Analysis of King Solomon's Mines and its Undertone of Sexism
During the nineteenth century, women were viewed as inferior to men. Men also saw women as prizes as well as possessions. We can see this undertone in the book King Solomon's Mines by H.Rider Haggard. Here, the writer uses Lyn Pykett's essay "Gender, Degeneration, Renovation: Some Contexts of the Modern" as the backbone for the comparison and discussion.
As Allen Quartermain and company gets closer and closer to the diamonds, the description of the scenery is very feministic: "For the nipple of the mountain did not rise out of its exact center."(Haggard 101) As someone had pointed out that the map included in the book also has a hint of a female body, if turned upside down. The Sheba's breasts resemble the breasts of a female, and the location of the diamonds and treasures, which is further down the map, signifies the private of a female. "Woman is a wholly sexual creature, to be defined entirely in terms of sexual relations and the reproductive function."(Pykett 23) When a man meets a woman, his ultimate goal is to get, as Haggard implied in the book, the treasures of the woman; therefore, one can also relate to the scene where Allen Quartermain and company makes a great effort to reach Sheba's breasts. During that phase of the trip, they face many hardships, such as starvation and dehydration. This part of the book could be interpreted as the time when a woman tells her man to slow down because she is not ready to be intimate, yet man, like the characters in the book would continue to strive to their ultimate goal. It is also important to note that after the characters reached Sheba's breasts; they found a stream, killed an inco and had a big feast. Here is a quote from Allen Quartermain after the treat, complementing the view of Sheba's breasts: "I know not how to describe the glorious panorama which unfolded itself to our enraptured gaze. I have never seen anything like it before, nor shall, I suppose, again."(Haggard 104) Another point that should be observed is the fact that the road to the treasure becomes wide and smooth: "It was a very different business traveling along down hill on that magnificent pathway…. Every mile we walked the atmosphere grew softer and balmier, and the country before us shone with a yet more luminous beauty"(Haggard 107). This part of the literat...
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...he sick-room as swiftly, gently, and with as fine instinct as a trained hospital nurse. Day and night she watched and tended him."(Haggard 246) Also, Pykett's essay stated that during that time of the century, women's movement was fighting for the political and social position of women. "The developing scientific culture of the nineteenth century provided a range of very authoritative discourses which claimed to speak about woman and by extension, about and for women."(Pykett 20) This movement is surely against "man" and the norm during that time period. It seems like Haggard does not fully agree with this movement. Therefore, one can certainly identify the where about, the birth of this untainted character Foulata.
In all, one can get an impression of anti-feminism from Haggard. For he believes the old traditional way. Where, men dominate. Such believe can be interpreted through his story and characters in King Solomon's Mines.
Work Cited
Haggard, H. Rider. "King Solomon's Mines." 1989. Oxford, New York: Oxford World Classics 1998
Pykett, Lyn. "Gender. Degeneration, Renovation: Some Contexts of the Modern." In Engendering Fiction (London: Arnold, 1995): 14-
Haney-Peritz, Janice. "Monumental Feminism and Literature 's Ancestral House: Another Look At 'The Yellow Wallpaper '." Women 's Studies 12.2 (1986): 113. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
...eenth century's most important woman's rights advocates, antislavery leaders, and feminist thinkers (Lerner). "Whatever is morally right for a man to do, it is morally right for a woman to do. I recognize no rights but human rights - I know nothing of men's rights and women's rights; for in Christ Jesus, there is neither male nor female" (Grimke, Angelina). "Here then I plant myself. God created us equal;- he created us free agents; - he is our Lawgiver, our King, and our Judge, and to him alone is woman bound to be in subjection, and to him alone is she accountable for the use of those talents with which Her Heavenly Father has entrusted her. One is her Master even Christ" (Grimke, Sarah). As women who spoke publicly against slavery and for women's rights, they continued to inspire female activists to not give up and keep fighting for all human beings to be equal.
Thesis Statement: Men and women were in different social classes, women were expected to be in charge of running the household, the hardships of motherhood. The roles that men and women were expected to live up to would be called oppressive and offensive by today’s standards, but it was a very different world than the one we have become accustomed to in our time. Men and women were seen to live in separate social class from the men where women were considered not only physically weaker, but morally superior to men. This meant that women were the best suited for the domestic role of keeping the house. Women were not allowed in the public circle and forbidden to be involved with politics and economic affairs as the men made all the
Different documents in the Gilded Age prominently illustrated gender inequality in their portrayal of men and women within society. Many photographs in the time period by Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine did not shed light on a woman’s hardships, but rather undermined their domestic work. Society failed to give women credit for their work at home due to the common misconception that a woman’s work was easier than that of a man’s. Margaret Byington’s article Homestead: The Households of a Mill Town contrastingly gave an accurate portrayal of the distress women faced in their everyday life. The representation of women in the Gilded Age varies significantly between that in the photographs, and their domestic, weak personification, and in Byington’s article, which gives women a more accurate depiction through their domestic duties.
Haney-Peritz, Janice. "Monumental Feminism and Literature's Ancestral House: Another Look at 'The Yellow Wallpaper.'" Women's Studies 12:2 (1986): 113-128.
It pinpoints out how women were taken as during the 1900’s. The story also highlights the extremes of repression and sexism by viewing the woman as mad by a rest cure. In the view of the Narrators role as a woman, lack of intellectual stimulation in her thought and unjust environment usually led her insane. This points out failure in the society in which sexism and oppression was carried out towards women. An aspect of feminism portrayed by the Narrator in the story is how she tries to dismiss John’s opinions. She repeatedly requests him to relocate her to another room downstairs. This is an aspect of feminism which should be encouraged among women to demand for their freedom. The Narrator takes part in not conquering with John. But as time goes she is less able to feel the usual relief. John rejects the request and replies to her that she must spend in the nursery room which is barred and rings similar to those of dungeon on the walls. She is denied the right to choose what pleases her. Later she comes to like the nursery room where other times she locks herself up to avoid husband’s disturbance upon the story. Also the act of Narrator’s wallpaper routine is a sense of imprisonment. She recognizes that the pattern is so ugly like a cage imprisoning women who are desperately trying to escape. The Narrator figuratively tears the bars and the wallpaper of the cage to clear her way to escape.
Haney-Peritz, Janice. "Monumental Feminism and Literature's Ancestral House: Another Look at 'The Yellow Wallpaper'" Women's Studies. 12 (1986): 113-128.
context out of which a work of literature emerges molds the interpretation of gender in that work.
In the analysis of the issue in question, I have considered Mary Wollstonecraft’s Text, Vindication of the Rights of Woman. As an equivocal for liberties for humanity, Wollstonecraft was a feminist who championed for women rights of her time. Having witnessed devastating results or men’s improvidence, Wollstonecraft embraced an independent life, educated herself, and ultimately earned a living as a writer, teacher, and governess. In her book, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” she created a scandal perhaps to her unconventional lifestyle. The book is a manifesto of women rights arguing passionately for educating women. Sensualist and tyrants appear right in their endeavor to hold women in darkness to serve as slaves and their plaything. Anyone with a keen interest in women rights movement will surely welcome her inexpensive edition, a landmark documen...
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Butler, J. 1990. Gender Trouble. Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London and New York: Routledge.
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