In the novel Brooklyn and the short story Silence, both of the lead female characters live their lives in silence. Although, they have very strong feelings towards the things they experience, they do not outright express them to anyone. Neither one of them really lets anyone in to know how they are feeling; they hold in their emotions. Eilis from the novel Brooklyn is being sent to America for work by her mother and sister. She is opposed and she wished her sister would take her place. Instead of voicing her feelings to her family she keeps quite and goes along with what they have planned for her. When Lady Gregory from Silence was cheating on her husband and realized she didn’t really like him much she also kept quite. Lady Gregory’s story took place in the 1880’s and Eilis’ takes place in the 1900’s. During these times women were limited in power and this explains their characteristic of being submissive.
In the early 1900’s and long before then women were not treated equally to men. Your feelings were not valid because of your gender and any ideas or beliefs you had were ignored. In the novel Brooklyn and the short story Silence the female characters show just how unfairly a woman was treated. Eilis from Brooklyn was a very indecisive and submissive main character. She allowed others to make important life decisions for her. Specifically, when her sister Rose decides to send her from Ireland to America to work. (Toibin, pg 27) Lady Gregory from Silence knew her intelligence, but was also aware she couldn’t upstage her husband. If her husband and his colleagues were discussing a topic she had knowledge on she couldn’t speak, because she had to seem feeble minded. “She had read all the latest books and she chose her words slowl...
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...ve and afraid to speak their minds. Our society has grown tremendously and allows women and men to be considered each other’s equals. Women are now allowed to do things they could never dream of before 1920’s. Women no longer need to fall silent when there is something they need to say.
Works Cited
• "The Fight for Women's Suffrage." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
• "Gender Roles in the 20th Century." By Megan Worley. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
• Toibin, C. (2009). Brooklyn. New York, NY: Scribner.
• Toibin, C. (2011). Silence. New York, NY: Scribner.
• (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/document.html?doc=13&title.raw=19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women's Right to Vote
• Social change in twentieth century ireland. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.skoool.ie/skoool/examcentre_jc.asp?id=1918
Women did not have many rights at the turn of the century. What few rights and freedoms they did have were dominated by social standards. They were expected to cater to their husbands' wishes and commands. I think their society oppressed them more often than their own husbands did. A good example of this in "A Jury of Her Peers" is Martha Hale. Lewis Hale treats his wife as an equal privately, but does not treat her as an equal in public. When Mrs. Hale attempts to interrupt her husband as he tells the county attorney what he experienced in the Wright household she does not treat him as a master, but as an equal (Glaspell 260). Clearly she is not afraid of him. Many women at this time would have never even attempted to distract or interrupt their husband while they talked.
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Salisbury, Joyce E. and Andrew E Kersten. “Women in the United States, 1960–1990.” Daily Life through History.ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
Many parts of history show that the 1950’s was a time of great turbulence and unrest in both politics and social life. All this unrest was caused by major historical events, including the Red Scare/McCarthyism and the Cold War. However, although many aspects of life in the 50’s were in such disarray, gender roles were not one of those aspects. In fact, there was a very narrow, strict idea of what it meant to be a male and a female during this time. The following discusses what was considered proper gender roles in the 1950’s and how these roles vary compared to the gender roles portrayed in the 1955 movie, Rebel Without a Cause.
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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 structures. 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.
In the 1920s, women struggled to develop a work identity that would give them professional status and preserve their femininity (Walkowitz, 1051). They wanted to be eligible for an executive position, but at the same time they also wanted to be Women finally began working outside the home, but not yet at the level, status, and rank they deserved. They deserved
The 19th Century is an age that is known for the Industrial Revolution. What some people don’t realize is the effect that this revolution had on gender roles in not only the middle and upper classes (Radek.) It started off at its worst, men were considered powerful, active, and brave; where as women were in no comparison said to be weak, passive, and timid (Radek.) Now we know this not to be true, however, back in the day people only went by what would allow ...
"Societal Roles and Expectations through the 1940's-50's." : Role of Women during the 1940's. Web. 13 May 2014. http://americanhistory1940-50.blogspot.fi/p/role-of-women-during-1940s.html
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...
During the 19th century middle to upper class women were faced with dichotomous roles. On one hand they were expected to be idle, fragile, not engaged in intellectual activities outside of the home. On the opposite hand these same women were expected to withstand the vagaries that were common during the 19th century such as the death of their husband or a reversal of their financial situation(i). This contradiction of roles bore heavily on women who often lacked power or control over their own lives(ii).
Women have been humiliated in so many ways such as making their own decisions and the same equal rights as men. Women had no authority whatsoever within their family or outside of it. Their role was just to maintain the house, to take care of the children and to cook for the family. Some of them were very ‘fortunate’ to have semi suitable occupations, such as teachers, nurses, jewelry makers or office assistants. Even though their wages were very limited, they wanted to work to show somewhat their independency. In the 1800’s, women had a very rough time in society. They were not allowed to vote or voice their opinion. They had to stand by and watch men decide on their own personal rights. Men didn’t believe that women were capable of making complicated decisions and that it should be left up to the men to decide on everything. Men didn’t believe that women were intelligent enough to do anything. They thought that women were meant to be at home education their sons to be more knowledge and their daughters to be housewives. Their lives were very rough since they had no rights. It was hard for women to have any type of education since no schools would accept women students. They weren’t allowe...
Twenge, Jean, W Campbell, and Brittany Gentile. "Male and Female Pronoun Use in U.S. Books Reflects Women's Status, 1900-2008." Sex Roles. 67.9.10 (2012): 488-493. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. .