In Octavia Butler’s novel Dawn, the world as we know it no longer exists. Lilith is a seemingly ordinary woman chosen from a desolate Earth as the best chance to help aliens merge and create a new species to repopulate the Earth. She is alone as she navigates the new and foreign world of the aliens in preparation to lead forth a new humanity that has been locked away in cryo-sleep. New levels of the book are reached when a lens of feminism are applied as Lilith is confronted with how her own identity and more uniquely her femininity, mixes with that of the others. Using a woman as the human spokesperson on behalf of the aliens the author utilizes methods such as defamiliarization, image-of-women, and women’s agency to build a feminist perspective throughout the …show more content…
Readers are defamiliarized to the imposed humanity of Lilith, she given new context as the construct is tested against unearthly customs. In the novel Lilith is expected to be a leader and diplomat to a small group of saved humans where “there is no one to teach” them about alien life except her (Butler Loc 1588). Lilith has to teach about the otherness of the aliens, and Butler uses this to allude to the idea that Lilith as a women act as a form of “other.” Also, a world where nothing is familiar, Lilith’s plight sticks out as undeniably human and garners attention and sympathy from the audience. Things such as the act of motherhood, a normal and expected role for most women to play, in the face of “grotesque Medusa children,” the act is removed from the realm of the expected (Butler 675). We understand her actions more when contrasted against a species that is not remotely human. This strange alien centered book presents the reader with a strange heroine, and it is this undeniably female image that makes the novel different from others in its
What defines an individual’s racial characteristics? Does an individual have the right to discriminate against those that are “different” in a specific way? In Octavia Butler’s works, which are mostly based on themes that correlate to one another, she influences the genre and fiction in ways that bring light to the problems of societies history. Through Kindred and the Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler examines themes of community, racial identification, and racial oppression through the perspective of a black feminist. In each novel, values and historical perspective show the hardships that individuals unique to an alien world have to face. Through the use of fictional works, Butler is able to delve into historical themes and human conditions, and with majority of works under the category of science fiction, Butler is able to explore these themes through a variety of settings. This essay will discuss two of Butler’s popular works, Kindred and the Parable of Sower, and will interpret the themes of women, race, independence, and power throughout the two novels.
In this study I will examine how, from a feminist perspective, both Toni Morrison's fourth African-American novel, Tar Baby (1981), and Rosa Montero's third post-Franco Spanish novel, Te trataré como a una reina (1983), explore the problems that arise when women believe that they are the stereotypes permeating literature. Both women writers employ similar techniques that subvert and deconstruct the stereotypical roles of men and women, unveiling the fairy tale icons of the heroine and the hero that have been masquerading as "real" people.
The characterizations of women have, throughout history, been one of the most problematic subjects in literary tradition. An extraordinary dichotomy has existed with women as being both the paragon of virtue and the personification of evil. Ancient Greeks feared women, and poets such as Hesiod believed the female sex was created to be the scourge of the gods and the bane of men (Fantham 39). Romans, on the other hand, incorporated tales of brave and virtuous women as an intrinsic part of their legendary history (219). Many Catholic saints, revered for their piety, were notoriously misogynistic (Dollison 106), and yet the church counted legions of holy women in the rosters of saints alongside their male counterparts. Despite much historical controversy as to the precise nature of women, none of this confusion seems to seep into the writings of George MacDonald, and there appears to be no conflict to MacDonald’s regard towards women in his female characters in The Princess and the Goblin. The character of the Grandmother in particular is one of the most complimentary fabrications of the figure of the mature female in literature. MacDonald created this fascinating construct of femininity by steeping the Grandmother not only in the arcane feminine symbols such as spinning, pigeons, and the moon, but also in his own concept of the ideal woman, as wise and compassionate as she is mysterious.
Judith Plaskow, a Jewish feminist, searches for ways to incorporate her mostly male-based and male-interpreted faith with her feminist’s ideals in her book of essays, The Coming of Lilith. Her essay covers a wide variety of topics concerning contemporary Judaism and its possibility for flexibility, especially concerning unfair gender roles. Plaskow also discusses how religious traditions can perpetuate a hatred of the “other” religions and how that negatively affects both parties. Judith Plaskow challenges her religious tradition and contemporary culture that is a product of all religions by using sources of Jewish ethics such as the Torah and the Talmud to back up her feminist criticism.
Society often views individuals that do not conform to its expectations as separate from the societal group. The Story of the Marquise-Marquis de Banneville, by Charles Perrault, François-Timoléon de Choisy, and Marie-Jeanne L’Héritier follows two main characters, one of which does not fully conform to binary gender presentation. The Girl with the Golden Eyes, authored by Honoré de Balzac, portrays an “oriental” woman as an object to be purchased and used. In Le Roman de Parthenay Ou Le Roman de Melusine, written by Coudrette, the heroine is a half human, half fairy who holds great power. In this paper, I argue that the majority of biologically female protagonists in these novels exist in-between the expectations society has for them, which
The women in both Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness are seemingly presented with traditional feminine qualities of inferiority, weakness and sexual objectification. However, the power that they hold in male-female relationships, and their embodiment of traditional male roles, contests the chauvinistic views of society during Conrad and Hardy’s era. While Conrad presents powerful female characters through their influences over men, the reversal of traditional gender roles is exemplified more by Hardy’s character, Tess, yet both authors present revolutionary ideas of feminism, and enlighten readers to challenge the patriarchal views of society towards women.
With a heart-full of advice and wisdom, Dinah maturates from a simple- minded young girl to a valiant independent individual. “For a moment I weighed the idea of keeping my secret and remaining a girl, the thought passes quickly. I could only be what I was. And that was a woman” (170). This act of puberty is not only her initiation into womanhood but the red tent as well. She is no longer just an observer of stories, she is one of them, part of their community now. On account of this event, Dinah’s sensuality begins to blossom and she is able to conceive the notion of true love.
Whitfield, Jonathan. The Invisible Woman: Eve’s Self Image in Paradise Lost.. University of Wisconsin Board of Regents , 2007. 57-61. Web.
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
Due to traditional stereotypes of women, literature around the world is heavily male-dominant, with few female characters outside of cliché tropes. Whenever a female character is introduced, however, the assumption is that she will be a strong lead that challenges the patriarchal values. The authors of The Thousand and One Nights and Medea use their female centered stories to prove their contrasting beliefs on the role of women not only in literature, but also in society. A story with a female main character can be seen as empowering, but this is not always the case, as seen when comparing and contrasting Medea and The Thousand and One Nights.
Dawn by Octavia Butler is a feminist take on an origin story. Due to its feminist foundations Dawn interrogates how gender, individuals, and social constructions shape people 's as well as society 's creation. The story follows the "rebirth" of Lilith Iyapo in an alien world after they 'saved ' her from the nuclear apocalypse on earth. Lilith 's journey is both mental and physical. She becomes more than human physically due to Okanali enhancements and mentally beyond the constraints of human beliefs, such as that of gender and time, due to her acceptance of the Ooloi and the Oankali way of life.
Women roles have changed drastically in the last 50 to 80 years, women no longer have to completely conform to society’s gender roles and now enjoy the idea of being individuals. Along with the evolution of women roles in society, women presence and acceptance have drastically grown in modern literature. In early literature it was common to see women roles as simply caretakers, wives or as background; women roles and ideas were nearly non-existent and was rather seen than heard. The belief that women were more involved in the raising of children and taking care of the household was a great theme in many early literatures; women did not get much credit for being apart of the frontier and expansion of many of the nations success until much later.
My first reaction to Egalia’s Daughters, by Gerd Brantenberg, was something like "WHAT is this". I was immediately very confused, and had no idea what this author was writing about. In fact, I felt as though I opened the book to the middle of a story, and became turned off by the whole experience. It took about three chapters, and someone’s help, until I started to read the book understandably, with ease, and began to enjoy the world I was entering. It became very apparent that I would have to detach myself from all that I thought I knew about gender, and simply allow myself to take in the message Brantenberg was trying to convey. As soon as I began to understand what I was reading, I found myself thoroughly engaged by both the story and the sociological aspects of both the Egalian, and my societies social constructions of gender. Although I was aware, to some degree of the socialization of gender in our society, having not taken any feminist or women’s studies courses, I was not familiar with how much gender is ingrained in our culture, language, government, identities, etc. This book truly brings forth those ideals by expressing the opposite of what we know in our society to be true concerning the socialization of gender.
Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” shows in society how a woman should be placed and what it means to be a woman. A women doesn’t question her partner, instead she is subservient to him. A woman’s duties include staying at home taking care of the children and cooking; while the man works and brings home the money. A feministic approach to Kincaid’s “Girl” points to the idea of the stereotypes that women can only be what they do in the home, they should only be pure and virtuous, and their main focus should be satisfying their husband.
II. Rosemary Radford Reuther, New Woman, New Earth: Sexist Ideologies and Human Liberation (New York: Seabury Press, 1975)