As the world grows, society is constantly changing people and their beliefs become more accustomed to what was unfamiliar in the past. There were times when old opinions and views clashed with the new, even amongst loved ones. In “Say Yes” by Tobias Wolff, two different views on marriage come to light between husband and wife during a usually insignificant evening at home. Aside from the subject of the argument, the husband’s perspective on his treatment towards his wife portray what their society’s expectations of a man and woman roles were. The contrast between this married couple depicts a few of many controversial issues society has had to approach and eventually “Say Yes” to. Once the wife realized how little her husband knew about her, she slowly creates a distance between them and she doesn 't cooperate with him like he wants and expects her to do. …show more content…
It is a matter about race and marriage, to which the husband claims that interracial marriage is unsuccessful and that he didn 't support it. He realizes that once her gives his opinion, it became personal for his wife because she is clearly bothered. The wife questions his reasoning for his bias, and even though he counters with what he thinks are justified answers, he feels more and more uncomfortable with the argument. Tension grows, and the husband feels that his wife shouldn 't keep pressing him anymore because he immediately acts when she accidentally cuts herself doing the dishes, but she continues relentlessly and starts to ask him hypothetical questions, this time referring specifically to herself and
The main character did not even kiss or hug his wife. He just knew that she was the perfect wife due to the explanation given to him by his older brother.” The only thing I was not used to was Mala.” (Lahiri 190). I think he was afraid to get to know someone he didn't know about.
Marriage is a concept that society takes extremely inaccurately. It is not something one can fall back from. Once someone enter it there is no way back. In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” she tells the story of Delia, a washerwoman whom Sykes, her husband, mistreats while he ventures around with other women and later attempts to kill Delia to open a way for a second marriage with one of his mistresses. By looking at “Sweat” through the feminist and historical lens Hurston illustrates the idea of a sexist society full of men exploiting and breaking down women until men dispose of them.
In class there have been many discussions over the relationships and marriages among the books we have read. When someone thinks of marriage, a fairy tale with a happy ending might come to mind, or possibly a safe haven for those looking for something stable. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, marriage takes a turn for the worse. Marriage is no longer the happy memories in a lifetime. It can be the thing that hinders the women in these stories from developing their full potential or experiencing the world and other lifestyles. Through these texts and this time frame, we will analyze the meaning of their marriages, how they function, and the end result of both.
The Attitudes Toward Marriage in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Jane Austin wrote the novel Pride and Prejudice in 1813. The novel provides a great deal of information and gives us a detailed insight to the different attitudes towards marriages at the time. Pride and Prejudice is focused and written about the lifestyles among "gentry". The "gentry" was the middle to upper class citizens in England. In the novel Jane Austin shows us that social status is a very important factor and that is was essential to have connections with people higher up in the gentry.
To begin with, the narrator husband name is John, who shows male dominance early in the story as he picked the house they stayed in and the room he kept his wife in, even though his wife felt uneasy about the house. He is also her doctor and orders her to do nothing but rest; thinking she is just fine. John is the antagonist because he is trying to control her without letting her input in and endangers her psychological state. It is written in a formal style, while using feign words.
Human beings are not isolated individuals. We do not wander through a landscape of trees and dunes alone, reveling in our own thoughts. Rather, we need relationships with other human beings to give us a sense of support and guidance. We are social beings, who need talk and company almost as much as we need food and sleep. We need others so much, that we have developed a custom that will insure company: marriage. Marriage assures each of us of company and association, even if it is not always positive and helpful. Unfortunately, the great majority of marriages are not paragons of support. Instead, they hold danger and barbs for both members. Only the best marriages improve both partners. So when we look at all three of Janie’s marriages, only her marriage to Teacake shows the support, guidance, and love.
Rose, Caroline. “Potential Role Conflicts in Black-White Marriages.” Interracial marriage: Expectation and Realities. Ed. Stuart, Edwin. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1973.
His wife’s old friend, Robert’s, wife had died so he came to stay the night before visiting her relatives. When the narrator’s wife tries explaining Robert’s situation, he say’s things like, “Right then my wife filled me in with more detail than I cared to know.” While his wife is good at communicating, the narrator just doesn’t care. Towards the end of the story, another example of his selfishness is when he says, “My wife opened up her eyes and gazed at us. She sat up on the sofa, her robe hanging open. She said, ‘What are you doing? Tell me, I want to know.’ I didn't answer her.” Subsequently, his comment displays his lack of respect towards her and he literally ignores what she asks him.
Mahin, Michael J. The Awakening and The Yellow Wallpaper: "An Intertextual Comparison of the "Conventional" Connotations of Marriage and Propriety." Domestic Goddesses (1999). Web. 29 June 2015.
Immediately, the narrator stereotypes the couple by saying “they looked unmistakably married” (1). The couple symbolizes a relationship. Because marriage is the deepest human relationship, Brush chose a married couple to underscore her message and strengthen the story. The husband’s words weaken their relationship. When the man rejects his wife’s gift with “punishing…quick, curt, and unkind” (19) words, he is being selfish. Selfishness is a matter of taking, just as love is a matter of giving. He has taken her emotional energy, and she is left “crying quietly and heartbrokenly” (21). Using unkind words, the husband drains his wife of emotional strength and damages their relationship.
Many Americans, men and women, have become feminists to promote equal rights for women. Now when couples get divorced. the men don’t get everything; both the man and the woman have an equal chance to prove they are worthy enough to obtain assets and children. Usually, the female acquires the children and the male acquires the assets. “The Story of an Hour” might inspire some modern-day wives to oppose their husbands if their marriages are not going so well.
The female gender role in society has created a torturous fate for those who have failed in their role as a woman, whether as a mother, a daughter, or a wife. The restrictive nature of the role that society imposes on women causes extreme repercussions for those women who cannot fulfill their purpose as designated by society. These repercussions can be as common as being reprimanded or as severe as being berated or beaten by a husband or father. The role that women were given by society entails being a submissive homemaker who dotes on her husband and many children. The wife keeps the home impeccably neat, tends to the children and ensures their education and well-being, and acts obsequiously to do everything possible to please her husband. She must be cheerful and sweet and pretty, like a dainty little doll. The perfect woman in the eyes of society is exactly like a doll: she always smiles, always looks her best and has no feelings or opinions that she can truly call her own. She responds only to the demands of her husband and does not act or speak out of turn. A woman who speaks her mind or challenges the word of any man, especially her husband, is undesirable because she is not the obedient little doll that men cherish. Women who do not conform to the rules that society has set for them are downgraded to the only feature that differentiates them from men; their sex. Society’s women do not speak or think of sex unless their husband requires it of them. But when a woman fails to be the doll that a man desires, she is worth nothing more than a cheap sex object and she is disposed of by society.
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator and her husband John can be seen as strong representations of the effects society’s stereotypical gender roles as the dominant male and submissive female have within a marriage. Because John’s wife takes on the role as the submissive female, John essentially controlled all aspects of his wife’s life, resulting in the failure of the couple to properly communicate and understand each other. The story is intended to revolve around late 19th century America, however it still occurs today. Most marriages still follow the traditional gender stereotypes, potentially resulting in a majority of couples to uphold an unhealthy relationship or file for divorce. By comparing the “The yellow wallpaper” with the article “Eroticizing Inequality in the United States: The Consequences and Determinants of Traditional Gender Role Adherence in Intimate Relationships”, the similarities between the 19th century and 21st century marriage injustice can further be examined. If more couples were able to separate the power between the male and female, America would have less unhappy marriages and divorces.
The story begins around dusk, one evening in a non descript kitchen on El Camino Street in some unnamed American ghetto. The mood of the evening soon changes for the worse. While a husband and a wife wash dishes they quibble about inter-racial marriage, specifically Caucasian and African. Ann, the wife, proposes a question, "…I'm black, but still me, and we fall in love. Will you marry me?" Tobias Wolff parallels the narrative tone with the considerate loving attitude of the Husband, which makes the delicate subject matter of inter-racial marriage easier to confront in the short story "Say Yes".
is the most usual in which a man and a woman unite themselves in the