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The role of the woman in literature
The role of the woman in literature
Effect of society on literature
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In Joyce Jones’s short story, “The Boarding House,” characterization is a key factor. Mrs. Mooney, a divorced wife, was considered to be a woman who was very determined by the author. As the protagonist of this short story, Mrs. Mooney firmly takes control of her own life, as well as her daughter Polly’s. She successfully planned to secure her daughter in a comfortable marriage in which shows her character is a bit ambiguous. It seems as though she demands equality between men and women but also manipulates relationships to rid herself of her daughter. The short story reveals Mrs. Mooney’s character is justified throughout her actions in the plot.
After a bad marriage with a drunk, Mrs. Mooney opens a boarding house to make a living. In this short story, her tenants refer to her as, “Madam.” The author implies that she is respected through that statement. Having given her daughter the opportunity to be around so many men, Mrs. Mooney watches in silent approval as Polly begins to see a shy middle aged business man. In the beginning of the story, Mrs. Mooney, having learned the details of the situation from her daughter, prepares to firmly confront the lover, Mr. Doran. It appears as though she is “determined” to make him marry her daughter (Joyce 413), Polly because of social standards, and the pressure of religion and the economy.
This story also describes a clear angle of shallow relationships people drift into and end up being trapped within the situation. Mrs. Mooney, herself had a hard life and a bad marriage and started her own business that was built with determination. The author attempts to indicates that she must have very few illusions about love or marriage. She is only concerned with getting her children settled, ...
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...gainst the surface.” (Arp 161)
Works Cited
Arp, Thomas R. and Greg Johnson. “Characterization.” Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound,
and Sense. 10th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2009. Print.
Jones, Joyce. “The Boarding House.” Rpt. In Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrines
Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense. 10th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2009. Print.
Parascandola, Louis, and Maria McGarrity. "'I'm a ... Naughty Girl': Prostitution and Outsider
Women in James Joyce's 'The Boarding House' and Eric Walrond's 'The Palm Porch.'." CLA Journal 50.2 (Dec. 2006): 141-161. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 118. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Jan. 2012.
Woolf, Virginia. "Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown." Collected Essays. Ed. Leonard Woolf. Vol. 1.
London: Hogarth, 1966. 319-337. 4 vols. 1966-67.
Although she seems very friendly and talkative, Curley’s wife is nothing more than a careless self-obsessed character. At every chance, this deceptive lady talks about her lost opportunities. She speaks of a traveling actor who told her she could join their show at Hollywood. Unfortunately, Curley’s wife never made the “cut”. She convinces herself that her mother stole the letter instead of believing the truth that they weren't interested in her talent. This type of thinking and disregard is very different from a typical lady in the 1930’s. Because times were hard, there was never enough food or clothing to go around. In order to fix these disparities, the mother typically cared for others and took the role of the “sharer”. Curley’s wife seems to be nothing more than someone who carelessly acts without thinking about the consequences it may on others. In fact, she flirts deliberately with all of the workers for two main reasons. Indirectly, she ensures that they suffer Curley's belligerent wrath which only makes Curley feel even worse about hims...
In the stories “The Boarding House” by James Joyce and “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, it’s ironic how different these two stories plots are, yet they are dealing with the same problem. The protagonists let their social status and the opinions of others come between their relationships instead of basing their decisions on modesty and love. In “The Boarding House,” Mr. Doran is one of the boarders and he is having an affair with a young woman named Polly, the owner of the boarding house’ daughter. He has to decide whether or not to marry Polly in order to save this perception people have of him. In “Desiree’s Baby” Armand marries an orphan woman, “She was nameless… What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?”
In class there have been many discussions over the relationships and marriages among the books we have read. When someone thinks of marriage, a fairy tale with a happy ending might come to mind, or possibly a safe haven for those looking for something stable. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, marriage takes a turn for the worse. Marriage is no longer the happy memories in a lifetime. It can be the thing that hinders the women in these stories from developing their full potential or experiencing the world and other lifestyles. Through these texts and this time frame, we will analyze the meaning of their marriages, how they function, and the end result of both.
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.
Why would a married woman go out, spend the night with a man whom she barely knows, when she has a wonderful, devoted husband and child? Mrs. Mallard's cry of ultimate relief and the joy she felt when she learned of her husband's deathis intolerable.
Premarital sexual relationships during the time period (1917) are extremely taboo. In the past if a young woman from a small town and a man from the city had an affair, it would end with the family of the wealthy young man paying for a place for the young women to raise the child. Wharton does not directly elude to sex between Charity and Harney but their afternoons and nights spent at the shack that they found together, we are supposed to infer that they are having a sexual relationship. Charity is becoming Harney’s love object and has no intention of marrying Charity, Grafton
In eighteen ninety - one, when the "The Yellow Wallpaper" was written, women were often treated as second - class citizens. They were, for the most part, dominated by a society controlled by men. The men were the leaders, ruling the home and the workplace; the women were under their authority. The wife, of whom this story is about, reflects this attitude society has towards her. Her husband even decides what furniture and things are to be in her room. She submits to those decisions, even to the point of agreeing with him. This is evidenced when she says, "But he is right enough about the beds and windows and things……I would not be so silly as to make him uncomfortable just for a whim"(472). Wives like this were regarded as possessions of the husbands, and, in light of that, they had few rights. Just as was the wife, many women were believed to be good only for bearing children and running a household. Often times the husband retained a housekeeper or some such servant so the wives only bore children and did little else. In the case of the wife in our story, her husband, John, ...
Contrastingly, Mrs. Darling, his wife, is portrayed as a romantic, maternal character. She is a “lovely lady”, who had many suitors yet was “won” by Mr. Darling, who got to her first. However, she is a multifaceted character because her mind is described “like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East”, suggesting that she is, to some extent, an enigma to the other characters, especially Mr. Darling. As well as this, she exemplifies the characteristics of a “perfect mother”. She puts everything in order, including her children’s minds, which is a metaphor for the morals and ethics that she instils in them. Although ...
The portrayal of gender in this text shows the husband as the prime breadwinner of the household while the wife stays home to clean the house and tend for the children. This is clearly our traditional family lifestyle of a household. Now although this can be considered traditional, we clearly see this lifestyle outdated in our twenty-first century society today. The text is demonstrated to show the young daughter her place in society, and teach the young girl the everyday tasks she will need to know in order to run a household smoothly and successfully. It is also clear that the mother’s life reflects all of these ideals that a husband should be the one working and the wife is to be happy and content by taking great pride and satisfaction in the caring for her home. The mother also has strong view on the behavior for a women in society and throughout the story gives many warning on her daughters behavior such as “on Sundays try and walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming”. (Kincaid 56) This is a clear statement from the mother tha...
Many women in modern society make life altering decisions on a daily basis. Women today have prestigious and powerful careers unlike in earlier eras. It is more common for women to be full time employees than homemakers. In 1879, when Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll's House, there was great controversy over the out come of the play. Nora’s walking out on her husband and children was appalling to many audiences centuries ago. Divorce was unspoken, and a very uncommon occurrence. As years go by, society’s opinions on family situations change. No longer do women have a “housewife” reputation to live by and there are all types of family situations. After many years of emotional neglect, and overwhelming control, Nora finds herself leaving her family. Today, it could be said that Nora’s decision is very rational and well overdue.
In the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the role of a woman in society is one of domestic duties. Jeenie, the protagonist’s sister-in-law, is a great example of this. The protagonist is forbidden, by her husband, to “work” until she is well again, so Jeenie steps in and assumes her domestic identity of a woman and wife. The protagonist calls her “a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper” and says she “hopes for no better profession” (Gilman 343). Jeenie clearly has no aspirations outside the confines of her domestic role. The protagonist herself worries she is letting her husband, John, down by not fulfilling her domestic duties. She says “it does weigh on me so not to do my duty in any way” (Gilman 342). Besides the domestic role, which she is unable to fulfill, the protagonist plays the helpless, fragile, role of a woman where she is deemed incapable of thinking for herself and is reduced to acting more or les...
...ve been suffering mental abuse by their husband. This play presents the voice of feminism and tries to illustrate that the power of women is slightly different, but can be strong enough to influence the male dominated society. Although all women are being oppressed in the patriarchal society at that time, Glaspell uses this play as a feminist glory in a witty way to win over men. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters solve the crime by reflecting on Minnie Wright’s unhappy marriage that leads her to murdering. Using the relationship between female and male characters throughout the play, Glaspell speaks up to emphasize how the patriarchal society underestimated women’s rights and restricted women’s desires.
Mrs. Bennett, in this world where eligible marriages for young ladies are chief objectives, had succeeded in her aim, using her good looks while she had them. Mrs. Bennett's main concern was marrying off the elder Bennett girls to men with monetary means.&...
The nineteenth century was truly a different time for women and what their assumed roles in life would be. Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll’s House” is an examination into those assumed roles and a challenge to them. It was a time of obedience and inequality and in the first act each character is shown to portray these qualities. However, the characters in this play have multiple layers that get peeled back as the story progresses. As each new layer is revealed the audience is shown that even with the nineteenth century ideals, the true nature of each character is not quite what they appeared to be initially.
The light that Virginia Woolf shed not only on women in literature in 1929, but on women’s equality as a whole, has finally paid off. Throughout the decades succeeding her book, women have been climbing their way up the social ladder inch by inch. The historical meaning of A Room of One’s Own started off as this almost plea for a woman’s voice to be heard. Though women have the same rights as men, are they suddenly seen as the same, or are there times where the word “equality” just becomes a social appearance? This theme of wanting to be heard, and women’s equality still resonates with the gender today. Women can look back and realize how far they have come. Women are now heard through mediums such magazines, books, poems, novels, lectures, and essays to name a few. Women are able to understand this text that Woolf gave them and use it as a tool to remember that power in literature comes great responsibility. The responsibility here is to maintain, progress, and preserve the important role women play in society by means of educating men. Women should also not think of themselves, in this generation, as superior to men just because they are now regarded in the same manner. “All this pitting of sex against sex, of quality against quality; all this claiming of superiority and imputing of inferiority, belong to the private-school stage of