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The Obstacle Course of Human Nature
Since the origin of humanity it has been an inevitable phenomenon that the human race will constantly be in a state of conflict. For whatever specific reason one side may have, people in general feel the need to do whatever they can to come out of a struggle on top gloriously and victoriously. No battle throughout all of the ages has been larger, perhaps, than the battle between the male and female gender. In numerous of James Thurber's stories, he tells the stories of men in their daily lives. Thurber has created a very vivid picture of men and women which are referenced throughout the literary world as the "Thurber men and women." The "Thurber men" are also coined with the term "little man" due to their inferiority placed upon them by their female opposites. The "Thurber women" are known as being the holders of power in life in society, and life between them and their man. However, Thurber's men in his stories take neccessary steps to dethrone women from their stronghold. In the stories "The Catbird Seat," "The Unicorn in the Garden," and " The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," James Thurber comically manifests man's triumph over adversity through the image of the powerful dominant female character.
Thurber portrays man's trouncing of female dominance actively in the story "The Catbird Seat." The story is about a quiet man named Erwin Martin who has a nice, typical office job running his filing department. Mr. Martin has the earned reputation for being very organized, on task, and being a well respected individual. His boss, Mr. Fitweiler said "'Man is fallible but Martin isn't'" (Thurber, "The Catbird" 9.) Mr. Martin is considered one of the main representations of Thurber's "little ...
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...these stories, Thurber portray's women as the root of all unhappiness in life for men by the females antagonizing words and actions. Although the men in these stories have much wieght placed upon them by these women, they find a way to overcome the testing obstacle. In "The Catbird Seat,"
the quiant Mr. Martin comically dominishes the female tyrant Mrs. Barrows. "The Unicorn in the Garden" shares a common plot with "The Catbird Seat" in the the husband in the story manipulates his way into getting rid of his wife forever. Finally, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" explores one man's way of asserting his masculinity over his controlling wife. All these stories share a common motif of man's conquest to be an individual, to be held down by no one, no woman. In short, every man wants his freedom, and every man is willing to do what is neccessary to get what they want.
In the book “The Things They Carried” four female characters played an important role in the lives of the men. Whether imaginary or not, they showed the power that women could have over men. Though it's unknown if the stories of these women are true or not, they still make an impact on the lives of the soldiers and the main narrator.
Kristjana Gunnars suggests that “Canada is an unhappy country. No, better still, the Prairies are unhappy. Canadian women are especially unhappy” (Gunnars 122). In Margaret Laurence’s A Bird in the House, the women are indeed unhappy. In the end, however, it is the women who triumph because of their solidarity. The men, due to their solitary states, are unable to maintain their traditionally powerful roles. In these short stories, the men appear to be the leaders of the household, but the women have the greater but subtler power. The men do not lend each other support, while the women are often willing to lend each other a shoulder to cry on. Thus, because of their bluntness and solitariness, the men in A Bird in the House are dethroned from their traditional seats of power in male-female relations, male-male relations, and in female-female relations where their absence is not missed.
Brott, while having a message directed at eliminating discrimination of fathers in literature, is not sending any negative remarks about mothers. He is not blaming mothers in the situation while he uses examples of them in the literature. He uses such examples to illustrate the contrast between mothers and fathers in children’s literature. One example of which is his daughter’s favorite book, Mother Goose and the Sly Fox. Brott writes that while the Mother Goose is presented as a positive character, the father Fox is presented as negative character. In this example Brott is not accusing anyone. On the other hand, Brady is indirectly saying that men do not want to do anything, take responsibility for anything, and blames for inequality. Her list of expectations that men have of wives illustrates her bias towards men. Brady generalizes men as insensitive “pigs” and points them out as the problem in women’s inequality. While her bias may be hidden behind her use of repletion and sarcasm, it becomes obvious with her final remark: “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” While the authors’ bias may not be apparent, the differences in their tones may be more
Despite the perception that women are inferior and incompetent, seldom do women withstand this consistent discrimination upon their sex. Under the jurisdiction of men in their families, women are oftentimes restrained from opportunity and development. Curley, a man with an intimidating complexion, forces many, including his flirtatious wife, to succumb to his power. However, he fails to recognize his wife’s rising empowerment as she manipulates men around him into becoming her pawns. John Steinbeck’s usage of Curley’s wife in the novel Of Mice and Men delineates the desire of women to eliminate the over dominance of men through deceit in exchange for their own power.
If James Thurber wanted to create a character that bled the epitome of deception, it would undoubtedly be the protagonist of his short story, “The Catbird Seat”, Erwin Martin. Set in the 1940’s, with political instability from the Second World War and recovering from the detrimental Great Depression, Mr. Martin’s ostensible meekness and dullness builds his reputation amongst his colleagues and superiors as the ideal employee, lacking imperfections, and perhaps relates to the mentality those possessed at that time period. It is through Mr. Martin’s solidified image of rectitude that he is able to exploit these circumstances and surreptitiously plan his ploy against his nemesis, Mrs. Barrows, with his perfectly established mental simulacrum amongst
Through the ironic situations in "A Jury of Her Peers," Glaspell clearly illustrates a world in which men and women vary greatly in their perception of things. She shows men as often superficial in the way they perceive the world, lacking the depth of intuition that women use as a means of self-preservation to see themselves and the world more clearly. Without the heightened perspective on life that this knowledge of human nature gives them, women might not stand a chance. Against the power and domination of men, they often find themselves as defenseless and vulnerable as Minnie's poor bird.
What is it about a woman that defines them, by default, as the weakest gender? Whether it is by a father, boyfriend, or husband, there have been many accounts of women being overshadowed by men in literature and history. In many cases, men feel obligated to protect females, which makes them think they are superior or have power over women. However, men are not aware of the negative effects their "superiority" can have on women: alienation, low self-esteem, incompetence, and even insanity. Two women, from two different short stories, are classic examples of what can happen when women become victims of a patriarchal society. Although these women have their differences, both Emily Grierson, from William Faulkner 's "A Rose for Emily", and the narrator, from Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's "The Yellow Wall-Paper," are related as they are both held back by their dominant patriarchal societies, and in turn are forced into insanity.
Conflict theory in sociology suggests that the relationship between females and males has traditionally been one of unequal power, with men in a dominant position over women (Schaefer 278). By page one of the short story there are examples of this inequality and subordination. Speaking of her illness, the narrator states, “You see he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is ...
The rise of women in power has caused many men to feel a growing sense of insecurity in their manhood. For example, In Raisin In the Sun, Walter Lee felt lesser of a man, primarily, because of Lena Younger’s position as head of the family. The fact that he, the sole man of the family, as Travis is considered more of a boy, is constantly thwarted from making any executive decision by a woman can be directly associated with his foulness, but, once Lena Younger entrust him with the insurance money, Walter becomes friendly and very pleasant to be with. Similarly, in Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter, Ramatoulaye is considered “Lioness” after rejecting all of her pretenders. The surname evokes fear which subtly hints of the insecurity that the men have toward women who have the power to deny them, yet it is also distinctly different from Hansberry, considering that, even through their insecurity, the men still fancy these powerful women, possibly to satisfy their ego in “taming” the beast and owning as trophy. Both aspects emphasize how men are poorly able to deal with this sudden change in
Women play a key role in this novel in many ways. In the case of...
Throughout history, women have struggled to become equals with men. Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” share a theme to their readers: feminism. The two authors placed their female protagonists in male dominated worlds of the 19th Century Norway and 20th Century America. They used these characters to rebel against the passive role of woman during their time. This theme is promoted through the narration of Nora and Elisa’s marriages, an epiphany that arose from initial disappointment in a male dominated society, and the use of symbolism throughout both works.
Trifles by Susan Glaspell tackles the problems of the patriarchal systems that women have lived in. The focus of Trifles is bringing the oppression of women to the public. However, I believe that understanding the different roles men played in Trifles and will give a new perspective of the trials women went through in this proto-feminist play. As such, this essay will explore the roles men played in the lives of women. Specifically, what aspects of the writing illustrate the implied authority of men and the active oppression over Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. In addition, interesting aspects of the subtexts are found in metaphors and motifs of the text. These metaphors are indicative of the behaviors women had to attain in response to male dominance. Finally, by analyzing the relationship of the antagonist against protagonist and where the chracters sit on the axis of conflict
In the Mitty motif, there are two themes, and the first is, “...the domination of the American male by the American female” (Morsberger 66). In James Thurber’s short stories the women are domineering over the men (La Blanc, Michael and Ira 40). Women no longer want to be inferior to men. In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, Mitty’s wife bosses him around. This suggests she does not respect her husband. Mitty fails to meet his own idea of masculinity, which in return allows the wife to take power (“Men and Masculinity”). Prior research states that “Thurber embraces the type of masculinity that Walter idealizes in his fantasy” (“Men and Masculinity”). Walter Mitty is a poor driver, a husband who does not care, and a forgetful man (“Men and Masculinity”). He no longer puts forth effort in his marriage. People in the story treat Mitty as a grumpy older man, but he imagines himself to be no such thing, but as a great...
Containing innumerable sub-themes, Women in Love holds a singular theme to which all others may be tied: sexuality. Opposed to employing subtleties, D.H. Lawrence opts for uninhibited writing when defining the sexuality of his characters. There are a variety of methods by which Lawrence is able to achieve a novel which exemplifies full disclosure on a topic generally viewed as not only private but indecent. These methods include the following: analysis of animals in the natural state, study of art, and graphic description of a variety of encounters. Sex, being considered an animalistic encounter by Lawrence, can be explored through the study of the utilization of the following animals in the story: Gerald Crich’s horse, Birkin’s cat Mino, and Winifred’s rabbit Bismarck. In the instance of Gerald’s horse, Gerald asserts his power over his horse in order to break the horse of its immediate instinct to enter into a panicked frenzy when hearing loud noises. While dining with Birkin, Ursula witnesses Birkin’s tomcat Mino physically dominating a female stray cat with who Mino wishes t...