In many southern areas, family and gender roles have been clearly defined and were generally followed closely for years. Carson McCullers’ The Ballad of the Sad Café features one character, Marvin Macy, who strictly abides by the set gender roles. However, The Ballad of the Sad Café also features Miss Amelia and Cousin Lymon, who do not abide by the roles set for their genders and instead exhibit the characteristics of the gender opposite of their own. As a result, Miss Amelia is seen as a somewhat intimidating individual while Cousin Lymon is seen as the weaker of the two. Even today, men and women are expected to fulfill certain roles and are often viewed negatively if they stray from them, though many of the expectations of gender roles …show more content…
She also treats the townspeople when they’re sick and works to create her own medicine that she tests on herself to make sure it will work. She is unmarried, and her previous marriage lasted a mere ten days before she drove her husband to file for divorce. Because she and her ex-husband, Marvin Macy, were both extremely masculine characters, neither was willing to be seen as anything less than the dominant figure in the relationship. This coupled with the fact that Miss Amelia had no attraction to Macy to begin with drove their marriage to its end. Conversely, because Cousin Lymon had a more feminine personality and was smaller and more submissive than Miss Amelia, the two immediately had some sort of connection and were able to stay together for years, though they were never married. Miss Amelia’s masculinity wasn’t necessarily punished or disparaged, and she was generally liked by the townspeople because she provided them with medicine, but Cousin Lymon was regarded as a nuisance and a gossip and was only allowed to live in the town unscathed for so long because he and Miss Amelia were so close. Whereas Miss Amelia and Marvin Macy’s personalities clashed, Cousin Lymon and Miss Amelia’s personalities complemented each other well, allowing their relationship to be more …show more content…
A study conducted by Lenore Weitzman in the late 1960’s found that many children’s stories had very few female characters and when female characters were present they abided by typical gender roles. However, when books featuring female characters that stepped out of these traditional roles started being published, children were able to develop new ideas of what roles were acceptable for women to fulfill (Feely). Similarly, Carson McCullers uses Miss Amelia, Cousin Lymon, and Marvin Macy to display how those who abide by gender roles are seen by their communities as well as how those who do not are typically viewed. For example, Cousin Lymon exhibited more feminine characteristics and was generally seen as a gossip and a nuisance by the townspeople. Marvin Macy, on the other hand, was a very handsome, masculine man who was described as an “evil character” (McCullers 27) that had a horrible reputation, yet he was still adored by many women in the town. The town did not necessarily dislike Miss Amelia, but because she frequently sued people and was a large, imposing woman she was seen as somewhat
For readers who observe literature through a feminist lens, they will notice the depiction of female characters, and this makes a large statement on the author’s perception of feminism. Through portraying these women as specific female archetypes, the author creates sense of what roles women play in both their families and in society. In books such as The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the roles that the main female characters play are, in different instances, both comparable and dissimilar.
In society, there has always been a gap between men and women. Women are generally expected to be homebodies, and seen as inferior to their husbands. The man is always correct, as he is more educated, and a woman must respect the man as they provide for the woman’s life. During the Victorian Era, women were very accommodating to fit the “house wife” stereotype. Women were to be a representation of love, purity and family; abandoning this stereotype would be seen as churlish living and a depredation of family status. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Henry Isben’s play A Doll's House depict women in the Victorian Era who were very much menial to their husbands. Nora Helmer, the protagonist in A Doll’s House and the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” both prove that living in complete inferiority to others is unhealthy as one must live for them self. However, attempts to obtain such desired freedom during the Victorian Era only end in complications.
The narrator and her husband’s interactions shows her as submissive in terms of gender equality. Although John perceives the narrator as a child with no volunteer ideas, it is shown in her journal that this theory is not valid because she was shaped to comply by the society and the norm. The narrator’s inferiority negatively impacts her mental and physical health to the point she had to rip off the wallpaper to break free. Nevertheless, when read critically, the story also unveil the women’s suffrage movement and its struggle. Since this story was published, women are slowly breaking away from men’s suppression and gaining more rights. In short, society and culture define gender roles; however, the changing economic, social, and education environment open up a new path for women. Nowadays, women are given the chance to prove themselves and can act beyond their gender roles. However, the equality between genders has not been achieved yet. Therefore, women should continue to fight for their rights and freedoms until they are treated with respect and enjoy
town miscreant, meeting Amelia made Martin wish to be a better man. He cleaned up his
In her final letter to her mother, Eliza admits her wrong doings. She tells her mother she ignored all the things she was told. All their advice fell on her deaf ears. She explains that she had fallen victim to her own indiscretion. She had become the latest conquest of “a designing libertine,” (Foster 894). She knew about Sanford’s reputation, she knew his intentions, and she knew that he was married, yet she still started a relationship with him. And her blatant disregard for facts and common sense caused her unwed pregnancy and premature demise. Eliza Wharton had nobody to blame for her situation but herself. She ignored warnings, advice, common sense, and other options available to her. She chose her ill fated path and had to suffer the consequences.
Throughout many of Toni Morrison?s novels, the plot is built around some conflict for her characters to overcome. Paradise, in particular, uses the relationships between women as a means of reaching this desired end. Paradise, a novel centered around the destruction of a convent and the women in it, supports this idea by showing how this building serves as a haven for dejected women (Smith). The bulk of the novel takes place during and after WWII and focuses on an all black town in Oklahoma. It is through the course of the novel that we see Morrison weave the bonds of women into the text as a means of healing the scars inflicted upon her characters in their respective societies.
Many different depictions of gender roles exist in all times throughout the history of American culture and society. Some are well received and some are not. When pitted against each other for all intents and purposes of opposition, the portrayal of the aspects and common traits of masculinity and femininity are separated in a normal manner. However, when one gender expects the other to do its part and they are not satisfied with the results and demand more, things can shift from normal to extreme fairly quickly. This demand is more commonly attributed by the men within literary works. Examples of this can be seen in Tennessee Williams' “A Streetcar Named Desire”, where Stella is constantly being pushed around and being abused by her drunken husband Stanley, and also in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper”, where the female narrator is claimed unfit by her husband as she suffers from a sort of depression, and is generally looked down on for other reasons.
In Carson McCullers’ “The Ballad of the Sad Cafe”, the ending coda shows the work of the Forks Falls chain gang. The chain gang is made up of “twelve mortal men, seven of them black and five of them white boys from this county” (458)1. The song starts when “One dark voice will start a phrase, half-sung, and like a question. And after a moment another voice will join in, soon the whole gang will be singing […] the music intricately blended [...] the music will swell [...] Then slowly the music will sink down until at last there remains one lonely voice”(458). The song of the chain gang correlates the life of the town and Miss Amelia as they change, but eventually goes back into what they were in the beginning.2
The young girl in the story is struggling with finding her own gender identity. She would much rather work alongside her father, who was “tirelessly inventive” (Munro 328), than stay and work with her mother in the kitchen, depicted through, “As soon as I was done I ran out of the house, trying to get out of earshot before my mother thought of what to do next” (329). The girl is torn between what her duties are suppose to be as a woman, and what she would rather be doing, which is work with her father. She sees her father’s work as important and worthwhile, while she sees her mother’s work as tedious and not meaningful. Although she knows her duties as a woman and what her mother expects of her, she would like to break the mould and become more like her father. It is evident that she likes to please her father in the work she does for him when her father says to the feed salesman, “Like to have you meet my new hired man.” I turned away and raked furiously, red in the face with pleasure (328-329). Even though the young girl is fixed on what she wants, she has influences from both genders i...
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is very deep philosophical story about lonely people. Everyone in this book is lonely as hell and they are looking for who they are. John Singer a deaf man who rents a room from the Kelly family and earns his living as a silver engraver. He is a confidant and comfort to Jake Blount, and Doctor Copeland, John Singer's silent suffering and desolate loneliness are perhaps the most poignant of all. John Singer generously devotes himself to his compulsive deaf best friend, Spiros Antonapoulos. Jake Blount is an itinerant alcoholic vacillating between violent tirades and drunken stupors and he comes to town with a disorganized plan to begin a socialist revolt among the working class. He gets a job as a mechanic at the traveling carnival and often talked about social injustices and Jake Blount is lonely just like John Singer. Doctor Copeland practiced medicine for twenty-five years; he feels his job has frustrated his ambition to change the problems between whites and blacks. In addition, he had an illness with tuberculosis, and his son Willie is in prison being abused. His other child Portia who was his daughter, worked for the Kelly family and Doctor Copeland is just as lonely as Singer and Jake. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter packs a huge emotional hit to the heart, and the powerful feelings.John Singer was one of the people in the book that everybody was drawn to because he is a good listener. John Singer is the centerpiece in this story and it revolves around John Singer. John Singer will help you understand the other people in the book because they all come to talk to him about everything that went on in their lives. But for all the talk about how John Singer is a good listener and ...
In a society where the focus on equality amongst different races, religions and sexes continues to grow, it is no surprise that literature has begun to follow suit. Publishers have seen a rise in strong, capable female protagonists who overcome a variety of struggles to save themselves or others and both teens and adults alike rush to get their hands on this material. With such popular literary works to choose from, it seems strange that many schools continue to rely on somewhat archaic material that mistreats and degrades so many women. In John Steinbeck 's Of Mice and Men, for example, the only female character the reader interacts with is treated like a lower-class prostitute who is ultimately killed off due to her seductive behavior. Though Steinbeck 's treatment of women comes mainly from classic gender roles, his portrayal of female characters in Of Mice and Men is
In the story, the female characters are depicted as more accepting of all people and do not make distinctions based on class. For example, Scudéri, a female character who epitomizes the female perception of social classes, believes that there should be “No blind laws, touching the innocent and the guilty alike” (Hoffman 9). The “guilty” can be referred to as the lower class citizens, for all the accused criminals in the story are from the lower class, while the “innocent” can be referred to as upper class citizens, for all the presumably law abiding citizens are from the upper class. This statement means that the female characters believe that there should be no discriminatory laws or societal attitudes towards the “guilty,” or lower class citizens, and the “innocent,” or upper class citizens. On the other hand, the male characters do not believe the same thing. Instead of respecting everyone and ignoring social classes in their interactions with others, they have an unwavering belief that the hierarchy of social classes dictates interactions among citizens, as seen when La Regnie agrees to see Scudéri with “all the consideration which was the due of a lady of her worth,” or societal status (Hoffman 19). However, there is one character that doesn’t fit into the expected category. Unlike most male characters in the story, Olivier ignores societal boundaries and interacts with others regardless of class distinctions just as the women do. For example, Olivier speaks openly to Scudéri and trusts that she will “be so compassionate as to listen” to him tell his story, even though she is from a higher class (Hoffman 25). By portraying Olivier as a character that aligns with the more feminine qualities of respect and equality as presented in the story, Olivier shows what the male characters could be like if they aligned with the female
Very few novels in American Literature can earn the title of timeless. These novels transcend the ages, because they possess a greater meaning. Their stories teach people about life, the glory of the human soul, and all it can endure to overcome. Three novels in particular get to the very heart of feminine struggle. Though they touch not on women’s struggle to vote, they reach the higher plain of women’s struggle to be seen as who they are and not what society wants them to be. To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple and The Bluest Eye all deal with the topic of women trying to overcome society. Although these novels were written in the mid to later half of the twentieth century, they go back to a time when the Great Depression was touching all walks of human life. Each of the main characters in these novels does not fit society’s view of femininity during the time period. Although the main characters in the three stories do not fit society’s idea of femininity, they each, in their own way, overcome this and show a greater beauty of strength.
Throughout American Literature, women have been depicted in many different ways. The portrayal of women in American Literature is often influenced by an author's personal experience or a frequent societal stereotype of women and their position. Often times, male authors interpret society’s views of women in a completely different nature than a female author would. While F. Scott Fitzgerald may represent his main female character as a victim in the 1920’s, Zora Neale Hurston portrays hers as a strong, free-spirited, and independent woman only a decade later in the 1930’s.
The prejudice the women tolerate is evidenced by their tendency to dress in men’s clothing in order to be heard or considered (Olson). As women, their voices are inhibited or disregarded; they are overshadowed and overlooked by society. Portia, for example, has little choice but to consent to being the prize in her “loving” late father’s lottery. All decisions are made in regard to her future and life is influenced by men. The fact that the father is deceased does not diminish his power. In fact, his status a...