Whether it’s fake or not, names are useful. They help describe someone or something. But to writers, they’re even more helpful when using an aliases or, more commonly said, pen names. Pen names allow authors freedom, opportunities and flexibilities. So, the question remains: “Why do some authors still choose to use pen names?”
So, pen names are like a mask to conceal ones identity, especially writers. For example, Eric Blair, the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, adapted the name, George Orwell, because he feared his work would embarrass his family. (Source 1) Another reason for using a pen name is to either get their work published or conceal their gender. Many female writers have to use pen names in order to avoid discrimination and for publishers to take them seriously. (Source 1) A famous example for that is J.K. Rowling, who wrote the Harry Potter series. Her books became a success towards a millions of fans that were boys, girls and
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But one writer was set out to write a novel. The writers name was Charlotte Bronte, who wrote Jane Eyre. Her determination to portray a plain yet passionate young woman who defied the stereotype of the docile and domestic Victorian feminine ideal. (Source 2) In the Victorian Era, there were lots of expectations placed on women. Other works such as Charles Dicken featured female characters that represent the “ideal” Victorian women that rely on physical beauty and marriage. (Source 2) A letter was sent to Charlotte Bronte in 1836. It was from Robert Southey. “But it is not with a view to distinction that you should cultivate this talent, if you consult your own happiness…The day dreams in which you habitually indulge are likely to induce a distempered state of mind; and in proportion as all the ordinary uses of the world seem to you flat and unprofitable becoming fitted for anything else.” (Source 3) So, it’s no wonder this novel is considered
In an Amazon.co.uk interview titled “Magic, Mystery and Mayhem: An Interview with J.K. Rowling,” when asked about the way she came up with the names of characters in her books, she replied, “I invented some of the names in the Harry books, but I also collect strange names. I've gotten them from medieval saints, maps, dictionaries, plants, war memorials, and people I've met!” J.K. Rowling chose these names for a reason based on the deeper meanings behind every character's name and the way they relate to their roles and personalities. In Octavia E. Butler's short story “Speech Sounds”, Rye and Obsidian were the names she chose for her characters. Rye, the name of the main protagonist which symbolizes home and earth yearns to reconnect with her family and to rebuild a family of her own while Obsidian, the supporting character, is named after a type of lava stone, which is believed to contain magical properties that “absorbs and destroys negative energy such as anger, criticism, and fear” (Zagata). The names of the characters have two purposes: to describe the character's role and personality, and to give them an identity.
Here, Atwood is trying to draw the attention that stripping people’s names may as well result in stripping their individuality. Furthermore, she has created a system of titles to oppress wome... ... middle of paper ... ... has tried to warn the readers that there would be a genuine consequence if language is exploited. What Atwood is trying to promote to the readers is that words aren’t just words. Language is incredibly powerful for getting people to not look at the reality of things, or for making things to be more emotional than they need to be.
Pen names are names that authors use instead of their real names. As stated in “What’s in a name?” Eric Blair uses the name “George Orwell” because he feared his early work would embarrass his family. Sometimes, a pen name is the only way an author can get published, sometimes depending on their gender or race. There have been many authors who could not get published because they were girls. The writer of the Harry Potter series J.K. Rowling thought that if she put her real name on Harry Potter, her readers wouldn’t take the book seriously if they knew a woman had written it. Many authors fear the same as Rowling.
Jane Eyre is about a girl named Jane who struggles to find who she really is and with it what she really wants. “As a model for women readers in the Victorian period and throughout the twentieth century to follow, Jane Eyre encouraged them to make their own choices in living their lives, to develop respect for themselves, and to become individuals” (Markley). One of the reasons why this book gained merit was because of its striking presence within its time period. During the “Victorian Age” woman did not have much say in society, so this novel broke boundaries to societal norms that restricted woman from things they have today. “Brontë is able to enact this tension through her characters and thus show dramatically the journey of a woman striving for balance within her nature.
“Can you imagine what a mess a world would be without names? (website)Names are very important to a person and their individuality. Ayn Rand’s novel “Anthem” is a book in which the people written about do not have names. The importance of having your own individual names is huge. A name can have meaning given to it, like how the name Sue means lily. Most parents when giving you your name have a meaning behind it and put much thought into what their future child should be named. Names can give you a part of your identity.
“Choosing My Name” by Puanani Burgress is a poem that reflects Burgess idea of her identity and how it is related with her different names. Despite having three different names Chirstabella , Yoshie and Puanani, she particularly likes identifying herself as Puanani although it is not her “official name”. Strange as it sounds, I aslo have three different names: Basanta, Kancho, Xxxxxx. My third name Xxxxxx is my cultural name that I cannot disclose thus I have decided to write it Xxxxxx as it is made up of six letters. Xxxxxx is my favorite and preferred name because it connects me to my family, my culture and my land.
Through out Lawrence Hill's novel names are often linked to identity and have importance for his characters. For example, Aminata's character attaches huge importance to her name. For Aminata it is an inextricable part of her identity. It links her to her homeland and her family. When Chekura says her full African name she is overwhelmed that someone knows her name and describes how this makes her want to live. Having her true name be known is a way of having her identity affirmed and helps her feel connected to her family, home and to Chekura. In fact, Aminata's character defiantly makes reference to her full name, including the name of the town she was born in. Holding onto her name helps her remain connected to the land and people she has left behind and to her own life story and origins. Further underscoring the importance of names in one...
But then again, maybe the names have nothing at all to do with the story. Perhaps, O'Connor simply picked the names randomly out of a hat. It's not an impossible idea. But the chance of the names fitting so superbly to each character of the story, just by happenstance, is one in a million. In conclusion, readers should start to focus more on the names of the characters, because the names might give more insight that what is seen on the surface. Besides, Hulga Hopewell doesn't sound like that bad of a name.
Society continually places specific and often restrictive standards on the female gender. While modern women have overcome many unfair prejudices, late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century women were forced to deal with a less than understanding culture. Different people had various ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities, including expressing themselves through literature. By writing a fictional story, authors like Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James were given the opportunity to let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic.
A gender role in the time when British literature was being written was very important to the women history. Women were subservient to men in most of the British literature. Some literature women had a little more power than in others. When women were asked to do something by a man there was no way they could say no. the way women were treated then is the equivalent to a housewife now in the Twenty-First century. When a man told them to do something they had to do it. Throughout the literature women started desiring more respect and power. A very good example of a woman that overcame gender roles is Susan B. Anthony. She was born on February 15, in 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. Susan B. Anthony taught for fifteen years then she decided to be in the women’s rights movement. After that’s she was committed and devoted to be to omen suffrage. Susan B Anthony remained very active with anything that had anything to do with women until her death on March 13, 1906. Another example is Elizabeth Cady Stanton she was born on November 12, 1815 in Johnstown, New York. Throughout her life she stood behind women’s right with the Women’s rights movement as well as Susan B Anthony. She was the president of the National Women’s Suffrage Association (NWSA) for 20 years. She died a very respected and honorable woman on October 26, 1902. These women really changed the game for women back in the day. These women were very important representatives in the Women’s Rights Movement. They helped out a lot and put a lot of time throughout their life to make sure women got to where we are today. They were huge role models for women today. Although women had to fight for us to get rights, British literature consisted of women being subservient to men. I am go...
When Charlotte Bronte created Lucy Snowe’s character in Villette, she made her as a woman that transgressed society’s deemed role in the Victorian Era (Peel, 231). Bronte was a women who personally endured and witnessed the lack of rights and equalities offered women in the Victorian Era and by creating Lucy Snowe’s “transgressive” character she displayed her thoughts and rebellions against society’s standards. Women novelist were not very common in this time period due to the belief by men that it was not right. “The female writer posed a threat to men who described women as weak and submissive creatures” (ARAS, 499). Instead it was thought that women should write poems only, and because of this most women novelist used a “male pseudonym” for their books so that they did not receive ridicule and criticism (ARAS, 499). Charlotte Bronte did not let this fear stop her from expressing her beliefs about the mistreatment and societal abuse of women by men, but instead created Villette which transcended the idea that women were dependent to men for their own happiness.
Bronte wrote Jane Eyre to emphasize her beliefs behind the purpose of women, and how society lacked to understand them as who they were created to be. The issue of lack of opportunity for women to engage in intellectual preparation and continuation is prevalent within the character of Jane. Expectation of women’s role was a social norm, with a lack of diversity or individuality. Bronte challenges this issue through the character of Jane, whom experiences a tug-of-war sensation between being herself, who she wants to be and should be, and what society wants her to be, and pushes her to be. Bronte was trying to explain that women have the same capability as men to be productive individuals of society, but they are held back from establishing their potential. The most unique understanding of Bronte’s challenge to society is the understanding that the characteristics and personality of Jane as a female is shamed and criticized, however these features are identical to those of a successful and representable man in
In contrast to Wuthering Heights, which was written by a woman, Emily Brontë, was actually written under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. Ellis is a gender-neutral name, and Charlotte, one of her sisters, wrote ‘…we did not like to...
Bronte is known as one of the first revolutionary and challenging authoress’ with her text Jane Eyre. The society of her time was male dominated, women were marginally cast aside and treated as trophies for their male counterparts. Their main role in life was to be a mother and a wife, “ Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life……the more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure she will have for it.” A quote from a letter Robert Southey wrote to Bronte. A clear sign of the mentality and opposition Bronte was up against. A woman’s “proper duties” of course being to tend and wait on her “master’s” every whim and need. Women during Bronte’s time had no clear voice, none that was of any merit, they were a silent category of society, silenced by their male oppressors. Bronte’s book was in fact written before the first women’s rights movement had happened, yet it puts forward an image of an independent strong character, of a passionate and almost rebellious nature. A character “refusing subservience, disagreeing with her superiors, standing up for her right’s, and venturing creative thoughts.” I put forward that Bronte throughout her text not only revises the themes of male power and oppression, but reconstructs them also. The text is a female bildungsroman of it’s time, sometimes subtly and sometimes overtly tackling the patriarchal view of women.
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre represents the role of women in the Victorian era by giving the reader an insight into the lives of women from all social classes. Jane Eyre therefore represents figures of the Victorian time yet the character of Jane Eyre, herself, can be seen as very unconventional for the Victorian society.