Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Homophobia essays
Homophobia in society essays
Kiss of the spider woman summary
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Homophobia essays
Kiss of the Spider Woman, written by Manuel Puig, is considered a novel that can be interpreted differently by two different readers, in this case, a homosexual and a heterosexual. Although these to type of readers may be from the same sex, their way of thinking and interpreting this literary work may be very different as Puig writes about two men who are cell-mates, Luis Alberto Molino, a gay window dresser condemned for corruption of a minor or sexually abusing an underage, and Valentin Arregui Paz, a Marxist Revolutionary. Throughout the novel, their friendship grows even more than being just friends, having relationships and feelings for each other. Towards the end, we realize that Valentin had this close relationship and participated in Molino’s fantasies as he knew that the gay window dresser would leave jail early and could do him a favor. Throughout the story, homosexuals, compared to heterosexuals, can relate more to the events of the story. I believe that homosexuals may feel offended by the way Molino is being treated by his cell mate while Heterosexuals could say its normal. During their 6 months in prison, Molina recounts, in a very descriptive manner, a movie he saw called “The Cat Woman”. At first, when Molino starts to retell the movie, Valentin listens to him because of the dullness times in prison but after breaks, makes fun of him and seems to not really care. In the following citation, we can see how Valentin seems to not care about the story but still listens because of the boredom. Not only can we see how Valentin is careless about this but also we can notice some of Molino’s fantasies which Valentin clearly does not want to be part of: “-...She has her legs crossed, her shoes are black, thick high heels, ope... ... middle of paper ... ...s book will relate even more to it and increase their interests. This will not only encourage these types of readers to keep on reading but this will also help them have a better understanding of the text. To conclude, this text could be interpreted and comprehend differently by two different readers, a homosexual and a heterosexual. Throughout the story, homosexuals, compared to heterosexuals, can relate more to the events of the story especially towards the end where the two main characters turn out to be gay. But there is a problem as it seems that Valentin, who used to be a straight marxist revolutionary, became ‘gay’ in order to use Molino, soon to be released, as a messenger to transmit a message to Valentin’s revolutionary comrades. Although there are different ways to interpret this, I believe that homosexuals have a better overall understanding of the text.
A reoccurring theme that will be discussed in the literature review as well as the chapter on The Captive will discuss the ways in which the use of the voice (or lack of) in Irene and Madame d’ Aiguines character is a signifier of their lesbianism. Sherrie
By examining the narrative voice as well as the cultural restraints placed on them, readers can see the sexist culture in the novel and that the novel itself does not necessarily advocate this misogyny. Yunior, a Dominican man, is the overall narrator of the novel, so readers essentially see everything through his masculine eye. When discussing a brief fling with Lola, Oscar’s sister, Yunior says, “Even those nights after I got jumped she wouldn’t let me steal on her ass for nothing. So you can sleep in my bed but you can’t sleep with me?” (Diaz 169) His question suggests that it is his right to sleep with her, and his discussion of Lola herself objectifies her by noting only her body and her refusal to use it. This objectification is clearly sexist, but it is a reflection of the narrative voice, Yunior, not of Lola. Yunior will casually refer to a woman as “a bitch” (Diaz 183), which is clearly demeaning, but it is a man’s view and does not reflect on the substance of the women. It shows readers the culture he was raised in, not an actual portrayal of the women, illustrating a misogynist society but not a misogynistic novel. In the Dominican Republic, gender-based violence is the fourth leading cause of death, hinting at the overall problems caused by the hyper-sexualized nature of the country. Sociologist Denise Paiewonsky
In the graphic novel Fun Home, by Allison Bechdel, sexual self-discovery plays a critical role in the development of the main character, Allison Bechdel herself; furthermore, Bechdel depicts the plethora of factors that are pivotal in the shaping of who she is before, during and after her sexual self-development. Bechdel’s anguish and pain begins with all of her accounts that she encountered at home, with her respective family member – most importantly her father – at school, and the community she grew up within. Bechdel’s arduous process of her queer sexual self-development is throughout the novel as complex as her subjectivity itself. Main points highlight the difficulties behind which are all mostly focused on the dynamics between her and her father. Throughout the novel, she spotlights many accounts where she felt lost and ashamed of her coming out and having the proper courage to express this to her parents. Many events and factors contributed to this development that many seem to fear.
Finally, even though, for a long time, the roles of woman in a relationship have been established to be what I already explained, we see that these two protagonists broke that conception and established new ways of behaving in them. One did it by having an affair with another man and expressing freely her sexuality and the other by breaking free from the prison her marriage represented and discovering her true self. The idea that unites the both is that, in their own way, they defied many beliefs and started a new way of thinking and a new perception of life, love and relationships.
Unsurprisingly, the novel is a classic coming of age story which centers on a young man who is confused about himself and his sexual identity in his early twenties. This confusion about himself and his sexual identity is the driving force of his interactions with his friends and lovers. Moreover, this confusion about himself and his sexual identity also facilitates the conflict and unforeseen consequences which occur during the novel.
In her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, Laura Mulvey discusses the subject of how female characters, through various methods, are subjected to erotic objectification, by both the characters on screen as well as the spectators within the auditorium. While Mulvey makes an excellent point in acknowledging female’s exposure in cinema, she fails to realize that male characters are just as likely to be subjected to the same kind of objectification, depending on what type of audience the motion picture is directed at. Mulveys claim depends on a generalization of a homogenous audience and characters that only consists of heterosexual men. When transferring Mulveys claim onto homosexual male characters starring in a production that is in first-hand directed towards a gay audience, the erotic objectification of male characters share several similarities with those Mulvey describe women to be exposed to in her essay. Consequently, erotic objectification is governed by different circumstances, in which the audience plays a large role.
One of the issues that was raised is the idea of the relationship between femininty, technology and sexuality. The relationship between all of these qualities converse in one character, Maria. The real Maria has many roles thoughout the movie, including one who cares for the workers children, a preacher of peace for the workers, and one who loves Freder. The machi...
The book makes me understand the importance of reading and know how weak I’m in reading comprehension. Not only is my reading speed slow, but also my thoughts after reading are immature. I haven’t fix some time to read English books before so my background knowledge and vocabulary are far from abundant.
“Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life” (Samuel Ullman). As teens go along in life, they learn through the things they read, hear, and see; in particular, when one reads a book, they can connect with the connotations and it can alter someone or influence. Being able to connect to something that another is feeling can really draw people in like bugs to a light. As more and more people can connect to books it becomes more popular so that they may feel a sense of security. Anthem by Ayn Rand and The Giver by Lois Lowry are two very great examples
The first people introduced are a couple, Agustin and Marcelo, that has been well established in Chicago, Illinois. Marcelo explained his struggle of being both gay and staying catholic because as a kid he prayed to god for a miracle to change him to be “normal”. Marcelo has accepted himself and continues to practice the religion even though Catholicism prohibits being gay. Another man named David described being teased in his school career for kissing another boy in the third grade because of his sexuality. He moved to New York City to get away from his childhood and to finally be happy in a place where he isn’t judged. This homophobia from young kids instigates violence in school that is learned from parents and from the community of others. The last person introduced in the film was a man who transitioned to be a woman that was rejected by her family and had to move out of her home for coming home with hair extensions. This form of violence caused Gabriela to abuse drugs and alcohol to deal with the pain of rejection. These three examples show how people have overcome the cultural normality, but have experienced all sorts of different
Federico García Lorca’s poem “La casada infiel” depicts the story of a gypsy who makes love to a married woman on the shore of a river. When looking deeper into the poem, Lorca appears to provide a critical observation on the values of the conservative society at the time in which he lived. The woman, at her most basic reading, is treated as an object, elaborating on the sexist values in society at the time. Lorca addresses issues of sexism as well as issues of sexuality within society mainly through the poem’s sexist narrative voice, objectification of the female character and overriding sense of a lack of desire throughout the poem. His achievement to do so will be analysed throughout this commentary with particular attention to Lorca’s use of poetic techniques such as diction, personification and imagery.
The reading, Gay, Latino and Macho, explores four men’s struggles with being gay in a Latino culture. These men share their stories on how they are treated by society for being different. In their communities, men need to show machismo attributes and men who do not meet the standards are not seen as real men. I don’t believe there was a clear thesis to this reading but I do believe there was a purpose, and that is to address how harsh the machismo Latino culture can be to those who homosexual. In order to fix this problem, people need to bring about a more accepting culture for gay people to live in.
Manuel Puig explores that question in his novel, “Kiss of the Spider Woman”. An examination of the life and death of two parallel characters, Molina and Irena, reveals Puig’s assertion that in order to liberate ourselves from oppression that denies us this right to love, we must first find something worth loving, worth living for. In the process of doing this, we find out a lot about ourselves, who we are, what we stand for, and the fear that the oppressors instill begins to lose its hold over our lives.
The film follows the complicated character of Marcello, a homosexual man with a traumatic homosexual experience in his childhood, which results in him becoming ashamed of his sexuality and begins to fear being shunned by society for it. Marcello deals with this shame by shutting down any homosexual desire he may have and becomes his idealized figure of normal; which at this time was a loyal and disciplined Fascist. Marcello learns how to conform perfectly by becoming a Fascist spy, but two significant people in Marcello’s life disrupt his path to becoming
Homosexuality has been the topic of constant conflict today. Homosexuality is defined as, a romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. In addition, homosexuality has been accepted more today, however, it is still frowned upon by many. Consequently, there are many challenges on the views of homosexuality. Some may think that this is an abnormal behavior, to have an attraction to the same sex. On the contrary, there are many who defend that the feelings that homosexual has, are feelings that are normal, not to mention, homosexuals believe that they were in fact born this way. Furthermore, in this essay, it will look at the challenges that are presented on this topic, and look at the conflict that is between society, homosexuals, and the church.