A Comparison of Female Characters in Two Stories
The stories that I studied I felt were mostly about relationships some
of which work but sometimes they don’t. It did show however that
different attitudes can change circumstances for instance if you have
a positive attitude things can be perceived differently than if you
have a negative attitude. Many people want personal gain from a
relationship, which doesn’t make a sound relationship where trust is
important.
In the first example the main character was Rhoda Brook and her
relationship with Farmer Lodge. The social standing of the two main
characters were different, which in those days was much more
pronounced than it is in today’s society. Rhoda was of a much lower
standing in society than Farmer Lodge, she was obviously in awe of him
and their relationship developed. She unfortunately had a child by him
which would have been in those days a very sensitive issue as their
social standing would probably not have allowed Farmer Lodge to have
married Rhoda even if he had wanted to. Rhoda believed herself to be
in love and that Farmer lodge would marry her but this never happened.
She was maybe disillusioned with him.
Tony Kytes had relationships with Unity and Hannah you would have
probably called him a philanderer in days gone by. Both Unity and
Hannah competed for his attention. Unity thought she could be clever
and manipulate Tony but he was manipulating all of them. Tony was
probably ‘a good catch’ and in days gone by the woman was not allowed
to think for themselves but just to find a good eligible and wealthy
husband. Milly however seems to really care and would be the one who
would forgive him this could be misinterpreted to be either hopelessly
in love or maybe gullible. Sophy who was recently widowed was
manoeuvred into going with the vicar because of social standing but
she really wanted to be with Sam Hobson. She felt under the
circumstances that she had no other choice.
‘Turned’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and ‘Tony kytes, the arch-deceiver’ by Thomas Hardy, are both short stories. They are about the relationships between men and women. ‘Turned’ is a more severe story. It is about a man called Mr Marroner going abroad for work, and his wife finding out that Mr Marroner had slept with their servant Gerta. Gerta then becomes pregnant and, consequently Mrs Marroner tells Gerta to leave. However, Mrs Marroner soon realises that it was Mr Marroner’s fault, and therefore Mrs Marroner and Gerta leave before Mr Marroner returns home. ‘Tony Kytes, the arch deceiver’ is a more light-hearted story. Tony is a man that likes a lot of women, and there are a lot of women that like Tony. Tony is supposed to be engaged to a young women named Milly, however on a journey home from town he meets two other girls. Both are previous girlfriends and they start flirting with him. Tony ends up with two girls hiding in the back of his wagon and one sitting beside him. He gets in a bit of a muddle. However he ends marrying Milly. This story is about a man who is unsure about how he feels towards his fiancé.
In the stories “The Boarding House” by James Joyce and “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, it’s ironic how different these two stories plots are, yet they are dealing with the same problem. The protagonists let their social status and the opinions of others come between their relationships instead of basing their decisions on modesty and love. In “The Boarding House,” Mr. Doran is one of the boarders and he is having an affair with a young woman named Polly, the owner of the boarding house’ daughter. He has to decide whether or not to marry Polly in order to save this perception people have of him. In “Desiree’s Baby” Armand marries an orphan woman, “She was nameless… What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?”
They feasted upon it. They thirsted for it. Society looked down on them for it, but these women remained honey mad, remained desperate for salvation in flavor, and craved salvation in indulgence. Considered half-savage and more than a little deranged, they roamed, free to do what so many of the women in "civilized" society longed to do. In Honey Mad Women: Charlotte Bronte's Bilingual Heroines, Patricia Yaeger hypothesizes that "bilingual heroines... are also honey mad women: women who consume, to excess, the languages designed to consume them" (Yaeger 11). She applies this theory to Charlotte Bronte's heroines, but it is also applicable to other literary works such as The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, The Lais of Marie de France, The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, Lillian Hellman's plays, and the poetry of Sappho and Sylvia Plath.
Men and women are really different in general, but particularly in their behavior towards sexuality and courtship. Men are often scrutinized for being too belligerent, violent and only wanting sex. Women, on the other hand, are often criticized for being too bossy, fussy and only wanting commitment in a relationship. Thus, men are more attracted to the physical appearance while women look more for protection. In the video, “War of the Sexes: Sexuality and Seduction”, a survey was done regarding sexual fantasies and men chose group sex where women chose having an encounter with a celebrity. The things that are important to men are completely different to the things that are important to women. In regards to behavior, men and women are expected
Every relationship is different. Weather one may be in a relationship with a boy, or just a friend, it is different. Even though they are different, the characters in “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “IND AFF” by Fay Weldon are in similar relationships. That is, the male is dominant over the female, and the woman thinks the man is her knight in shining armor. In the beginning of “IND AFF” the unnamed woman thinks her professor, Peter, who she is having an affair with, is her ticket to creating a good thesis and higher standings. Similarly, in “The Birthmark,” Georgiana thinks her husband is her ticket to flawless beauty because he tells her he will remove her birthmark. Obviously, this is not how relationships operate in today’s society. These two relationships compare and contrast with each other as well as with relationships in today’s day-and-age.
In the present, as well as in the past, it has been thought that women are held to a different set of standards than men, simply because they do not measure up. This is not only true in real life situations, but also in the media. The harsh reality is that a majority of the worlds’ population believe these false ideas. In the essays “The Smurfette Principal” by Katha Pollitt, “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt” by Jean Kilbourne, “The Wonder Woman Precedent: Female (Super)Heroism on Trial” by Julie O’Reilly, “Taking a Bite Out of Twilight” by Carmen Siering, and “From Multicultural Barbie and the Merchandising of Difference” by Ann Ducille, they discuss several different ways in which the idea that women do not measure up to men is portrayed. Through the media, women learn that they must prove themselves to the world. Men on the other hand are able to do things women cannot, simply because they want to. The scholars listed above agree that the media and advertising have negative impacts on women as they present a view that women are inferior to men, which impacts the development of their identity as well as how they live throughout their entire life.
The relationship between Celie and Albert went through many changes throughout this novel. Albert, or Mr._________, was a man who seem to be a person who was very angry, powerful and hateful. His father was a man who believed that love was not the point while trying to find a good wife, obedience was. The woman didn't have to be attractive, rich or one who was in love, all she had to do was cook, clean and tend to the children. Albert was taught that this was the way to an successful life. Albert feel in love with Shug, they did not marry. Mr.____ was controlled by his father even as an adult. His father wouldn't allow his son to marry Shug. His father didn't want him to actually love, because he never loved himself. Albert married a woman his father approved of, and he treated her how his father taught him to. Margret cooked, cleaned and tended to the children. After his father took shug away from him, he hated his father, but was so controlled by him that he could never stand up to his father. She later died and left behind a house to be cleaned, cooking to be done and children who needed to be tended to. He fell in love again with Nettie, but she was not allowed to marry him. Albert was forced to find a quick replacement for Margret. So instead he married Celie. He beat her not only because of the angry towards his father, but also because she was neither Shug nor Nettie. In the marriage of Celie and Albert there was no love or devotion. They were just stuck with the other. Celie married Albert because her step father told her too and Albert married because he wanted a full time maid. They just went one day to the next with Albert giving the orders and Celie carrying out these orders. It was like boss and employ, except Celie was anything but rewarded for carrying out the orders.
Bad Choosers By K. L. Casado The tired cliché has rung throughout the halls of maternity wards and law firms for years. "The Battle of the Sexes" as it is called; the everlasting struggle for supremacy among men and women. However, in the wider scope of events, how easy one's life is would ideally be more important than how supreme one is.
and expected as a role model or just a woman. All three of them are
In today 's world the media has enormous power. Media industries are operating in a market increasingly globalized and more monopolistic. In addition, the media come daily in our homes, deeply affecting our way of seeing the world. Adults and children and youth spend many hours a day watching television, transforming this activity into a more in all daily activities. Even more powerful is the ongoing revolution such as the development that has had and continues to have a means of communication such as the Internet.
Up until recently, the definition of what a man or a woman should be has been defined, with boundaries, by society; males should be strong, dominant figures and in the workplace providing for their families while females should be weak and submissive, dealing with cleaning, cooking and children. Any veering away from these definitions would have disrupted the balance of culture completely. A man playing housewife was absurd, and a woman being the sole provider for the family bizarre. In Alice Munro’s short story “Boys and Girls” and Bobbie Ann Mason’s “Shiloh”, conflict arises when expectations based on gender are not fulfilled by the characters.
In elementary school one of the most common phrase used was, “You can’t do that you're a girl.” Society puts gender stereotypes and expectations on children at a very young age. I never really understood these stereotypes and expectations until later in my life. I couldn’t figure out why it was that boys were not allowed to like the color pink, and if the girls wanted to play “boy” sports it was seen as unusual. My family consists of my parents, my sister and I; so I never had sibling of the opposite gender in my life. I didn’t have someone to compare gender differences with. I was given toys no matter what gender they were geared towards. I remember receiving hot wheels cars and baby dolls the same year for Christmas and never thought anything thing of it. I think that these experiences has really shaped who I am today.
I do not pretend to be a complete expert in the vast world of men and women. However, as one of these creatures, I decided early on in life to do my best to figure out the relationship between us and our counterparts. This was very interesting to me because, unlike most people, I do not believe that we simply "evolved" to become what we are today. I believe we were created the way we are by a very big God who knew what He was doing, and did it for a purpose. After a mere 18 years of observation, I have concluded that we as humans are trying to look too deeply into the purpose of "man" and "woman." We make the relationship too complicated. We need to stop prying into why men like football and women like quilts, and simply accept that we do. That is the way it is. And as I shall point out, that is the way it is best.
Traditional gender roles exist in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, but traditional distribution of power between the genders does not. In analyzing each character and their life, it’s easy to see how Marquez presented each in terms of his own view on gender constructs. Marquez portrays femininity and masculinity very differently. But why would Marquez choose to make such a clear distinction between the roles of each gender? Marquez sees women as spiritual and overpowered by traditional standards, and men doomed by their own obsessions. Men are wily and therefore vulnerable, whereas women are dignified and durable, and survive for much longer.
In order to bring change, the myths of Gender have to be altered. Believing that the world consists of only two genders has been a cultural invention which does not accommodate the vast number of experiences humans are capable of living. According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network in 2009, “86% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students experienced harassment at school; one in three skipped a day of school in the past month because they felt unsafe there” (Colombo 376). Their gender preference is not accommodated in society, and as a result, they are being discriminated, judged, mentally affected and not allowed expression of their social identity. There are many cultures that have three or more gender categories.