The Men of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes

785 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Nursery rhymes and oral traditions

The Men of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes

“I Love Little Pussy”
I love little pussy, /Her coat is so warm, /And if I don’t hurt her, /She’ll do me no harm. /So I’ll not pull her tail, /Nor drive her away, /But pussy and I, /Very gently will play. (http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/pussy.asp)

“Georgie Porgie”

Georgie Porgie, puddin’ and pie, /Kissed the girls and made them cry. /When the boys came out to play, /Georgie Porgie ran away. (http://www.zelo.com/family/nursery/georgie.asp)

As a young child, mother goose nursery rhymes are nearly the entire basis for learning. By memorizing and reciting these verses, children develop memorization skills, verbal skills through communicating them effectively, and vocabulary. Of course, these nursery rhymes also establish valuable life lessons too. “Humpty Dumpty” and “Jack and Jill” both teach us about the violence that can occur as a result of carelessness, and “Queen of Hearts” teaches children that bad things happen to those who steal. But not all of these nursery rhymes come with such happy lessons. The two that I have chosen teach a more morbid lesson. Each is about how men pursue women for sex. Both illustrate examples of men using women for sex and discarding them, however, their approaches stem from roots as far apart as the polar caps.

In “Georgie Porgie”, Georgie is portrayed as an abusive character. Someone who takes the more up-front, perverted, approach to women. Georgie is illustrated as someone who takes advantage ...

Show More
Related

  • The Importance Of Silence In Dagoberto Gilb's 'Uncle Rock'

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a restaurant, picture a young boy enjoying breakfast with his mother. Then suddenly, the child’s gesture expresses how his life was good until “a man started changing it all” (285). This passage reflects how writer, Dagoberto Gilb, in his short story, “Uncle Rock,” sets a tone of displeasure in Erick’s character as he writes a story about the emotions of a child while experiencing his mother’s attempt to find a suitable husband who can provide for her, and who can become a father to him. Erick’s quiet demeanor serves to emphasis how children may express their feelings of disapproval. By communicating through his silence or gestures, Erick shows his disapproval towards the men in a relationship with his mother as he experiences them.

    Read More

  • Advantages Of Experiential Family Therapy

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    Experiential Family Therapy is a therapy that encourages patients to address subconscious issues through actions, and role playing. It is a treatment that is used for a group of people in order to determine the source of problem in the family (Gurman and Kniskern, 2014). Experiential Family Therapy has its strengths and weaknesses. One of the strengths of this therapy is that, it focuses on the present and patients are able to express their emotions on what is happening to them presently. The client will have time to share everything about his/her life experiences one on one without any fears. As a result, it helps the client in the healing process because, he/she is able to express their feelings freely and come out of the problem. Therefore, in this type of therapy, the clients are deeply involved in solving their issues. It helps clients to scrutinize their individual connections and to initiate a self-discovery through therapy, on how their relationships influence their current behaviors (Gurman and Kniskern, 2014). By examining their personal relationships through experiential family therapy, family members are able to

    Read More

  • Of Mice And Men Crooks Women

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, there is only one woman and one African American male announced in the reading. The women is Curley’s wife, her name is not stated in the novel, who is the only woman that lives on the farm. While Crooks, the African American male, lives on the farm in a little cottage away from the rest of the men that live there. As we keep reading, we soon get the idea that Steinbeck’s purpose of women and African Americans is to present: discrimination towards race, gender stereotyping, and the double standards in the predominantly male workplace.

    Read More

  • Book Review of The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angea Carter

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    Overall, in these fairy tales Carter succeeds in delivering a feminist message and provides a counter argument for the moral message of traditional fairy tales in which young women were encouraged to remain obedient and pure. Unlike in earlier fairy tales, in these stories it is the straying from the path that results in transformation and releases women from the subjugation that women over history have been subjected to.

    Read More

  • Understanding the Bystander Effect: A Psychological Analysis

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    As our textbook describes the bystander effect as the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present. To put it into my own words, I think that bystander effect is where people are less likely to help because of the diffusion of responsibility. We are more likely to help: the person appears to need and deserve help, if the person is in some way similar to us, the person is a woman, when we have just observed someone else being helpful, if we are not in a hurry, if we are in a small town or rural areas, when we are feeling guilty, when we are focused on others and not preoccupied, and when we are in a great/good mood (Myers).

    Read More

  • Marge Piercy’s Barbie Doll

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem starts with the line, “This girlchild was born as usual,” which suggests that as soon as a girl is born, society already expects her to learn the role she will soon play in when she hits puberty (1). Thus, showing why we are given dolls as little girls to illustrate how we should act and appear according to society. After we learn all the roles we will soon take part in, “the magic of puberty,” hits and girls immediately begin applying the ideals to their own lives (5). As if this attempt to conform is not enough we have other people telling us we are not to perfect. “You have a great big nose and fat legs,” says a classmate to the girl (6). This type of pressure can slowly but surely destroy even the little confidence women do have in themselves.

    Read More

  • The Babysitter And The Man Upstairs Analysis

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    The origin or rather the first collection of The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs was in the early 1960s and this legend continues to be told today. The legend’s emergence and specific origins are unknown; however, attempting to understand why such a legend was told to begin with is not an impossible task. The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs reflects societal anxiety about young girls increasing rejection of feminine expectations and reinforces ideas about traditional gender roles, through the characters, their actions, and the consequences of such actions.

    Read More

  • Feminism And Feminism

    1100 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Feminism and Fairy Tales, Karen E. Rowe asserts that “popular folktales” have “shaped our romantic expectations” and “illuminate psychic ambiguities which often confound contemporary women.” She believes that “portrayals of adolescent waiting and dreaming, patterns of double enchantment, and romanticizations of marriage contribute to the potency of fairy tales” makes “many readers discount obvious fantasy elements and fall prey to more subtle paradigms through identification with the heroine.” As a result, Karen Rowe contends “subconsciously women may transfer from fairy tales into real life cultural norms which exalt passivity, dependency, and self-sacrifice as a female’s cardinal virtues suggest that culture’s very survival depends upon a woman’s acceptance of roles which relegate her to motherhood and domesticity.” It is undeniable that numerous folk tales implant male chauvinism into women’s minds and thus convey an idea that woman should obey and depend on men. However, Rowe neglects the aspect that many other folk tales, on the contrary, disclose the evil and vulnerable sides of man and marriage and thus encourage women to rely on their own intelligence and courage other than subordinating to man. The Fairy tales “Beauty and Beast” and “Fowler’s Fowl” challenge Rowe’s thesis to some extent and exemplify that some fairy tales motivate women to be intelligent and courageous and to challenge patriarchy.

    Read More

  • Riding the Red

    1342 Words  | 3 Pages

    “I've told her and I've told her: daughter, you have to teach that child the facts of life before it's too late” (Hopkinson 1). These are the first three lines of Nalo Hopkinson's short story “Riding the Red”, a modern adaptation of Charles Perrault's “Little Red Riding Hood”. In his fairy tale Perrault prevents girls from men's nature. In Hopkinson's adaptation, the goal remains the same: through the grandmother biographic narration, the author elaborates a slightly revisited plot without altering the moral: young girls should beware of men; especially when they seem innocent.

    Read More

  • Riding the Red

    1195 Words  | 3 Pages

    “I've told her and I've told her: daughter, you have to teach that child the facts of life before it's too late” (Hopkinson 1). These are the first three lines of Nalo Hopkinson's fairy tale “Riding the Red”, a modern adaptation of Charles Perrault's “Little Red Riding Hood”. Perrault provided a moral to his fairy tales, the one from this one is to prevent girls from men's nature. In Hopkinson's adaptation, the goal remains the same: through the grandmother biographic narration, the author advances a revisited but still effective moral: beware of wolfs even though they seem innocent.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles: The Female Role in Society

    2827 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Battered Woman Syndrome: Self-Defense Plea

    1491 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...autiful creatures and deserve everything life has to offer. When gathered together, nothing can destroy the strength of a woman. Guidance from parents, at a very young age, can help mold the minds of the young children in today’s society. This world has become overpopulated with greed and hate. The only way to get past the hatred and violence is to love thy neighbor, and protect our young from the unnecessary violence that can be eliminated with love for one another.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In A Doll's House

    1333 Words  | 3 Pages

    The old and new attitudes toward sexuality and the proper behavior of women is very apparent in the play called A Doll House. The play shows how each woman has sacrificed who they were for the men and the other people in their lives. The play also shows how men see women in general. Several characters give up who they thought they were meant to be, because of the social aspect in their lives. Society has always placed a burden on women as who they are supposed to be as wives, mothers, and as adult women. Women were seen as the inferior sex in the past and in the present. Things have changed over the years as women earn more and more freedom and rights that men have had for a very long time. The sacrifices that are made in this play speak to how things work for women in society. Women give up their right to happiness because they feel obligated to change who they are to help someone else.

    Read More

  • Theme Of A Dead Woman's Secret

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    The children couldn’t accept what they thought was so horrible. There was a lot of ignorance and carelessness portrayed throughout this short story. The theme of ungratefulness was revealed in this story; The author depicted how disrespecting someone can inturn feed you with information you may wish you never knew and how someone can do one wrong thing and it immediately erases all the good things a person did throughout their

    Read More

  • Revenge In The Movie, Red Riding Hood's Revenge?

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Don’t ever take candy from a stranger or get into his car” this line has been drilled into our young little brains from teachers to parents. We have grown up being told never to trust a stranger because “stranger danger” one of my favorite lines as a child. Not only was this directed to us with our parents and teachers, but the classic folktale, “Little Red Riding Hood” has been taught to young children for many years. The stories moral is not to trust strangers and do not associate with them for any reason. While reading Perrault’s version of the classic folk tale, his moral is that children, especially young girl’s, can be eaten by wolves by just talking and trusting a stranger. He points out that women are more

    Read More

More about The Men of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes

Open Document