The Factors That Contribute to Social Criticism Tillie Olsen's novel “Yonnondio: From the Thirties” portrays complex layers of physical and psychological conflict and the result is a haunting work of social criticism. Yonnondio is, among many things a protest novel and is representations of poverty, violence, and exploitation convey its protest. Social criticism, in literary context, means seeing literature as a reflection of the environment. Examples of social criticism include: struggles of the poor, oppression of the working class, and even civil rights struggles. Social criticism is not historical criticism. Social criticism examines literature in the cultural, economic, and political context in which it is written or received. There are several themes, symbols, and instances in the story that add to the social criticism displayed in the story. Olsen uses the theme poverty, which contributes to the idea of social criticism in the story …show more content…
Jim works in the mine. Every morning, his six-year-old daughter Mazie, along with the rest of the town, wake up to the sound of the mine whistle. During the morning, this is a call for all the miners to get up and go to work. If it rings during the day, it means that one of the workers has been killed. One morning, Anna Holbrook, worries about the new fire boss, whose carelessness may create a massive explosion and kill many of the miners. Mazie, outside, talks to herself how the mine is the "bowels of the earth" and the coal makes people black on the
Literary works are always affected by the times and places in which they are written. Those crafted in Western America often reflect conflicts that occurred between advancing civilization and the free spirited individual. The 1970’s was a particularly popular time for authors to introduce new ideas for living in the modern world. There are few authors who captured the essence and feeling of culture quite like Tom Robbins. Robbins comments on the differences and similarities between Western civilization and Eastern philosophies. His text offers philosophical and cultural meaning that is completely original. Certain beliefs are threaded through out the content of the story. He includes significant content reflecting the laws of physics; how motion and force affect the life process. Through the dialogue and action of his characters, Robbins illustrates how two very different ideals can coexist. Robbins intentions are to expand cultural perspectives and awareness through his novels. His use of metaphors and stylistic diction emphasizes further how thoughtful and awesome his work is. Tom Robbins writing offers an insightful perspective into cultural themes of our modern world.
Knowing and understanding social, political, and cultural history is extremely important when reading many novels, especially Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Linda Brent and any short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Both of these authors had many extinuating circumstances surrounding their writings that should be noted before reading their works. Without knowing what was happening both in the outside world and in the respected author's life, one cannot truly grasp what the author is trying to say or what the author truly means by what he or she is saying. In this paper, I will show how important it is for the reader to understand the social, political, and cultural happenings in the writer's lives and in the world surrounding them during the times that their works were written.
...simov. Ed. Joseph D. Olander and Martin Harry Greenberg. N.p.: Taplinger, 1977. 32-58. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jean C. Stine. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale, 1983. 41-45. Print.
It is interesting to see how the different Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism are altered by the text they are describing. For example, I have one volume on Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, and another for Great Expectations, both of which demonstrate the extent to which the object of critique affects the critique itself, such that “deconstruction criticism” in an intellectual vacuum is something different than when a scholar tries to apply it to a particular text, altering both the text as well as the principles of deconstruction. The Awakening gender criticism takes on a different feel from Great Expectation gender criticism even though they are informed by the same principles, because gender in the early Victorian Dickens is different than in the turn of the century American Chopin. In this way the criticism co-constructs with the primary document something different than both the criticism and the original text. Such a syntheses have produced exciting and innovative ideas, refreshing and reviving works from the tombs of academia. Unfor...
In the novel “The Awakening” it follows the final months of the story 's protagonist Edna Pontellier. By the end of the story Edna ends her own life after what I believe was a failed attempt on her trying to ‘break’ her cultural boundaries. This is all before she goes on an adventure one summer in pursuit of breaking the chains society had put on her. Something that the reader can follow her on and understand why she did what she did that summer. This novel in my eyes was portraying what cultural boundaries can do to people and how far you can push them before you begin to feel the pressure on you . In my eyes it is also the story of the oppressed, people who could not say anything about how they felt, in this case that is Edna a married woman
Harriet Beecher Stowe uses characterization and a tragic situation to portray the contrast of the bourgeois and the proletariat classes and the social movements within the class structure.
Although legality by and large determines the existence and prominence of oppression, the concept extends well beyond the scope of the law. Albeit the law can nullify legislation that entails aspects of oppression such as discrimination, the law can also permit, at times, for such things to exist. A legal system that is implemented and enforced within a society eventually becomes directly fused with the citizens and even life itself. It is interesting that contemporarily we most often discuss and reminisce the most important and most well-known events in our history; the most groundbreaking ones. In our schools we teach the “master-narrative” but overlook the personal lives of historical figures who were involved in such events, as well as those characters who were just “average” victims of their situations. Just as riots and marches can be used as tools for or against a cause, personal expression, on a much smaller and individual scale form the very building blocks that lead to revolutionary events and changes in our world. Collectively revolutionary leaders and events in our history are of utmost importance, but the individuals who may not have had their stories told, or that were involved in the initiation of the cause are just as vital. Before fighting the injustices out in the world we must be able to express them within ourselves. Even leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. had tactics that he would practice when in front of national leaders, and those which he incorporated into his daily and personal life as a means to remain strong. We can observe this “micro-level resistance” to relevant injustices through the lives of individuals such as portrayed in two novels: Kate Chopin’s fictional work, The Awakening, and Harriet...
In Adrienne Rich's essay "When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-vision", the author writes about her personal experience as a woman writer in a male dominated society. Her essay consists of poems, which she had written throughout different times in her life, to demonstrate the transformation in her writing. As a woman writer in a male dominated society, Rich begins writing in the traditional style, "the man's way," but as she continues writing, Rich breaks from these traditional styles to form her own. Like Freire, Rich believes people should break from society and be able to think and question things for themselves. While Freire wants to change the educational system, Rich wants to change writing. Both Freire and Rich want to break from the traditional ways of the past. Rich believes that women need to break from the enduring attitudes of traditions which society has placed upon them. Rich is upset with the limitations placed on women in society, particularly in marriage. It is for this reason that the themes of many of Rich's poems are advice for women to live life for themselves, listening only to what their hearts tell them. The three poems "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers," "Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law" and "Planetarium" are analyzed to demonstrate the changes in Rich's way of writing.
Nelson attempts to solve the issue she highlights by recommending that everyone becomes a spectator. Nelson provides many examples of the different forms of media and art that discuss violence to explain her point that they are all ineffective in trying to solve the violent issues of our world. She says this is because the overabundance causes people to belittle the harsh realities of life. Nelson acknowledges the attempt of the media to raise awareness of contemporary issues; however, she feels that this information being thrown at people results in “the average citizen can then ricochet between these two irreconcilable, collaborative poles until desensitization sets in, and with it a begrudging (or, for some, an enthusiastic) acceptance of the practice” (306). Nelson feels that people just stop caring and they are taking the easy path to solving the world’s problems. She theorizes that passive spectatorship is the key to freedom. Nafisi embraces being a spectator in her story as she finds her way of evading the tyranny through her little class at home. Nelson would simply view this as a temporary solution. Nafisi acknowledges that she allows herself to be overruled by succumbing to the dominant ruling over her as she questions, “Was it any consolation, and did we even wish to remember, that what he did to us was what we allowed him to do?” (296). In this quote, as she draws the comparison between Humbert and the oppression that rules over her life, Nafisi explains that by quitting her job at the university and by simply just allowing the regime to overrule her, she is simply just accepting defeat. She is allowing herself and her students to be demeaned and undermined; however, she feels the best she can do to cope with her issues is living vicariously through literature. O’Brien explains soldier’s coping process is fabricating details and
Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol.
This novel was set in the early 1900’s. During this time, the black people were oppressed by white people. They were abused and taken advantage of. Not only were the black people were oppressed but also women were oppressed. They had little freedom and were unable to be self-sufficient.
Humanity’s identity is heavily influenced by desire. Despite the rarity of progressive female authors, centering writings on the identity of women, two prevalent authors highly regarded for this feat today are Kate Chopin and Virginia Woolf. Chopin grew up in a bilingual and bicultural home, greatly influencing her literature. After Mr. Chopin’s death in 1882, Kate sold their family business and began writing to support her family, mother, and herself. Kate Chopin’s second and most successful full length novel, The Awakening, has been ridiculed and tagged as “morbid, vulgar, and disagreeable” in reflection of the scandalous topics discussed (katechopin.org). Chopin’s novel discusses the roles of women in society and their journey’s in self-discovery.
Her being is as beautiful and delicious as the sea, she realizes once she finally awakes. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening represents the society in which shames those who are deemed to be outcasts, making them the topic of question. Chopin’s society is responsible for having a set standard of women, alienating those who are subjected to oppose it,—but leaving them with a “yellow brick road” to freedom. Protagonist Edna Pontellier is the victim to this novel’s “crime” of ostracization. Edna is the prime example of how society “scopes” in on specific characteristics of women—and is bewildered to anything that is outside of its “range.” These women must meet the standard of being a “lady” or else are prone to questioning.
Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Jay Parini. Vol. 14. Detroit: Gale Research, 1987. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Jan. 2012.
...struggle for power between social classes. The children were oppressed and had a minimal existence during a time when it was socially acceptable. In this work, Blake attacks the church and crown for perhaps their callousness to the difficulties of the lowest class of the economic latter. The church is used as a vehicle to get the economic and customary roles of society in motion. For example, the speaker is a young, unfortunate, and oppressed boy; however, he continues to fulfill his societal obligations in his heartbreaking acceptance to indicate the more devastating indictment of social and economic extremes that sell, purchase, and ultimately, kill and cripple child in harsh labor conditions. It is only once people accepted the cruel reality of their destructive behavior of their past that these horrific instances will cease to continue or repeat in the future.