Text 3, a four frame comic strip by Cathy Guisewite, published in 1986 with the permission of UNIVERSAL UCLICK, discusses the challenges faced by women in regards to the society they live in. The text aims to shed light on gender discrimination and make its viewers recognize the role of society in building up both male and female genders. The use of relevant images and emotive language revolve around the audience, purpose and theme, tone, stylistic devices, and the structural conventions of the text. Such attributes combine to form another one of Guisewite's influential and sensational comic strips.
A comic strip often blends serialized texts with a sequence of drawings to display humor, sarcasm or irony. The illustrations involved in Cathy's comic strip make the text easy to comprehend, and therefore, anyone could enjoy it. As for the captions included in the storyline, a social issue that deals with the entire society is being depicted. It is then fair to claim that this comic strip targets the general public and a diversified range of audience in society. Parents would find the cartoon interesting as they usually face gender discrimination with their babies. The use of words like ''boy'', ''girl'' and ''people'' (frames 1 - 4) in every frame of the comic strip suggests that there is a lack of specificity and that the illustrator aims in keeping the idea of the text general in order to make it relatable. The illustrator tries to send a message to its audience by making the mother, the protagonist who is probably herself, desire for her baby to have ''one chance'' to meet ''people free from sex stereotyping'' (frame 1). The illustrator generalizes in this frame, as she asserts that all people are not free from sex stereotypes...
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...y. For example, the illustrator starts the caption with bold and large words, such as "GIRL! SHE'S A GIRL!" (frame 3) to portray how the protagonist's emotions have changed from surprised to frustrated. This normal form of conversation makes the text much less formal for the audience, as if it is casual conversation taking place in a hospital. This is backed up with the lack of statistics and figures used in cartoons.
All in all, Cathy Guisewite makes use of the text's various stylistic devices and multiple structural conventions to prove that this text is characteristic of comic strips. An effort is made by the illustrator to create a humorous, yet critical, tone for its target audience, the general public. Therefore, the text suits its purpose as it sheds light on the theme, which is sex discrimination, and through humor, criticizes this social misconception.
The main audience of this comic is clearly Caucasian women of either a young age or of a child rearing age
For centuries women have been perceived as overshadowed figures who remain in a separate sphere from men. The term “separate spheres” refers to the distinct, conventional characteristics associated with gender differences. The public sphere of men is associated with commerce whereas the domestic sphere for women is linked with the household. However, there is more than just one perspective on feminism. The feminist view is influenced by three main voices: the French, American, and British. French feminists focus their attention on language; American feminists analyze the literary aspects; and British feminists examine the historical processes (Murfin 296-299). Using these perspectives, we can see the oppression of women conveyed in many different texts throughout literature and in history. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, for instance, exhibits not only a feminist view in the text, but also in society during Shelley’s time period as displayed by her negotiations with the separate spheres. Voltaire’s Candide also conveys powerful gender differences and reveals the oppression of women throughout the novel. Therefore, a correlation can be seen between the view of women in the two novels and how it reflects the culture and time period in which the novels were written.
From the beginning, Lynn Peril illustrates situations in which women have to deal with a bunch of admonitions to become more feminine and good-natured. And these tips are not just some other normal tips; they become famous and being rulers to evaluate the dignity of women. Then, the author goes on to relate her real “Pink Think” experience throughout her life and express her strong feelings, “I formed an early aversion to all things pink and girly” (Peril, 280). She also fleer some girls who feign innocence and pretend to look as if butter would not melt in their mouth.
...ation of men and women to the reader; we accept the cliché’s and gender-roles as the collective standard.
Files, The ForbesWoman. "What Do Comic Books Teach Us About Gender Attitudes?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 09 May 2014
Worse, when women swallow the emptiness, loneliness, and naked violence that comes with their gender performance, their ability to develop self-awareness on matters such as academic, sexual, reproductive, safety, and health care rights no longer exists. When characters such as Ruth from Green Girls come to believe that womanhood means being on display and having to perform their roles as women in public spheres despite the feelings of wanting to shield oneself from strangers, they lose their freedom and become fettered to performative roles. Their performance of gender becomes, as Butler mentions, the result of both subtle and blatant coercions. These coercions offer a script of life that women must follow in order to remain the star of their
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.
Society continually places restrictive standards on the female gender not only fifty years ago, but in today’s society as well. While many women have overcome many unfair prejudices and oppressions in the last fifty or so years, late nineteenth and early twentieth century women were forced to deal with a less understanding culture. In its various formulations, patriarchy posits men's traits and/or intentions as the cause of women's oppression. This way of thinking diverts attention from theorizing the social relations that place women in a disadvantageous position in every sphere of life and channels it towards men as the cause of women's oppression (Gimenez). Different people had many ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities amound women, including expressing their voices and opinions through their literature. By writing stories such as Daisy Miller and The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic that took a major toll in American History. In this essay, I am going to compare Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” to James’ “Daisy Miller” as portraits of American women in peril and also the men that had a great influence.
Women have traditionally been known as the less dominant sex. Through history women have fought for equal rights and freedom. They have been stereotyped as being housewives, and bearers and nurturers of the children. Only recently with the push of the Equal Rights Amendment have women had a strong hold on the workplace alongside men. Many interesting characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men. This tension is derived from men; society, in general; and within a woman herself. Two interesting short stories, “The Yellow Wall-paper and “The Story of an Hour, “ focus on a woman’s plight near the turn of the 19th century. This era is especially interesting because it is a time in modern society when women were still treated as second class citizens. The two main characters in these stories show similarities, but they are also remarkably different in the ways they deal with their problems and life in general. These two characters will be examined to note the commonalities and differences. Although the two characters are similar in some ways, it will be shown that the woman in the “The Story of an Hour” is a stronger character based on the two important criteria of rationality and freedom.
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
characters created to display a woman’s search for a way out of the bonds of her society.
Society continually places specific and often restrictive standards on the female gender. While modern women have overcome many unfair prejudices, late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century women were forced to deal with a less than understanding culture. Different people had various ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities, including expressing themselves through literature. By writing a fictional story, authors like Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James were given the opportunity to let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic.
Characterization plays an important role when conveying how one’s personality can disintegrate by living in a restrictive society. Although Kat is slowly loosing her mind, in the story, she is portrayed as a confident woman who tries to strive for excellence. This can be seen when she wants to name the magazine “All the Rage”. She claims that “it’s a forties sounds” and that “forties is back” (311). However the board of directors, who were all men, did not approve. They actually “though it was too feminist, of all things” (311). This passage not only shows how gender opportunities is apparent in the society Kat lives in, but also shows the readers why Kat starts to loose her mind.
In Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel entitled Fun Home, the author expresses her life in a comical manner where she explains the relationship between her and her family, pointedly her father who acts as a father figure to the family as she undergoes her exhaustive search for sexuality. Furthermore, the story describes the relationship between a daughter and a father with inversed gender roles as sexuality is questioned. Throughout the novel, the author suggests that one’s identity is impacted by their environment because one’s true self is created through the ability of a person to distinguish reality from fictional despotism.
The kinds books children and young adults read today are read because they offer either important lessons or qualities that the children and young adults should portray. Books that children read reflect on the social structure on our world. A significant social issue today is one of gender inequality where men and women are still not seen as equals at home or in the workplace. This inequality reflects the sexism that occurs against women. Sexism is discrimination and stereotyping based on sex, most commonly against women.The sexism between men and women that exists today reflect the female stereotypes often seen in literature new and old. Literature published in the Nineteenth and Twentieth century, like Little Women and Peter Pen, and even