During the Victorian Era, women were expected to behave in a very prim and proper manner. Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland is a tale of Alice’s return to Wonderland, where she saves Wonderland and herself, defying her role as a young woman during the Victorian Era. Alice challenges the feminist theory by defying her social role as a damsel in distress.…
We as Americans reminisce on history to see and understand the advancements we have accomplished and the same can be said of not only the advancement of women but also the image of how women are portrayed. Although in today’s day and age, their figures and beauty are scrutinized but also exploited. For instance in both Tennessee Williams motion picture, “A Street Car Named Desire” and Lorraine Hansberry A Raisin in the Sun you are able to see the evolution of the not only the portal of women but also the advancements they accomplish.…
The article by Marcia Faulk talks strongly about how the play depicted women in a controlling and demeaning way. Stalk brings up many good points. She mentions that the only women who are seen in the book or movie are either “mindless whores, or if a women is not totally mindless, she is a direct threat to male life”. This is true but the same thing can be said about the male roles as well. The only male characters you see in this book are mental patients, who are weak. One male, Billy Bibbet, could not even stand up to his mother even at the age of 30. Nurse Ratched had so much power over these men that she belittled them. If people are going to argue that this book is feminist I would ask them to look at the one character that is in control. The person who is in control is Nurse Ratched. Everything the men do must go through her until Mcmurphy snaps and shows he has some power as well. The Nurse has so much control over Mcmurphy that she even…
Aurora Leigh is essentially a modern feminist. From the beginning of book one, it is evident that Aurora Leigh has dreams and aspirations far beyond those of the typical woman of her time. She is a revolutionary who doesn’t agree with the strict and suffocating regimes of society. Being sent to live with her aunt in England, whom she compares to a caged bird—Aurora grows weary of her “womanly” duties. She says a woman’s work is symbolical and in a sense only exists to serve the many needs of men. Aurora finds salvation through poetry and literature. She discovers her fathers library and begins her journey as a poet. At age 20 Aurora refuses her cousin Romney’s marriage proposal. This tells a lot about Auroras character as during those times,…
The role of men and women in society has always been a subject of debate. Historically, men have been paid more, have held higher positions of power and have been respected more than women. Feminism is a way of questioning this “norm” and advocating for equal rights. It represents empowering women to not settle for less and continue to strive for what they deserve. Currently, feminism has become a very hot topic of discussion in the past couple of years due to social media, but women have been expressing their injustice since as far back as the early 1900s. Their Eyes Were Watching God encompasses this message, it shows the mindset that women are forced into, their hardships, and ultimately their triumph.…
A feminist criticism is an approach to literature that seeks to correct or supplement what may be regarded as a predominantly male-dominated critical perspective with a feminist consciousness (Meyer 1658). The excerpt from A Secret Sorrow and “A Sorrowful Woman” are great from a feminist point of view. Both of these stories are about marriage and family, but their points of view are different. How would a feminist critic view the characters willingness to want a family or willingness to be separated from her family? How would a feminist critic analyze the time period of the two stories? What would a feminist critic say about the male leads? You are about to find out!…
There is no one true definition of feminism. Feminism has many aspects, perspectives, and opinions. Many women get shamed on for being a feminist, through the eyes of other men. In today's society, it is hard to overall describe every aspect of feminism because it is so much more than rights for woman. Though one definition that could overall describe feminism is one who believes in equal rights for woman and is able to protect herself and has the courage to do so. Throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character Hester has been living with an A on her bosom ever since she had an affair with the town reverend. Feminism in the novel comes through from the characterization and actions of Hester. Hester was a…
Feminism is the movement that aims to gain a better understanding of gender inequality, politically and sexually. Feminist fight on issues such as domestic violence, sexual harassment, and discrimination. Feminist also argues that they are treated unequally with issues that include stereotyping, oppression and patriarchy. When looking at pieces of literature such as Chopin “Story of an Hour,” Gilman “Yellow Wallpaper,” Williams “Streetcar Named Desire,” Henderson “Trifles,” and Mina Loy “Feminist Manifesto you see the actuality of how poorly women and even married women were treated throughout the years. Feminism represents the next step in the evolution of the feminist movement.…
Gender is on the agenda” wrote Francis Heidensohn (1989) Feminist definition of crime is that “crime is politically informed and linked to particular interests”– of men. Before feminism, women were invisible in sociological research, this meant that explanations for female recidivism saw, female crime as a ’special case’ resulting from sexual promiscuity and biological deviance. Biological explanations for male criminality have lost credibility yet feminist research argued that biological explanations were used to understand female crimes for example the persecution of Maxine Carr. Some feminist criminologists accept that women commit less crime than men. Diana Leonard believes that the major explanation for this fact is that women are more likely to conform to rules and social controls as opposed to men. However, there are signs that this commitment to the rules may be undermined by social class and age. There are six main feminist explanations of the relationship between gender and crime.…
The focus of this essay was on how the female body and the disabled body are seen as inferior in society. This reading really made me realize how we view disabled and female bodies in our society, and how we typically look the disabled so differently. I also thought about how often people so easily overlook the struggles that many disabled bodies have to deal with, like disabled women who want to have children or public facilities not having wheelchair access. It’s sad to recognize how most people see the disabled as inadequate and compensate for that by pitying them, rather than trying to treat them the same way as an able-bodied person. This essay made me think of one of my good friend’s older sister with Down syndrome, and how when we are out in public with her how many people stare at her because her disability is visible. I found it interesting how this essay talked about how the female body is seen as disabled and inferior to men’s: weak, soft, passive, etc. This essay sheds light on how our society has been trained to undervalue those whose bodies are considered abnormal.…
* The female lead is still a glamorous actress, who is sexually appealing men. The camera encourages the audience to view the women in a voyeuristic way.…
Feminism. Arguably one of the most misunderstood terms to date. In order to move forward and grow as a society, feminism is vital. Of course, sexism still exists and I doubt, there will ever be a time in history where it does not; much like racism- but generally, we have come a long way. The road for equal rights has been a long and sometimes, dangerous one as can be observed through texts such as Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Robert Browning's My Last Duchess Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette and Charlotte Perkins-Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. This idea of gender inequality can be readily observed through the aforementioned texts and in fact, many others, regardless of the era in which they were first written. Women being treated as possessions,…
In the play, all the women are portrayed as delicate characters- particularly Sheila who the men feel needs protecting from all manner of things like the information that a girl has committed suicide. Set in 1912, the woman in the play would have been seen as possessions to their husband and did not work or have careers due to the patriarchal society. However, it would have been acceptable for women to be involved in charity work like Mrs Birling was. Other than that, women would have been simply seen as wives and mothers and women did not have the same rights as men and women did not even have the right to vote. During 1912, there was the suffragette movement and could be influencing Sheila and Eva which is why they supported new ideas that Mrs Birling would not share.…
Feminism criticism is how women are portrayed through literature. When viewed in The Crucible several women played out a major role on whether they are a good or bad role model. Through the lens of feminism Abigail Williams is seen as a negative female character, Elizabeth Proctor portrayed a positive female character, and Mary Warren actions demonstrate she is not good or bad but a neutral character.…
At the age of eleven I experienced two fundamental shifts within my knowledge of myself and the world around me; though, of course, at the time I was quite unaware of the long lasting implications of these shifts. The first shift would lead to a drastic reworking of my inner psyche, this inner reworking founded itself when I experienced my first panic attack, an early sign of the anxiety disorder that would fester in my mind until the present. The second shift had a greater immediate impact upon my understanding of the my known world, when I suddenly came into the knowledge of my father's, worsening and still worsening, alcoholism. These two events which I viewed as independent from the other, would come to lay the foundation for my own understandings of feminism. Over the next several years, these two flourishing fragments of myself and my world would no longer be able to exist independent in my own conscious. Instead, I would…