Debra Busman’s short story, Like a Woman, addresses the issue of gender inequality. Through the narrator’s demeaning jobs and attitude towards men, Busman argues that continuous disrespect and harassment from men creates permanent damage in the lives of women.
The narrator’s past experience with men has caused her to willingly become a prostitute. Rather than “waking up to find some big hairy thing climbing on or off me,”(90) the narrator decides to put matters in her own hands and claims that “at least now I’m calling the shots and making some money.” (90) At fifteen years old, the narrator has already been so violated by men that she sees the only way to take control of her situation and life is to sell her body. Busman use of a strong and
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As a donut shop waitress, she has to cater to policemen and rather than feel protected she listens to them brag about the men they beat and women they rape. The police talk right in front of her, not caring if she hears them. Despite spitting in their coffee and her visions of shooting them, the narrator is afraid and trembles in their presence. Busman shows that no matter their job or prestige, men lack respect towards women.
Although Busman gives us a character with no name and relatively no background, it is easy to feel bad for her.The narrator does not have a single positive relationship with a man. The men in her life have been rapist, clients, drug dealers, policemen, and her boss. While each has created some form of damage in her life, of the five, she is only really afraid of the police.The narrator accepts her position in society, noting that it’s best to “just stay invisible and try and keep from showing my fear.”
Busman presents a character, who craves independence, but has to appeal to men in order to survive. She tries to maintain control by selling drugs and her body, but ends up working under a boss and catering to the needs of others. Her interactions with men have devalued her body and self esteem. At only fifteen years old, the narrator has realized the harsh realities of being a poor woman and accepts her
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DeSoto presents a dilemma of whether or not is is appropriate to interfere when someone is being a victim of racism and with the use of character guilt and passiveness, DeSoto firmly reinstates the importance of speaking up.
On a city bus a drunk man is given complete authority to harass an Asian passenger. Esther, the passenger's seat neighbor, is at first not bothered by the racial remarks. She tries to justify her passiveness by telling herself that “she was Japanese, not Chinese, and therefore in the present case immune,” but it is not enough and eventually she does feel guilt. DeSoto use of the scene highlights the reluctance we have to speak up and the justification we use to defend our cowardness.
To avoid confrontation, Esther tries to cheer up the Chinese women by smiling at her, however the attempt is meaningless. “The women, in turn looking at her, presented a face so impassive yet cold...that Esther’s overture fell quite flat.” (134) The Chinese women is not looking for comfort, but for someone to stop the verbal abuse. DeSoto gives us a character who knows the situation is wrong, but because of fear does not want to take a risk. Esther choses to privately show her support for the Chinese women, but it is neither effective nor
In this poem, “On the Subway”, written by Sharon Olds brings two worlds into proximity. We will identify the contrast that develops both portraits in the poem and discuss the insights the narrator comes to because of the experience. The author refers to several literary techniques as tone, poetic devices, imagery, and organization. The poem talks about a historical view based on black and white skin. It positions the two worlds the point of view of a black skinned and a white skinned. The boy is described as having a casual cold look for a mugger and alert under the hooded lids. On the other hand, based on his appearance the white skinned person felt threatened by the black boy. She was frightened that he could take her coat, brief case, and
Facing sexism and mistreatment at the hands of oppressive men is one of the biggest challenges a woman can face in contemporary and traditional societies. All challenges animate life, and we are given purpose when we deem it necessary to overcome said trials. Post-completion, life’s tests let us emerge with maturity and tenacity that we could not find elsewhere. Janie and Hester were dealt unfair hands in life, yet instead of folding and taking the easy way out, they played the game. They played, lost, and played again, and through this incessant perseverance grew exponentially as human beings.
The novel complicates its own understanding of women
illustrates the discrimination against women and the issues that arise from a gender double standard society.
When Harding’s wife came to visit, she immediately gets into an argument with Harding and plays with her husband’s sexual insecurities by using her sexuality to this advantage. Billy Bibbit’s mother still continues to treat him as a child. This was he could never sexually develop and never had any long lasting relationships. Due to his lack of relationships, he truly had no confidence in himself and was why he personally checked himself into the psychiatric hospital, much like other patients. But when he interacts with one of the “good” characters, Candy, a prostitute, he manages to regain some of his confidence back, which is cut short due to his suicide when Nurse Ratched threatens to tell his mother of him sleeping with Candy, which is another example of Nurse Ratched emasculating many of the male characters. Bromden’s mother similarly has a great power over her son much like Billy’s mother. But in Bromden’s case, his mother built herself up by putting both Bromden and his father down. She managed to change the once powerful and fierce chief into a weak alcoholic. Will Bromden’s mother seems to emasculate the males in her family in a more severe and powerful way, while Billy’s mother seems to do it in an even “nurturing” sort of view, both women have ruined their sons through their very controlling
The story identifies three characters: Sylvia, Sugar and a black woman, Ms. Moore. Initially, Sylvia does not like Miss Moore as she believed she prevented children from having fun but in reality Miss Moore wanted to show them the real side of the life. So she organized a trip to F.A.O. Schwartz. As the story develops, the reader gets a glimpse of Sylvia “street smarts” and her leadership role as they travel to a toy store in a cab.
Until the last hundred years or so in the United States, married women had to rely on their husbands for money, shelter, and food because they were not allowed to work. Though there were probably many men who believed their wives could “stand up to the challenge”, some men would not let their wives be independent, believing them to be of the “inferior” sex, which made them too incompetent to work “un-feminine” jobs. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, feminist writers began to vent their frustration at men’s condescension and sexist beliefs. Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” and Zora Neale Hurson’s “Sweat” both use dialogue to express how women are capable of and used to working hard, thinking originally, being independent
We see the Underground Man try to save, and change, a young lady named Liza, who is a prostitute. His goal here was to save her and take her out of the evils of society, but because he has never been loved or had the feeling of affection, he ultimately falls in love with her but knows they cannot be
In conclusion, the poem “On the Subway” by Sharon Olds discusses the insights of a woman on a subway. The woman feels somewhat threatened by the boy sitting across her. The author of the poem utilizes tone, metaphor, and imagery to give prominence to the contrasts between the man and
In the majority of early cultures and societies, women have always been considered subservient and inferior to men. Since the first wave of feminism in the 19th century, women began to revolt against those prejudicial social boundaries by branching out of the submissive scope, achieving monumental advances in their roles in civilization. However, gender inequality is still prevalent in developed countries. Women frequently fall victim to gender-based assault and violence, suffer from superficial expectations, and face discriminatory barriers in achieving leadership roles in employment and equal pay. Undoubtedly, women have gained tremendous recognition in their leaps towards equal opportunity, but to condone these discrepancies, especially
Miss Brill is a story about an old woman that lacks companionship and self-awareness. She lives by herself and goes through life in a repetitive manner. Each Sunday, Miss Brill ventures down to the park to watch and listen to the band play. She finds herself listening not only to the band, but also to strangers who walk together and converse before her. Her interest in the lives of those around her shows the reader that Miss Brill lacks companionship.
In the short story “Little Things are Big” by Jesus Colon, a Puerto Rican man (the narrator) finds himself deciding not to help a white woman carrying things on the train, because of the possible ways she could have responded to his offer. The topics of racism and considering other people’s opinions are the main sources of conflict throughout the whole story. Racism affects people’s opinions, and their opinions can affect others’ decisions. As an example from the short story, the Puerto Rican man’s natural instinct was to help the woman, but because he worried she may have been racist, he chose not to offer his help. People should never make decisions based on others’ opinions because it results in negativity, and in this story, harmed the Puerto Rican man, the woman, and society.
...e relationship with men, as nothing but tools she can sharpen and destroy, lives through lust and an uncanny ability to blend into any social class makes her unique. Her character is proven as an unreliable narrator as she exaggerates parts of the story and tries to explain that she is in fact not guilty of being a mistress, but a person caught in a crossfire between two others.
When the American man comes to save her is when it gets important. The awareness has risen, and the forced prostitutes are liberated. Ultimately, the novel acts as a learning tool. It exposes topics unknown to many in our privileged Western world. Not everyone knows about the system of sexual slavery and how pervasive it still is in other countries. The reader quickly learns everything there is to know about how scary and dangerous the trafficking can be, and how it impacts those sold into its dark ways.
But she has zero capability left to even interact normally with the outer physical world, and so it is, although she isn’t even there. Throughout the story, the reader is called to trust the narrator although it is clear she is going crazy, for she is the only telling the story. Gilman is able to develop the theme through this character’s point of view by showing that the narrator has no choice in the world in which she lives—she must obey the men in her life above all else. If Gilman chose any other perspective, the story would not have been able to portray the woman’s oppression as well, because the reader would not have been able to see into her mind as it slipped away well into insanity.