english essay

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Historically, the suppression of particular people and nations has been seen by those in power, as a necessity if they wish to secure dominance. People have created subjugated groups and divide by the assertion of one opinion being of more importance than others. Many binary relationships hold a more dominant group, and this is also apparent within literature. Patriarchal discourse has created a male dominance within literature creating a male canon and leaving female writers on the periphery. Men wanted to uphold the prejudices held against women authors and attempted this by constructing history which denied women writers. Gender was, at one point, such a crucial part in writing that women published their novels under a pseudonym or even anonymously, in an attempt to receive an unbiased review. Supporting this notion, in Veils of Irony Anna Udden declares that in 18th Century literature “no critic ever dealt with a literary work without first having made the decision whether the writer was a man or a woman. Only then could he address its literary merit…” (52).
Patricia Waugh author of Feminine Fictions: Revisiting the Postmodern, argues in her chapter "Postmodernism and Feminism: Where Have All the Women Gone?" (1989) (P.1-33), that women writers believe that it is necessary to advocate the viability of their sense of identity if they want to obtain the constancy required to subvert their enforced decentralization. She continues to explain that women writers constantly feel at battle with the dominant postmodernist ideology- male writers that use formal experimentation in an attempt to rid any trace of authoritative conceptions of subjectivity and dominant discourses.
In support of Gilbert and Gubar’s quote, Jeanette Winterson,...

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... she was ‘…not havin’ demons…’ living in her home, leaving Jeanette physically homeless.
Further supporting the notion that this novel conforms to the Queer Theory is the idea that ‘‘the problem of sexuality’ resides ultimately not with itself but with mainstream society.’ Jeanette faces a society of unaccepting people yet she remains stubborn as to not blame herself for her feelings she has for women. Whilst working during Elsie’s funeral, she is required to serve desert to the people who attended the funeral. Regardless of their disapprobation towards her, she finds the courage to face them even though she is leaving herself open to abuse. Fully understanding her defiance against societal norms, she remains confident to admit that she does not conform and comes to the realisation that it is the people within society who view her sexuality as a problem, not her.

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