Walking alone on the street, Claire stops to think about she’s going to do next. She thought of her day so far of hanging out with friends and wondered if there was anything she wanted to do. Not thinking of how other people perceived her or how she’s free to make her own decisions, she proceeded on with her day. A woman of her century, Claire doesn’t need to worry about status, who she is going to marry, or submit to someone else’s demands. In Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy, this is the opposite of what his characters Eustacia, Thomasin, and Mrs. Yeobright have to worry about. Through the portrayals of these characters Hardy criticizes the limitations placed on nineteenth century woman.
Women in previous societal views were always seen fragile beings in need of protection. That’s why marriage, although unofficially, was always required to do anything within the world. Whether it was to gain a higher social status or to reach certain personal goals, marriage was allowed for a certain amount freedom for women. This view is true for Hardy’s character Eustacia. Trapped in Egdon Heath she viewed “Egdon [as] her Hades and since coming there she embodied much of what it was dark into its tone” (Hardy 58). Letting her feelings of resentment and entrapment cloud her view of the situation, she becomes depressed. She heard of the wealthy Clym Yeobright coming home and hearing comments of them making “a very pretty pigeon pair” makes her think he was the salvation she needed to escape her personal hell (95). This thought was not uncommon at the time, women often seeking to make their life better sought out men that they perceived as wealthy and higher status to achieve their goals. Thomasin, on the other hand, never bought into the ...
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...rent marriages and to allow the reader to compare the and come to their own conclusions on how the women were treated.
Limited in what they can do Eustacia, Thomasin, and Mrs. Yeobright can only hope to find something that would allow them to experience what they want to do in life without having to get permission from someone who is seen as higher than them. While Claire doesn’t have to worry about getting permission from someone, or having to relinquish her dreams to follow someone else’s, she is free to do as she pleases and can make her decisions by herself and have no one else influence it.
Works Cited
Brady, Kristin. "Thomas Hardy and Matters of Gender." Cambridge Companion Thomas Hardy. Ed. Dale K Kramer. Cambridge University Press, May 2006. Web. 23 Nov. 2013.
Hardy, Thomas. The Return of the Native. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 199-. Print.
Davidson, James W., and Michael B. Stoff. The American Nation. Eaglewood Cliffs: Paramount Communications, 1995.
King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005. Print.
McNickle, D'Arcy. "A Different World." Native American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology. Ed. Vizenor, Gerald. United States of America: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, 1995, 111-119.
...es for love and overcame the social expectations of the quintessential woman in the nineteenth century; whereas their counterparts around them would have chosen class and wealth. Edna Pontellier’s decision to move into her pigeon house and away from her husband’s rule and the vexing job of caring for her children was viewed as societal suicide, but to her liberation and self-actualization as a woman was more important. Elizabeth Bennet ultimately disregarded her mother’s wishes, and passed over Mr. Collins, she initially disregarded Mr. Darcy as a possible suitor but love proved otherwise. These women were on a path of destruction to free themselves from a long reign of oppression, their challenge of conventional methods within the nineteenth century, proved successful not only to them, but for a future collective group of women who would follow in their footsteps.
In the story, The Natural, certain characters and events are portrayed in a distinctive way that makes this story unique to other books and shows the typical writing style of the narrator. The author uses a repetitive writing technique that is impossible to overlook. The writer of this book is able to catch the reader’s eye with his concept of the importance of beautiful description. The Natural, by Bernard Malamud, uses great imagery that makes the story appealing.
During the Victorian Era, society had idealized expectations that all members of their culture were supposedly striving to accomplish. These conditions were partially a result of the development of middle class practices during the “industrial revolution… [which moved] men outside the home… [into] the harsh business and industrial world, [while] women were left in the relatively unvarying and sheltered environments of their homes” (Brannon 161). This division of genders created the ‘Doctrine of Two Spheres’ where men were active in the public Sphere of Influence, and women were limited to the domestic private Sphere of Influence. Both genders endured considerable pressure to conform to the idealized status of becoming either a masculine ‘English Gentleman’ or a feminine ‘True Woman’. The characteristics required women to be “passive, dependent, pure, refined, and delicate; [while] men were active, independent, coarse …strong [and intelligent]” (Brannon 162). Many children's novels utilized these gendere...
Max plays the role of a spokesman for Richard Wright. Unlike others, he considers the humanity in Bigger and sees him for what he is rather than a black man and/or a murder. Considering this, Bigger is open to Max and tells his side of the story for the first time. Moreover, because of Max’s understandment, Bigger sees that it is indeed possible for a black and a white man to have a sympathetic relationship.
Vizenor, Gerald. "Measuring My Blood." Native American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology. Ed. Gerald Vizenor. New York: Harper Collins, 1996. 69-74.
Davidson, James West, et al. The American Nation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003
Owens, Lewis. Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel. Norman, OK: U Oklahoma P, 1994.
Calloway, Colin G. New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America (Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997).
Wright, R. (1940 Reissued in Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 2005). Native Son. New York: HarperCollins.
By definition, a heroine is a woman who would typically encompass the qualities of nobility, courage, independence and strength. Nineteenth century English women would have struggled to accomplish any of these particular acts of heroism within their social environment as ultimately, their roles within civilisation saw them becoming a good wives and mothers and before that, obliging and caring daughters. Within this ubiquitous discourse of separate spheres, Kathryn Gleadle suggests that women were encouraged to see themselves as relative creatures', whose path in life was to nurture the family and to provide unstinting support for the head of the household' In this respect, the nineteenth century British woman conforming to this path' would prove to be the heroine of that time as a free-spirited independent individual would have been cast aside as socially unacceptable. Essentially, although it would appear that many women wished to lead active, working lives and so make an important contribution, either to their families or to social welfare, the woman's position [was] to preside over a loving home whilst men were to brave the vicissitude and demands of public and business life' Novelists Thomas Hardy and Emily Brontë present us with two strong and independent females Tess Durbeyfield and Catherine Earnshaw. These women are far from the idealistic view of nineteenth century females; Tess, intelligent and strikingly attractive, strives to uphold the values expected of her but outside forces beyond her control determine her fate. Catherine on the other hand begins her life free-spirited, rebellious and of a wild nature. However, her inner desire craves social ambition which, in turn, shows her slowly representing culture and civilisation.
Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, Frank M. Turner. The Western Heritage. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001.
Hardy originated from a working class family. The son of a master mason, Hardy was slightly above that of his agricultural peers. Hardy’s examination of transition between classes is usually similar to that of D.H. Lawrence, that if you step outside your circle you will die. The ambitious lives of the characters within Hardy’s novels like Jude and Tess usually end fatally; as they attempt to break away from the constraints of their class, thus, depicting Hardy’s view upon the transition between classes. Hardy valued lower class morals and traditions, it is apparent through reading Tess that her struggles are evidently permeated through the social sufferings of the working class. A central theme running throughout Hardy’s novels is the decline of old families. It is said Hardy himself traced the Dorset Hardy’s lineage and found once they were of great i...