english essay

1470 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender and roles of women in literature

Historically, the suppression of particular people and nations has been seen by those in power, as a necessity if they wish to secure dominance. People have created subjugated groups and divide by the assertion of one opinion being of more importance than others. Many binary relationships hold a more dominant group, and this is also apparent within literature. Patriarchal discourse has created a male dominance within literature creating a male canon and leaving female writers on the periphery. Men wanted to uphold the prejudices held against women authors and attempted this by constructing history which denied women writers. Gender was, at one point, such a crucial part in writing that women published their novels under a pseudonym or even anonymously, in an attempt to receive an unbiased review. Supporting this notion, in Veils of Irony Anna Udden declares that in 18th Century literature “no critic ever dealt with a literary work without first having made the decision whether the writer was a man or a woman. Only then could he address its literary merit…” (52).
Patricia Waugh author of Feminine Fictions: Revisiting the Postmodern, argues in her chapter "Postmodernism and Feminism: Where Have All the Women Gone?" (1989) (P.1-33), that women writers believe that it is necessary to advocate the viability of their sense of identity if they want to obtain the constancy required to subvert their enforced decentralization. She continues to explain that women writers constantly feel at battle with the dominant postmodernist ideology- male writers that use formal experimentation in an attempt to rid any trace of authoritative conceptions of subjectivity and dominant discourses.
In support of Gilbert and Gubar’s quote, Jeanette Winterson,...

... middle of paper ...

... she was ‘…not havin’ demons…’ living in her home, leaving Jeanette physically homeless.
Further supporting the notion that this novel conforms to the Queer Theory is the idea that ‘‘the problem of sexuality’ resides ultimately not with itself but with mainstream society.’ Jeanette faces a society of unaccepting people yet she remains stubborn as to not blame herself for her feelings she has for women. Whilst working during Elsie’s funeral, she is required to serve desert to the people who attended the funeral. Regardless of their disapprobation towards her, she finds the courage to face them even though she is leaving herself open to abuse. Fully understanding her defiance against societal norms, she remains confident to admit that she does not conform and comes to the realisation that it is the people within society who view her sexuality as a problem, not her.

Show More
Related

  • Angela Carter's The Passion Of New Eve And Don Quixote: Gender Analysis

    643 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ining a non-patriarchal future. In amalgamation with language, female sexuality is shown to be multiple and non-linear, impossible to articulate through existing language, leading once again to the conclusion that the only answer is nomadology. Don Quixote finally moves beyond culture and gender, realizing that when she stops trying to communicate reasonably, she feels at ease, comfortable in her refusal to communicate in the way culture and society says she should. Walsh contends this transgression as unrealistic, engendering the argument that if such unorthodox behaviour is unrealistic, it is society, not the individual that needs to change.

    Read More

  • The Power of the Written Word: Literary Greats Paving the Way for Social Equality

    1276 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, women have struggled with, and fought against oppression. They have been held back and weighed down by the sexist ideas of a male dominated society which has controlled cultural, economic and political ideas and structure. During the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s women became more vocal and rebuked sexism and the role that had been defined for them. Fighting with the powerful written word, women sought a voice, equality amongst men and an identity outside of their family. In many literary writings, especially by women, during the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s, we see symbols of oppression and the search for gender equality in society. Writing based on their own experiences, had it not been for the works of Susan Glaspell, Kate Chopin, and similar feminist authors of their time, we may not have seen a reform movement to improve gender roles in a culture in which women had been overshadowed by men.

    Read More

  • essay

    803 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is important to include cultural issues in the helping process to be more effective. We also need cultural competence because the U.S. is becoming more diverse. Therefore with diversity comes different beliefs, norms, and values. Eurocentric values dominate sciences and began cultural universals which puts the clash of dominate and non-dominate cultural behaviors in motion. In 1996 the NASW Code of Ethics increased the recognition of cultural competence. It is important to know diversity exist within ethnic and cultural groups because social workers need to know that relationships between helping professionals and clients may be strained. This happens because of the distrust between groups. Another important aspect is that the professional realizes their own values, biases, and beliefs. The reason for this is because they must value diversity to start with and understand the dynamics of difference. Culturally competent practitioners have to go through developmental process of using their own culture as a starting point to meet all behaviors. Striving for cultural competence is a long term process of development. The literature on cultural competence is theoretical and conceptual. They have not been evaluated in a systematic way. Roughly there are 2 million Native americans in the U.S. Which survive decimating disease, over-repressed in child welfare system, suffer from health problems, and are among the poorest people in the United States. Working with them clearly falls within the social work clearly mandate to serve vulnerable and oppressed clients. However, we do not know how many people from this group is actually receiving help from social workers. Even though it is important to train social workers to provide care in th...

    Read More

  • The Female Role in A Rose for Emily, Miss Brill, and The Storm

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Essay

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hesiod’s Theogony and the Babylonian Enuma Elish are both myths that begin as creation myths, explaining how the universe and, later on, humans came to be. These types of myths exist in every culture and, while the account of creation in Hesiod’s Theogony and the Enuma Elish share many similarities, the two myths differ in many ways as well. Both myths begin creation from where the universe is a formless state, from which the primordial gods emerge. The idea of the earth and sky beginning as one and then being separated is also expressed in both myths.

    Read More

  • Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Critics

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...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).

    Read More

  • Analysis of Gender Essay by Myra Jehlen

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    context out of which a work of literature emerges molds the interpretation of gender in that work.

    Read More

  • The Woman Question: The Oppressed Other Half

    1687 Words  | 4 Pages

    Evelyn Cunningham once said, “Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors.” For thousands of years women have been oppressed, not in the bondage of slavery but in the bondage that comes from a lack of education and a dependence on men for their livelihood. Women have been subjected to scrutiny and ostracization, belittling and disparaging comments, and even at times they have been feared by men. Women themselves have even taken on the beliefs that they require a man in their life to be taken care of and have a satisfying life although some women and even some men have seen that the differences between the sexes is purely physical. This oppression, as well as the enlightenment of some, is well noted in many literary works. Literature has often been an arena for the examination of the “woman question,” as it was termed in the Victorian age. Four works that examine the role or view of women in society are John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection of Women, T.S. Eliot’s “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, and Carol Ann Duffy’s “Medusa.” Although each work examines a side of the woman question in its own way with a variety of views on the question, all of the works examine the fear that women incite in men, the idea that women are dependent on men, and the idea that women are separate from men in some way and each piece works to show that there is actually an interdependence between men and women that is often not expressed.

    Read More

  • essay

    1786 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the Great Depression, while the competitors were cutting costs and reusing outdated designs, Kress was expanding and building more elaborate stores than their previous ones. The architecture was referred to as an “emporium” evoking an elegant atmosphere more suited to a fine cloth or furniture store in New York rather than the five & dime stores dotting small town America. Many wonder what the driving force was behind these design decisions, especially during a national time of economic recession. Perhaps simply to outpace the competition, but perhaps more importantly Samuel Kress was an avid art collector and a proponent of public art enhancing a community. In this way the Kress legacy of the brand became more than a retail business, it became a symbol of small town civic pride.

    Read More

  • Women's Issues in The Awakening by Kate Chopin, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Souls Belated by Edith Wharton

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    These women authors have served as an eye-opener for the readers, both men and women alike, in the past, and hopefully still in the present. (There are still cultures in the world today, where women are treated as unfairly as women were treated in the prior centuries). These women authors have impacted a male dominated society into reflecting on of the unfairness imposed upon women. Through their writings, each of these women authors who existed during that masochistic Victorian era, risked criticism and retribution. Each author ignored convention a...

    Read More

  • Comparing Women´s Images in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Awakening

    3073 Words  | 7 Pages

    There is no doubt that the literary written by men and women is different. One source of difference is the sex. A woman is born a woman in the same sense as a man is born a man. Certainly one source of difference is biological, by virtue of which we are male and female. “A woman´s writing is always femenine” says Virginia Woolf

    Read More

  • The Evolution of the Role of Women in British and American Literature

    1818 Words  | 4 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • ' Reading Ourselves: Toward A Feminist Theory Of Reading?

    1590 Words  | 4 Pages

    Today, the image of a woman is portrayed to follow the footsteps of men. Men are seen as the genearch ones, the dominant ones, the ones who created the language and the universal. Due to these standards, I noticed that women readers become an agent of their immasculation, bifurcation for women’s readers to hero, and have an androcentric canon. In our society, we as women tend to continue to follow the footsteps of men in order to fit the male universal. Unfortunately, some women decide to try to fit in the place of the male universal, which requires women to rejects themselves and their uniqueness, living in an androcentric society that requires one to erase women’s achievements and expressions, also living in a society where

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Written At The Close Of Spring By Charlotte Smith

    1578 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout literature’s history, female authors have been hardly recognized for their groundbreaking and eye-opening accounts of what it means to be a woman of society. In most cases of early literature, women are portrayed as weak and unintelligent characters who rely solely on their male counterparts. Also during this time period, it would be shocking to have women character in some stories, especially since their purpose is only secondary to that of the male protagonist. But, in the late 17th to early 18th century, a crop of courageous women began publishing their works, beginning the literary feminist movement. Together, Aphra Behn, Charlotte Smith, Fanny Burney, and Mary Wollstonecraft challenge the status quo of what it means to be a

    Read More

  • Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own: Women and Fiction

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many female writers see themselves as advocates for other creative females to help find their voice as a woman. Although this may be true, writer Virginia Woolf made her life mission to help women find their voice as a writer, no gender attached. She believed women had the creativity and power to write, not better than men, but as equals. Yet throughout history, women have been neglected in a sense, and Woolf attempted to find them. In her essay, A Room of One’s Own, she focuses on what is meant by connecting the terms, women and fiction. Woolf divided this thought into three categories: what women are like throughout history, women and the fiction they write, and women and the fiction written about them. When one thinks of women and fiction, what they think of; Woolf tried to answer this question through the discovery of the female within literature in her writing.

    Read More

More about english essay

Open Document