There has been much debate within James Joyce scholarship over whether the treatment of the women in his works is feminist or misogynistic; whether his women have agency or whether they are just there as men's playthings. These questions can be explored within Joyce's masterwork, Ulysses. In the ever changing novel, he turns barmaids into sirens, giving them power over men and allows a young girl to have her first sexual experience. At the beginning of the chapter entitled, "Sirens," Joyce refers to the female characters by diminutives, makes their occupations subservient to men, and formulates the writing so that it appears to be a confusing poem so that readers will think the women have no agency, but they do; Joyce tries to trick the reader …show more content…
1). Gold, silver and bronze were metals used for currency. Gold, bronze and silver are also associated with medals and trophies; they are also known as metals that make things beautiful. As a result, these nicknames, it signifies that these women are seen as currency for the men to trade and trophies for the men to obtain. However, they are also seen solely as adornment to the room that they are in: For example, to be gilded means to "Overlaid wholly or in parts with a thin coating of gold" ("gilded, adj. def. 1"), but it can also mean "fashionable" and "wealthy" ("gilded, adj. def. 4"). Therefore, by naming the women by these metals, it shows the reader that they are just there to make things beautiful. They are there to been seen and not heard. This idea that the women are to be seen not heard is furthered by the fact that the women do not speak for the first page and a half of the chapter. However, Joyce only does this to deceive the reader into thinking they have no agency. The second thing that Joyce does to fool the reader is making the women "barmaids" (XI. 89). A barmaid is a "female who sells food and drink at the bar of a tavern or …show more content…
The costumers that come into this bar are men. Therefore, the women are literally there to serve men. As a result, it seems as though they have no agency. The third and final thing that Joyce does to dupe the reader is hiding the true intentions of the chapter within the structure of the first page and a half. The beginning of the chapter is structured like a song or a poem with many short lines, line breaks and fragments. It has many nonsensical lines, such as "imperthnthn thnthnthn" (XI. 2) and “Goodgod heven erheard inall” (XI. 29). Joyce structures the beginning of the chapter like a poem and tries to confuse the reader about who has the agency because it mirrors the myth of the sirens that the women are supposed to embody. In Greek mythology, the sirens are human-like creatures, who lure sailors onto their island with their beautiful singing voice, and kill them when they got on their shores: “Their song, though irresistibly
The female characters in Young Frankenstein and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest are, stereotypically, satiric and parodic renditions of oppressed or emotionally unstable feminine personalities. The theme of the treatment of women is not only played out in the external relationships the women interact within but also in the basic mentality and roles they embody within their personality. The women of Young Frankenstein add a comical element to the film which a direct contrast to the insignificance of the female in Mary Shelley’s novel. The women of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest are either almost terrifying when thinking of the potential evil lurking just beneath the surface or effectual props in the healing of those who need it.
Parry, Joseph D. "Interpreting Female Agency and Responsibility in The Miller's Tale and The Merchant's Tale." 80.2 (2001): 133-67. Academic Onefile. Web. 16 May 2013.
Nora and Mrs. Wright’s social standing when compared to the men in each play is inferior. Both works expose their respective male characters’ sexist view of women diminishing the women’s social standing. Each work features egotistical men who have a severely inflated view of their self-worth when compared to their female counterparts. The men’s actions and words indicate they believe women are not capable of thinking intelligently. This is demonstrated in “Trifles” when Mr. Hale makes the statement about women only worrying about mere trifles. It is also apparent in “A Dollhouse” when Torvalds thinks his wife is not capable of thinking with any complexity (Mazur 17). Another common attribute is of the women’s social standing is displayed as both women finally get tired of feeling like second class citizens and stand up to the repressive people in the women’s lives (Mulry 294). Although both women share much in common in their social standing there subtle differences. Torvald’s sexist view of Nora is more on a personal level in “A Dollhouse” while the male characters’ sexist views in “Trifles” seem to be more of a social view that women are not very smart and their opinions are of little value. This attitude is apparent in “Trifles” as Mr. Hale and Mr. Henderson’s comments about Mrs. Wright’s housekeeping (Mulry 293). As the women in both works reach their emotional
As we progress further into the poems, the different ways Duffy presents gender dominance becomes obvious. In LRC, Duffy develops the budding romantic relationship between the persona and the wolf, deviating from the original tale because the persona is a willing, complicit participant in her own seduction:
For readers who observe literature through a feminist lens, they will notice the depiction of female characters, and this makes a large statement on the author’s perception of feminism. Through portraying these women as specific female archetypes, the author creates sense of what roles women play in both their families and in society. In books such as The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the roles that the main female characters play are, in different instances, both comparable and dissimilar.
James Joyce uses sexuality throughout his works to establish an intimate and relatable bond between the reader and the characters in his works. All of Joyce’s works address issues in sexuality, which presents the idea that sexuality was of upmost importance to him. Given that sex is a large part of human existence, it is a good way to get the attention of the reader. A substantial amount of characters throughout Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man are driven by sexual desire. In fact, there is so much sex throughout in Ulysses that “early publishers and critics refused to publish it because of its vulgarity; the sexuality featured in Ulysses was part of the claims that the novel was obscene” (Ivie). Sex is a wonderful way to connect the reader to the character, and Joyce is talented in being able to bring the reader right into the sexually suggestive minds of the characters. Each character in all of Joyce’s works are defined by their sexuality and are in search of some type of self-identity, and through that idea is how Joyce best portrays that sexuality itself may be defined by adultery, prostitution, and masturbation and other bodily functions.
her duty to bring a new member to the party. The women in the novel were portrayed as baby
Reading literature, at first, might seem like simple stories. However, in works like William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily,” Katherine Mansfield's “Miss Brill,” and Kate Chopin's “The Storm,” the female protagonists are examples of how society has oppressive expectations of women simply because of their gender.
Lillian Doherty, Siren Songs: Gender, Audiences, and Narrators in the Odyssey (Ann Arbor 1995), esp. chapter 1.
Throughout most of literature and history, the notion of ‘the woman’ has been little more than a caricature of the actual female identity. Most works of literature rely on only a handful of tropes for their female characters and often use women to prop up the male characters: female characters are sacrificed for plot development. It may be that the author actually sacrifices a female character by killing her off, like Mary Shelly did in Frankenstein in order to get Victor Frankenstein to confront the monster he had created, or by reducing a character to just a childish girl who only fulfills a trope, as Oscar Wilde did with Cecily and Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest. Using female characters in order to further the male characters’
Masculinity and femininity are important topics of today; however, they were also important topics in the 20th century as well. Authors such as James Joyce who wrote The Dead were battling this forefront topic in 1914. Masculinity is the characterization of male qualities that are associated with men, such as aggressiveness and emotion-less attributes (Farlex). Femininity is described as the characterization of female qualities associated with females, it is essentially the nature of the female sex (Merriam-Webster). Joyce wrote in favor of masculinity that is to say at least in The Dead he did. In The Dead, Joyce provides perfect examples of this battle between masculinity and femininity—and the lack thereof of the latter.
After expressing her frustration with having to serve her husband breakfast in bed, Molly begins her stream of consciousness with thoughts of the differences between men and women: “…Yes because theyre so weak and pulling when there sick they want a women to get well if his nose bleeds…” (738). This line illustrates Joyce’s desire to understand the human mind, specifically the female mind. There’s a clear double standard for women, who must be strong and "hide(s) [their weakness]" (738). This also suggests the idea that men need to be, and should be, taken care of by women.
Throughout time women have been written as the lesser sex, weaker, secondary characters. They are portrayed as dumb, stupid, and nothing more than their fading beauty. They are written as if they need to be saved or helped because they cannot help themselves. Women, such as Daisy Buchanan who believes all a woman can be is a “beautiful little fool”, Mrs Mallard who quite died when she lost her freedom from her husband, Eliza Perkins who rights the main character a woman who is a mental health patient who happens to be a woman being locked up by her husband, and then Carlos Andres Gomez who recognizes the sexism problem and wants to change it. Women in The Great Gatsby, “The Story of an Hour,” “The Yellow Wall Paper” and the poem “When” are oppressed because the fundamental concept of equality that America is based on undermines gender equality.
In spite of being ruled by men in her entire life, Penelope remains patient and not only dexterously runs Odysseus’s state, but also cunningly manipulates the suitors in the ploy of shroud weaving. In addition, Atwood depicts the melancholy life of Penelope in the chapters of her childhood, marriage, slanderous gossip and suitors stuff their faces, where she struggles for her dignity and existence. Thus, the author often favours matriarch, opposes the double standard between genders and the roles imparted to boys and girls from their early age. Therefore, Atwood wonders that why women not men have to deal with violence, patriarchal oppression, infidelity, and objectification along with indifferent roles as well as duties in the society. Subsequently, Atwood exhibits the face of gender biased society and how female is treated as mere object of pleasure and child birth. As girls learn domestic work such as craft or to do things with hands, whereas, boys get training in bravery or war acts. Similarly, all twelve maids spend their childhood as slaves with no parents or playtime, sing of freedom, and dream of
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.