Ancient Mirrors Of Womanhood And Year Of The Elephant

1466 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How are women portrayed in literature

“Womanhood is Enough: A Study of the Women in Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood and Year of the Elephant.” Often times in the modern world womanhood is looked down upon and trivialized to the mere existence of our physical attributes. Although womanhood is greatly diverse and intricately layered men are still likely to be looked upon as the more complex sex and are frequently more revered. Repeatedly the media portrays women as sexualized objects only capable of extreme emotions, child rearing, and keeping happy homes. Made up of infinitesimal qualities that come together to make one whole, women can and should be extolled and looked upon for their great contributions to society and strengths both emotionally and physically. Via the stories …show more content…

The story of Wild pony originated within the Jicarilla Apache tribe and was used to explain how the world and people came to be while also explaining how dreams could be valuable to one’s gaining of knowledge. After being created with her partner Smoke, Wild pony is chosen by the spiritual Hatsin to bestow knowledge upon. Coming to speak with her alone repeatedly the Hatsin goes about helpfully giving Wild Pony the advice needed to successfully provide for her family. Towards the end of their journey the Hatsin eventually comes to give its final “gift of knowledge,” (pg 311) which it claims “ is perhaps the greatest gift of all,” (pg 311). This is the gift of peace and wisdom. Through this relationship Wild Pony is able to learn how to establish new traditions for her tribe. The overall prevalence seen in this relationship is that although two people were originally put upon earth, in this story, the spiritual Hatsin see’s the quality in Wild pony and deems her worthy enough to give life changing advice to. Although smoke is around and could equally contribute Wild Pony is chosen as the one to be given the information needed to continue human life on earth. Although both are chosen to “ be the parents of a great and noble tribe,” (pg 309) only Wild Pony is given the wisdom …show more content…

In both novels the main character's womanhood is seen and used as an extension of their strength and not as an inhibitor. Wild Pony would not have been able to pass down her wisdom and power of peace without her womanhood and ability to procreate nor would she have been chosen by the Hatsin. Without her womanhood Zahra would not have been tested as she had and capable of learning about her ability to rise when broken down and forgive when forsaken. Ka Sngi and her sisters would have never been tested by U Bnai or able to come together and use their powers to free their mother's spirit and create earth. With that being said the world in each of these stories would not have been created or transformed without Wild pony, Ka Sngi, and their powers or Zahara and her work with the resistance. Their womanhood proved to be more than enough in these

Show More
Related

  • Essay About The Native American Creation Story

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    These two stories illustrate some of the same concepts we see in most creation stories of Native Americans; animals were present first and a generation of Cherokee men and women were created shortly after. These two stories ...

    Read More

  • The Existence of Medieval Gender Archetypes in Present Day Culture

    3403 Words  | 7 Pages

    It is undeniably true that an equality of the sexes exists today that was not even imagined in the medieval era. However, this rise in respect for women does not guarantee that all of the prejudices and stereotypes from preceding centuries have fallen by the wayside; on the contrary, most of the same archetypes are alive and well, even if modified to suit a new world. From the unattainably perfect virgin to the sexually insatiable temptress, these images appear throughout modern culture-but the disturbing nature of their existence is made far worse by the complacency with which women accept and further them. In many places, control of the image of women has passed into their own hands, yet broad generalizations and negative suggestions continue to fill daily life.

    Read More

  • Early Twentieth Century Literature: Perkings, Chopin, Fitzgerald

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    When studying gender roles in history, one will find that females are often depicted in similar ways no matter the era or region of study. Even when comparing the industrialized, early, twentieth century to today’s progressive era, there are striking similarities between female roles. We can see that over the course of the twentieth century, the qualities of loyalty and honesty have decreased in marriages due to the treatment of the two main female roles as depicted literature. The first was the role of the wife. The wife was often portrayed as a housekeeper and a nanny. Dull in appearance, there was no aesthetic beauty to this typical female. The other main role was the “other woman.” The more mysterious and promiscuous character, this woman portrayed the other part of the female population. Both of these types of characters are composites that portrayed the average, disposable female while how they were treated conveyed the general handling of females in the early, twentieth century.

    Read More

  • Women In The American Revolution Essay

    2329 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout most of recorded history, women generally have endured significantly fewer career opportunities and choices, and even less legal rights, than that of men. The “weaker sex,” women were long considered naturally, both physically and mentally, inferior to men. Delicate and feeble minded, women were unable to perform any task that required muscular or intellectual development. This idea of women being inherently weaker, coupled with their natural biological role of the child bearer, resulted in the stereotype that “a woman’s place is in the home.” Therefore, wife and mother were the major social roles and significant professions assigned to women, and were the ways in which women identified and expressed themselves. However, women’s history has also seen many instances in which these ideas were challenged-where women (and some men) fought for, and to a large degree accomplished, a re-evaluation of traditional views of their role in society.

    Read More

  • epq

    923 Words  | 2 Pages

    Knowing this you would think women would portray themselves more seriously, but the exact opposite is happening. These continuous loops of failure have severely weakened women’s physical presence, and because of this, are continuously singled out in world discussions on topics such as war or threats to national security, and are constantly burdened with tasks regarding health and family life. In my research I read many books from the nineteenth-century onwards, such as, Stuart Mill’s book ‘The Subjection of Women’ (1869) to Butler’s ‘Gender Troubles’ (1990), both of these and many more books has helped in my quest to conjure up a personal concept of women, but out of all of them I found Berger’s ‘Ways of seeing’ the most fruitful in terms of a literal explanation of women.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Seven Minute Life Of Marc Lepine

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the past there were many biases against women and their lack of abilities compared to men. Although the male perspective has changed over the past few centuries, there are many feminists who still fight for ...

    Read More

  • Sheryl Sandberg: The Feminist Movements

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women have been an important role in society whether or not it is not remarked to the public eye. Oppression against women is never-ending along with violent acts constantly being pursued on them for over a century which is not only crucial but it is lessening their value worldwide. The suggestion of women’s emotions being a barrier for them to be equal to men is falsified, there is not one predicament that prevent a woman from being equal than a

    Read More

  • Tocqueville, S Views Of Women And Women's Role In Society

    1601 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gender has played specific roles in societies all over the place. Men are usually seen as the dominant gender and therefore appear to be more important to society but women still have an important role. It was not that long ago that women did not have many rights or play an important role at all. In America, laws were put in place to make men and women equal and today many women have filled jobs thought of as a man’s job but there is still a common thought of women being less important in society than men. Before deciding if a woman’s role in society is complimentary or not, the role of all humans must be examined. A woman could appear to have a terrible role but maybe that’s because everybody has a terrible role in that type of society. Same

    Read More

  • final

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    The reason why women are scarcely mentioned throughout the history textbooks are because women are conformed in their status of the private sphere. Women are related to “nature” considering their roles in society such as child bearers and housewives. Culture is considered as a sustaining force that transcends nature to create and control a new interest. Because of this “nature” status put on women, they are considered inferior to men. However, this is not the case for everyone and not all society understands culture and nature like westerners do. Some consider what women and men do rather than the symbolic attributes that are placed on them.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Women in the Colonial World

    1866 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women once had a role in every aspect of human lives but as the colonists and religious leaders from other countries started to migrate there role was changed and never reestablished. Women have important roles to play in their own societies. Eleanor Burke Leacock's, Myths of Male Dominance: Collective articles on Women Cross- Culturally (Monthly Review Press New York and London, 1981), beautifully describes the importance of native women and their roles. Leacock points out that "universal male dominance is myth not fact"[1] and because this book contains articles by different authors, one gets a wide variety of works that each encourage and represent women in different areas.

    Read More

  • The Portrayal of Women in Advertising

    2734 Words  | 6 Pages

    Women – beautiful, strong matriarchal forces that drive and define a portion of the society in which we live – are poised and confident individuals who embody the essence of determination, ambition, beauty, and character. Incomprehensible and extraordinary, women are persons who possess an immense amount of depth, culture, and sophistication. Society’s incapability of understanding the frame of mind and diversity that exists within the female population has created a need to condemn the method in which women think and feel, therefore causing the rise of “male-over-female” domination – sexism. Sexism is society’s most common form of discrimination; the need to have gender based separation reveals our culture’s reluctance to embrace new ideas, people, and concepts. This is common in various aspects of human life – jobs, households, sports, and the most widespread – the media. In the media, sexism is revealed through the various submissive, sometimes foolish, and powerless roles played by female models; because of these roles women have become overlooked, ignored, disregarded – easy to look at, but so hard to see.

    Read More

  • Feminist Political Ideology

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, women have remained subordinate to men. Subjected to the patriarchal system that favored male perspectives, women struggled against having considerably less freedom, rights, and having the burdens society placed on them that had been so ingrained the culture. This is the standpoint the feminists took, and for almost 160 years they have been challenging the “unjust distribution of power in all human relations” starting with the struggle for equality between men and women, and linking that to “struggles for social, racial, political, environmental, and economic justice”(Besel 530 and 531). Feminism, as a complex movement with many different branches, has and will continue to be incredibly influential in changing lives.

    Read More

  • acting like a lady

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the 1950’s, women have been seen as very dainty and sensitive creatures who are meant to be silent partners to their mates. A woman’s place was in the home-cooking, cleaning and watching after her children. Women were to get up every morning and prepare lunches for their breadwinning husbands, as well as wake and dress the children for school, cook breakfast, do housework and have a hot meal on the table when her husband was to return home. Women have stepped down to their traditional roles as housewife and caretaker, and it has raised many issues in society today. It was considered a woman’s job to be a good cook and be a whiz with a broom, in fact, it is what made them so darn attractive. Times, they are a changing. In fact, the U.S Department of Labor states that in the year 2008, women will make up 48% of the work force. That means that more women will be going to college and getting and education, as well as heading out into the workforce to make a name for themselves.

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Society

    374 Words  | 1 Pages

    Women have always been essential to society. Fifty to seventy years ago, a woman was no more than a house wife, caregiver, and at their husbands beck and call. Women had no personal opinion, no voice, and no freedom. They were suppressed by the sociable beliefs of man. A woman’s respectable place was always behind the masculine frame of a man. In the past a woman’s inferiority was not voluntary but instilled by elder women, and/or force. Many, would like to know why? Why was a woman such a threat to a man? Was it just about man’s ability to control, and overpower a woman, or was there a serious threat? Well, everyone has there own opinion about the cause of the past oppression of woman, it is currently still a popular argument today.

    Read More

  • Sacrificial Role of Women in A Doll´s House by Herik Isben

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women are looked at as less than males, and males are to be far superior because society thought male to be the better gender. “A Doll's House,” by Henrik Isben describes the sacrificial role of nineteenth century women , men in society and in the household.

    Read More

More about Ancient Mirrors Of Womanhood And Year Of The Elephant

Open Document