men. These female characters include Yvette Durelle, Minnie Kravitz, Ida Kravitz, Linda Rubin, and Sandra Calder. Each of these female characters are in possession of negative attributes; ranging from helplessness, to deceitfulness, and all the way up to inanimateness.
Minnie Kravitz is the mother of Duddy Kravitz. Because she passed away while Duddy was still young, the establishment of a mother-son relationship was prevented. The memories Duddy has of her are next to none; and he is unsure of whether or not she even loved him while she was still alive. Duddy tries to figure out if his mother loved him by questioning his father, Max Kravitz, however his father apathetically responds by telling Duddy, “Sure, why not?” In addition to his Max being unaffectionate towards Duddy’s feelings concerning his mother, he also defiles the memories of his deceased wife by resorting to pimping as a method of paying the bills. This reveals that Max doesn’t really possess the feelings a man should have for his deceased wife, as his soliciting behaviour demeans the memories of his wife and women in general. Duddy and his father’s relationship with Minnie would definitely be symbolic of the relationships and representations of other women throughout the entirety of the novel.
The first relationship Duddy had with a girl was with Linda Rubin. Duddy believes that Linda truly has feelings for him; however he eventually discovers that she is really the girlfriend of Irwin Shubert, and was only being used by Irwin to cheat him at his roulette game. After Duddy realizes that he has...
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...lthough she is abused, she vacuously decides to maintain the relationship on the contrary to abandoning it. When she finally realizes the fiend that Duddy truly is, she then displays an emotional tangent by venting to Duddy’s uncle, Simcha Kravitz, about all the wretched and deceitful deeds that grandson has engaged in. Her ambivalent emotions also played a part in the reason why she didn’t leave Duddy in the first place; as she still had feelings for him even though he had mistreated her. Finally, Yvette was involved in intimate relationships throughout the entire novel. One of which was with Duddy, and the other of which was with Duddy’s “friend”, Virgil Roseboro. Whilst Yvette was a stereotypical woman, her emotional attributes ultimately resulted in a positive outcome; she did not become influenced by Duddy and did not end up becoming morally deprived.
As time passed by, however, Duddy began to use Yvette as a tool. The main reason for that is Duddy was striving to get the land, and since he could not legally own it as a minor, he employed Yvette to act as a figurehead in his purchase. This treatment of Yvette, combined with her breaking ties with her family due to Duddy being a Jew, is what ruins their relationship.
Duddy's grandfather acted as a prominent father figure to him during his early childhood, when his father could not always be there for him, and as a result of always having him around while Duddy was so young and impressionable, he had a lot of influence on Duddy's developing mind.
Duddy is not a very well-liked figure in the novel. He arouses readers’ sympathy because his family and friends do not appreciate him. There is much evidence of this throughout the novel. Perhaps the best illustration of this is when Duddy returns from St. Agathe with six expensive sport shirts for Max as a gift, but only to find out that his father is not interested in the gift. Duddy is not loved in his family, yet he needs love desperately. Since his father, uncle and brother do not love him, his desire for love is projected onto his dead mother.
Duddy was not born into money, his father, Max, was a taxi driver, and pulled in a low income. Max’s brother, Benjy had money and always played favourites with Duddy’s brother, Lennie by giving him money and opportunities. Duddy always had to struggle for his money, and in one his many struggles he borrows his father’s taxi cab, which is his only source of income, but does not return it for three days. He was delivering pin ball machines that he had sold. When he returns he finds his father is furious at him just taking off with the cab without permission. “They found Max at Eddy’s, and he was furious, ‘who do you think you are?,’ he said ‘that you can run off with my car for three days? Just like that.’” (Richler, 213). Duddy has a way of burning bridges with the people that he most needs, he only thinks of himself, and has no consideration for the feelings of others, even those who does not want to hurt the most. Duddy’s grandfather, also known as the Zeyda, is Duddy’s mentor and the only person Duddy really looks up to, and the one he does not want to hurt, but ends up hurting him the worst. “‘Yvette came to see me.’…. ’she told me what you did,’ Simcha said, ‘And I don’t want a farm here.’ …. ‘I can see what you have planned for me, Duddel. You’ll be good to me. You’d give me everything I wanted.
The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton narrates the tribulations of an unmarried woman in post-revolutionary America. The author Hannah Webster Foster uses the story of Miss Wharton as an allegory of female moral decay. The highly patriarchal demands that women be submissive, domestic, and married. However, the protagonist Eliza Wharton has conflicting ideas of her expectations within the society. She is highly intelligent and yearns for self-determination. Though the novel is about seduction, Foster significantly altered the basic structure of novels at the time by relating it from the female perspective. The result is a novel that explores several significant themes in post-revolutionary America among them, the existence, and the need for female education.
The novel “Women Without class” by Julie Bettie, is a society in which the cultural you come from and the identity that was chosen for you defines who you are. How does cultural and identity illustrate who we are or will become? Julie Bettie demonstrates how class is based on color, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. The author describes this by researching her work on high school girls at a Central Valley high school. In Bettie’s novel she reveals different cliques that are associated within the group which are Las Chicas, Skaters, Hicks, Preps, and lastly Cholas and Cholos. The author also explains how race and ethnicity correspondence on how academically well these students do. I will be arguing how Julie Bettie connects her theories of inequality and culture capital to Pierre Bourdieu, Kimberle Crenshaw, Karl Marx and Engels but also how her research explains inequality among students based on cultural capital and identity.
The story is set in a rural community in turn-of-the century Iowa. This time-frame is one where women did not have the freedom they have today, but were instead seen as wives, cooks and housekeepers. This is the basis for Minnie’s isolation, her place in the society of the day. This is also compounded by Minnie’s husband, John Wright, who makes her more isolated than many other women of the time. We see that Minnie is isolated from love. Her husband is not an affectionate man and she has no children. In the story, we are told that after her marriage her only friend was “solitude.”
Janie’s nanny always gave Janie advice on life and men. Nanny is the one who convinced and persuaded Janie to marry Logan Killicks. Nanny believed that Logan was a hard working man who would respect Janie and take care of her. Janie was very skeptical of marrying Logan but eventually she did. Janie is a beautiful and youthful women who is married to an old and ugly man. The dearth of material on Logan in the novel is appropriate given the despair and emptiness that he symbolizes to Janie. Logan does not show much affection towards Janie. He has a hard time channeling his anger and he automatically assumes the the ideal of a marriage is for men to have the superiourness and the urge to dominate the woman, in other words, Janie. Logan feels Janie i...
The 19th and 20th centuries were a time period of change. The world saw many changes from gender roles to racial treatment. Many books written during these time periods reflect these changes. Some caused mass outrage while others helped to bring about change. In the book The Awakening by Kate Chopin, gender roles can be seen throughout the novel. Some of the characters follow society’s “rules” on what a gender is suppose to do while others challenge it. Feminist Lens can be used to help infer and interpret the gender roles that the characters follow or rebel against. Madame Ratignolle and Leonce Pontellier follow eaches respective gender, while Alcee Arobin follows and rebels the male gender expectations during the time period.
Les Femmes Savantes The Learned Ladies is an astounding play. As each new character enters time transforms characters are bedazzled, enchanted and wigged we know we are sharing the stage with royalty. The women’s gowns are extremely detailed with hoop shirts to make them puffy the men are wearing exceptionally detailed waistcoats. This comical drama is set in the living room or “salon” of the family. This plays plot is focused on one major couples chaotic and forbidden love. The characters are joined by blood and lead by the controlling wife, Philamonte (Maya Jackson) and her weak spouse Chrysale (Edward Brown III). Jackson’s voice is directing with a profound tone that would have the capacity to stop anybody dead in their tracks. It is not
In her essay, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Margaret Fuller discusses the state of marriage in America during the 1800‘s. She is a victim of her own knowledge, and is literally considered ugly because of her wisdom. She feels that if certain stereotypes can be broken down, women can have the respect of men intellectually, physically, and emotionally. She explains why some of the inequalities exist in marriages around her. Fuller feels that once women are accepted as equals, men and women will be able achieve a true love not yet known to the people of the world.
According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism is a major part of the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, which is a story that portrays women’s lack of freedom in the1800s. Women had no rights, and had to cater to all of their husband’s needs. The main character in “The Story of an Hour” is a woman who suffers from heart trouble, named Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard was told about her husband’s death, she was initially emotional, but because of her husband’s death she reaped freedom and became swept away with joy. The story is ironic because Mrs. Mallard learns her husband was not dead, and instead of exulting her husband’s sudden return she regretted abandoning her moment of freedom. An analysis of “The Story if an Hour” through the historical and feminist lenses, suggests that the story is really about women’s self-identity in the 1800s male-dominated society, and how it caused women’s lack of freedom.
Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” shows in society how a woman should be placed and what it means to be a woman. A women doesn’t question her partner, instead she is subservient to him. A woman’s duties include staying at home taking care of the children and cooking; while the man works and brings home the money. A feministic approach to Kincaid’s “Girl” points to the idea of the stereotypes that women can only be what they do in the home, they should only be pure and virtuous, and their main focus should be satisfying their husband.
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.
The family is presented as very traditional in their outlook and structure. At the beginning of the narrative, roughly ten years before Yvette's sexual awakening, we are told about how they had moved away and restructured the family after the vicar's wife, who they call She-Who-Was-Cynthia left for a younger man. The events of the novel and the actions of the characters can be seen as reactions to this first act of rebellion against family and religious tradition. It is never explicitly explained why she left, it is only said that she “went off with a young and penniless manii”. The vicar is described as a good husband and still handsome, and she has two little girls, so the question of “why... sh...