T.D. a young man in the town of Ruby who gets a 15 year old girl pregnant, hits her when she confronts and challenges him. This continues the strikingly relevant occurrence of abuse that is evident throughout Paradise. T.D. quickly assumes that these actions are a direct challenge to his authority and instead of reasoning and talking to her, he instead assaults her. As Ms. Peterson speaks on in “On Slut Shaming and Rape Culture”, women are not viewed as something to be cherished or protected, but “something” for men to impose their will…
Jane Yolen presents a great holocaust novel ‘Briar Rose’ concerning about the beauty and the brutality of human and the difference between the fairytale and the ugly reality. Yolen uses variety of techniques to explore her concerns, such as story within story, allegory, symbolism and irony, through Gemma’s version of a “Sleeping Beauty” narrative in the novel.…
Alyssa Elver indulges a strong opinion on both the male and female gender as people and their ‘natural’ qualities in this piece of Satirical Monologue ‘Oh, Girls Are No Good At Genocide’. Voicing her message through a dictator admiring schoolgirl, a Caricature of sorts, Elver presents an interesting piece of satire; her characterisation enables our perspective for satire, and in her words she is able to mock the stereotypical bravado and bombast that is associated with the alpha male, whilst, making a point to the perceptions of women from both sexist men and society.…
She conveys the neglect women of lesser rank experience from Haitian society regarding their safety and respect through Flore’s rape and Max Ardin Senior’s beliefs about the event. For example, he questions, “Wasn’t even the girl expecting it?” when looking back on Flore’s rape because “sleeping with the house servant was not an uncommon rite of passage for young men in houses like his” (Danticat 185). As Max Sr. highlights the commonality of situations of rape similar to Max Jr. and Flore’s, Danticat expresses society’s immunity to the horrors of rape and failure to punish the powerful men behind the acts; thus, she depicts society’s disregard for poor women. Furthermore, with Flore’s reaction to her rape, Danticat exposes the harsh reality for low-income women living in Haiti. Flore explains to Louise, “I could not lose my job . . . I am—was—paying . . . the rent for my mother’s house” (175). Danticat exhibits trapping nature of poverty for the workingwomen as having to accept harmful, violating situations due to their desperate need for money to survive. Moreover,…
During the nineteenth century, women were not given the respect they deserved, and the need for their self assertion was essential. The short stories, “Desirée’s Baby,” by Kate Chopin, and the “Yellow Wall-Paper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, both demonstrate the need for self assertion among women by using realistic representations of human behavior and personal psychological states. From both stories, the main female characters’ behaviors and emotions reflect their psychological state, how they feel about their lives, and how they believe they should be treated. Desirée, from “Desirée’s Baby,” and the nameless narrator, from the “Yellow Wall-Paper,” both have weak and dependent personalities, which the reader learns from their actions and their relationships with their husbands. Throughout history, women have not been able to be…
Through previously untouched German files in Ukraine and Poland, Lower reveals a world of female perpetrators previously unknown, or unimagined. Her research challenges our gendered understanding of women's ability to commit sadistic atrocities and further to engage and encourage violence. Another critical aspect Lower demonstrates, is the various reasons for women's engagement in violence. Her research illustrates the mundane, routine, work ranging from desk work, to nursing that build to create the inner workings of the Holocaust. Lower uses case studies of thirteen women and gives detailed backgrounds of each.…
Women have always been oppressed, not only by men, but by society as a whole. They have been considered weak, fragile, and useless for anything besides housework. In some parts of the world, this is still true. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour,” Charlotte Perkins Stetson’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and Maxine Hong Kingston’s “No Name Woman,” tell stories of women trying to come to terms with who they are and what society wants them to be. Together, these three works show the hardships of being a woman and finding one’s true identity while dealing with oppression and sexism.…
It is evident throughout history that women are seen as a lesser power in comparison to their male counterparts. The texts Erin Brockovich (Erin Brockovich, 2000), The Help (The Help , 2011), and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Kesey, 1962), discuss this power imbalance and convey the way in which women adapt to their societal context and measurement, making use of unconventional power. Institutional power which operates through gender commonly impacts society in a negative manner, resulting in retaliation through unconventional power by oppressed groups. Male characters within these texts have power which related to wealth, employment and politics; where as women have the power of their bodies, sexuality and the power over their home as the homemaker.…
It seems however, that the “strength” that these women show might not be a statement on the internal powers of women, but rather that they have no choice than to adapt to a gruesome and misogynistic situation. The old woman, after telling her terrible life story, relates that she does not believe in self-pity—she was merely telling everyone to pass the time. Although there are many female victims in Candide, none of them seem at all aware of the travesties committed to them or their sex and moreover, they hold true to an abundance of stereotypes (gold-diggers, prostitutes, battered old women). In many respects, as far as feminism goes, this is a rather bleak novel especially because although it is heralded as a precursor to the revolutions, it lacks the true ideals of the Enlightenment’s assertions of equal rights for…
The effect of feminism on the world during the past century has been massive – but not enough. Equality still does not prevail between the two dominant genders of society – male and female. Everything that deals with being weak is still associated with femininity and frailty. Women who try to defy the norm of being gentle, submissive, and soft-spoken are seen as masculine and raunchy. What’s even worse is that women further bury their own gender by slut-shaming other women, implying that what men do to them to undermine their worth – catcalling, objectifying, and trivializing – is acceptable. In Gwendolyn Brooks’ “the mother,” she talks about the struggles of a woman who goes through abortion. While in Ariel Levy’s “Women and the Rise of Raunch…
Since the wave of Feminism in Canada, Feminism has been written into the literature by Canadian authors. They believe securing women’s rights would enhance the recognition of women’s value in society, which can lead to the moral and social improvement of all humanity. Secret daughter introduces a weak female character Kavita, who is prohibited from keeping her child in a distorted society. The handmaid's Tale reveals a new career called handmaid in the future society, whose mission is to have children for senior officials. Both Secret daughter and The handmaid’s tale describe an oppressive patriarchal theocratic society. Female characters have to struggle with the cruel reality for their role as women. By doing so, they try to challenge the patriarchal power structure and unfair treatment of women. This resistance proves that there is no inherently superior gender. It reveals that women should revolt against the unequal society for fundamental freedoms and rights.…
In the satire of the sexes, Egalia’s Daughters by Gerd Brantenberg, there is put forth a society different from which has ever been present in modern times. This would be a society where women were at the forefront and did the decision making, worked and held governmental positions. The men were portrayed in the way females live in present society, though it was often exaggerated to make that point. Men were dominated and ruled by women and had to do their bidding and cook for them and take care of the children, so on and so forth. By taking a hard look at how sexuality is imagined and experienced on all analytical levels and picking apart the social construction of gender in Egalia’s Daughters, society itself in the present can start to be unraveled as well. What is found in this book can transfer over to a point and parallel itself with present experiences of women and their struggle for equality, recognition and acknowledgement.…
Apparently to one of the woman’s’ mother, it was her obligation to marry a nice, key word, Jewish boy. Very sarcastically, the woman made it very clear that she didn’t want a, quote, ‘’skinny, little woman”. I was a bit shocked as the conversation dragged on about different Jewish men and how unappealing they are not only to non-Jews, but to Jewish women. To think that Jewish women are contributing to the stereotype, not only by their words, but by their actions as the Jewish mother. I was reminded of both, Yentl’s Revenge by D. Rustenburg and S. Heschel and You Never Call! You Never Write! ; A History of the Jewish Mother by Joyce Antler. Young Jewish looking for freedom and embracing feminism seems to make them a stronger gender. The stereotypical Jewish mother with her, “nagging, whining, guilt-producing maternal intrusiveness.” is a haunting stereotype that Jewish mothers are afraid to have labeled to…
Although most humans are born free, they can live life bound by the barriers and expectations of society. The novels The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and Sister Wife focus on female protagonists who break out of the moulds their societies place them in and form their own identities. In this essay, I will argue that these novels show how feminism has a positive impact on society and on the individuals who practise it. To do this, I will analyze how the cultures restricted females, how each protagonist resisted conformity, and the successful conclusion each character reached.…
‘Lajwanti’ the title itself, is meant to depict women as weak, fragile and brittle’. They are not expected to revolt or defend a just cause, like gender equality, in any manner. In ‘A girl’s plea’, the girl describes that her father sees her as ‘A meek, dumb, shy, submissive, frail woman.’ She is made to ‘eat humble pie and drink sheer humiliation’ indicating that oppression was her food and drink. The torture was inevitable and on a daily basis.…