The Sand Child is a novel written about a man born a girl discovering through their sex and gender the differences held within the social norms of men and women. Ahmed, the main character and conflict, in the novel guide the reader through a story of self-discovery on the social status spectrum. In Tahar Jelloun’s novel women play an active role in accepting and portraying themselves as lower in social standards, through this the idea that gender is an individual’s compliance with typical social norms takes form. Ahmed’s mother is the first to fall into playing her stereotypical social construct after her husband; Hajji Ahmed beats her for not supplying him with an heir, a son. “One day he struck he struck her, because she had had refused to subject herself to a last, desperate ordeal…” This act shows Ahmed’s mothers weakness, a gender normative of women, compared to her husband. However instead of lashing back she accepts the fate she has put herself into. She punishes herself similar to the acts her husband acts onto her. “She, too, began to lose interest in her daughters…and struck her belly to punish herself.” At this point in the novel, it is evident that Ahmed’s mother is adjusting her own belief to match that of Hajji. His reoccurring distaste for his seven daughters has rubbed onto his wife. This compliance to accept her husband’s belief fits into that mold that says that women are not assertive and follow with what their husbands want. The next section femininity is seen in it’s natural essence is seen at the end of chapter three when Ahmed has been attacked and his father confronts him about his girlish ways. The reaction Ahmed has after being assaulted by a bunch of hooligans ties the ideas of nature and nurture toget... ... middle of paper ... ...live to that social norm, defining it more. Throughout the first half of Tahar Jelloun’s novel The Sand Child, the female characters within the novel all abide to idea that they are lower than the male figures in their lives. They suppress their feelings, thoughts, and even attacking themselves for what is not in their control but their men. The acceptance that the women hold for these actions forms the gender normative for women. Gender is defined by their actions, if they did not play the same role, the normative would change. However, since they comply, that is when the gender normative of women is created. The Sand Child uses Ahmed in his male and female aspects to point out that woman willingly accept their social standing, and therefore create their own gender stereotypes. Works Cited Jelloun, Tahar. The Sand Child. Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 2000. Print
"Learning to Be Gendered" is an article written by authors Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet, where they examine the reasons behind why children are assigned gender roles in society. In the text, they explore how behavior and language are used to identify a child's gender and the unnecessary stereotypes and sexism perpetuated by this. The authors also address the pressures and expectations that are placed on children to fulfill various gender roles. They attack the theory that children fall into their gender roles due to behaviors and biological reasons. Their article outlines the difficulty to escape the gender stereotypes that have overtaken society and also demonstrate a clear presentation of problems and solutions to this issue. I also think that the article bases its arguments on
The Sande society places importance on the initiation of young girls and womanhood i.e. their role and place in their future in this case.
Taking into consideration the Gender Role Strain Paradigm, gender roles are to be thought of as strongly influenced by “prevailing gender ideologies, which themselves vary according to social location and cultural context” (Levant & Richmond, 2007, p. 131). Through this theoretical lens, the idea of gender as influenced from culture gives explanation towards the socialization of young childre...
The theme of gender oppression is greatly shown throughout the story. Making it easier for the reader to comprehend the roles that were expect of women in Egypt. This theme is greatly shown when Abboud Bey and Samia’s father are discussing wedding arrangements. Abboud asks Samia’s father “And the beautiful little girl’s still at second school? She lowered her head modestly and her father had answered:” This shows the lack of respect males have for women in their society. Viewing women merely as a pretty face, incapable of answering simple questions. This also shows that Abboud views Samia as naïve and innocent by referring to her as “little girl”. He seems to be taken by her
Women like Mariam, who was only fifteen when she married, are so young and inexperienced compared to these manipulative men that they’re being forced to live with and abide by. As seen, choices for women like their education, or a lack thereof, marriage, family, and even clothing are almost always stripped away from them. Mariam’s mother says that in the end, all they have is the will to endure (tahamul) and that survival is their only drive and strength. Mariam's mother is trying to educate her on female status and life within this common way of thinking in these types of cultures. The truth surrounding her mother's statement of femininity relates to the other themes, specifically of love in a hopeless place, warfare along with death and its horrific effects, crippling poverty, and (male) power and
. There are many intangible thoughts about strict social structures and femininity and masculinity in the book telling about different relations of genders in the Ibo village. Being feminine in the book refers to being spontaneous, weak, unfavorable, hostile or impulsive. Being masculine in the book though is referred to being a strong man, always positive and favorable to life itself. The women bein...
Residing in a country where one is born as an illegitimate child and is rebuked upon their presence nearly everyday can be mentally and emotionally heartbreaking, specifically when the individual is a child growing up with no initial love or care. , Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns is a powerful novel stressing the follies of eastern society and worldwide ignorance. He delves into the archaic ways in which women’s rights are dealt with through the eyes of the women themselves, providing an influential emotional impact on the reader. The novel’s unlikely heroine, provides insight into the ways in which identity can serve to be a hindrance. According to Charles Cooley’s looking glass self-theory, identity is the result of the concept in which we earn to see ourselves as others do. From early on in her life, Mariam was given the identity as an illegitimate child. Due to her illegitimacy she was never accepted into a family and wasn't nurtured for. She was not able to attain a rightful place in her parents lives or her husbands. Her mother never lets her forget that she ruined her life and deserves nothing, constantly reminding her of her illegitimate birth. Mariam’s father never accepts her into his life and treats her as a hidden sin leading Mariam to believe that due to her illegitimacy she can never be accepted in her fathers home. Her husband never lets her forget her illegitimate beginnings and blames all her faults on the circumstances of her birth, which make her to believe that she will never be accepted for who she is. The following characters all keep Mariam from achieving true happiness, as none of them accept he and she fails to become apart of a family.
Gender differences are best understood as a process of socialization, to organize the roles each individual have to fulfil in society. From parents to teachers, religions, media, and peers; we observe and make sense of the behaviors exhibited by the people around us since young. We imitate and construct our own understanding of how to be of a particular gender, and of how to position ourselves. Parents socialize their children based on their biological sex, and this process starts as soon as the sex of the baby is known. Gender is hence socially constructed.
In the pre-Islamic Arabian society a family’s honor depended on the honor of its females which led to the belief that the group was vulnerable through the girls and women. Females were seen as a burden and many were the victims of infanticide because they were in need of protection from capture and were seen as a drain on the family’s meager resources. The most common form of ridding the family of an unwanted girl was to “bury her in the dust” which was done while the child was still alive. Once established, Islam condemned this practice and required that “…those who had killed their daughters in the time of the j¬¬¬ahiliyyah make expiation for their heinous act.” The Prophet said, “Whosoever has a daughter and does not bury her alive, does not insult her, and does not favor his son over her, [God] will enter him into paradise.” The words of Muhammad sharply contrast with the commonly accepted portrayal of women’s importance in Islamic society. The search for the truth behind the stereotypes and misinterpreted ideas is an eye-opening voyage into the lives of Muslim women.
Aaron H. Devor, professor of sociology and formerly Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, portrays in his article, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” from the book Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality, how society affects the stereotypes we have when it comes to the gender. In this article, Devor describes how gender identity begins at a very young age; “Children begin to settle into a gender identity between the age of eighteen months and two years.” Children subsequently grow to understand which specific gender grouping they belong to. Moreover, this also depends on the child’s cultural idea of how each gender is perceived. Gender is lightly shielded in some societies while there are very strict behaviors between men and women in other cultures. Society plays an enormous role in defining
The piece, “From Ways of Seeing” by John Berger, describes how a man’s actions are perceived and always focused on showing power. However a woman’s presence is opposite and that everything she does determines how people see her. Her choices and actions are what we go by to determine who the woman is. Whereas men want to be seen but women just want to be accepted (4). Aaron H. Devor in, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” argues that men and women both strive to obtain power (112). Devor shows how the means of how they obtain said power are vastly different and mirror the statements that Berger claims (114). Devor helps further our understanding of how we come to act the specific ways that are customary by divulging the ongoing thought process toward gender of children (109). Berger as well as Devor seem to agree on the topic of how the members of a gender act in society, the motive behind these actions are where differences between the writers
“Gender is one of those big themes that is a little difficult to nail down, in part because it often informs a text without being explicitly addressed. Of course, there are instances in Sula in which we do get direct commentary on gender and gender roles, particularly as they relate to the limits placed on women. But more often than not, we have to dig a little deeper to understand the gender dynamics. And it 's not just men who are invested in upholding certain gender roles while dismantling others. Some women are just as invested in maintaining these societal roles, no matter how restrictive they seem.”
Men are usually associated with dominance, being a higher class, and aggressiveness. Women are associated with being fragile, nurturing, and subordination. The role you play in this world is made up before you’re even born. When you are born and you are a boy they dress you in blue. If you are a female you are dressed up in pink. Gender socialization occurs throughout agents named education family, and what the media thinks is right. All of these example show how gender roles are creating expectations for the gender of the child. Other agents that determine how you act are things such as religion. How the stereotypes of a religion can leave you trapped being someone or something you do not want to be. Things that should be gotten rid
Jeanne Humphrey Block, author of Conceptions of Sex Role- Some Cross Cultural and Longitudinal Perspectives, uses the term “sex role” to describe the set of characteristics that define and differentiate men and women. This role is a “synthesis of biological and cultural forces as they are mediated by cognitive and ego functions.” (Block, p2) Perception of one’s sex role plays an important part in how an individual behaves and sees him/herself. Block uses Loevenger’s Milestones of Ego Development to identify the stage at which gender identity occurs. She suggests that sex role development begins with the Conformity stage, where the child first begins to be concerned with external social cues and rules. Periods following the conformity stage, Conscientious, Autonomous and Integrated, are influenced by the child’s initial exposure to gender characteristics and differences.
...es based on their desires instead of the desires of their male counterparts. As the women age, they take on new names to represent their physical and emotional changes. Naseem gains power as a married woman and becomes Reverend Mother while Mumtaz acquires power through the realization of her reproductive abilities. These women have varying degrees of power over their lives but it is limited to the value Indian society places on the domestic sphere and the importance of a woman’s place in this sphere. A married woman will garner more respect and have more of a voice than an unwed daughter living within her father’s household, while motherhood is regarded as one of the most important roles for a woman and given special considerations. Rushdie portrays ascension to power within the realm of the home and family by to show how power is passed between social boundaries.