Gender Roles In The Secret Life Of Bees

Society’s way of thinking intensely about identity, places individuals in specific gender roles. Historically, gender identification has been socially constructed within individuals in a society. The debate on expectations embedded in society has been discussed constantly in the past. During the late 19th century, identity roles have changed with an innumerable influential number of women who fought in numerous ways for the same rights that men were effortlessly granted. The roles of females have also changed significantly for gender equality; however, in the 21st century, women and men are still not considered equal. Also, gender equality differs across cultures as women and men are stereotyped according to the roles they must assume in the society. However, both sexes are still expected to exude a character that is defined by societal expectations, restraints, and religious values.
Males and females are constrained by gender role in contemporary American society. There has always been a discussion on the invisible line dividing
As well as the media, literature is vital for society’s ability to modify the construction of expectation and restraints on genders. Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret life of Bees (2002) illustrates the way both white and black women in the 1960’s had to fight discrimination while living in a patriarchal society. Women in the 60’s had no power whatsoever, however, in the novel they find ways to gain their rights. The fight for women’s freedom wasn’t the predominant movement compared to the emancipation of African-Americans eligibility to vote without absurd Jim Crow laws and discrimination among sexes. The novel also delineates men masking their emotions for their children and wives. Both sexes are restrained to a specific category due to the alterations in society that is relevant in the