Diana Dunstan Misogyny

1044 Words3 Pages

“This early period is sometimes described as having two stages, one concerned with the critique of misogynist stereotype in male literature, the other devoted to the recovery of a lost tradition and to the long labor of historical reconstruction” (Rivkin & Ryan p766). During WWI, some women, afraid of being the target of misogyny, chose to undertake the responsibility of sustaining their families while others decided to work. Diana embodies a character who combines the features of both traditional domestic women and independent female workers. In the novel, Diana is an excellent nurse working in the battlefield. She happens to be a beautiful English girl, with a magnetic charm and easy manner, who has also received a good education. Dunstan …show more content…

For example, Diana persistently asks Dunstan a question: “If we aren’t going to be married, that’s that. But what are you going to do, Dunny?” (Davies P89) Diana is very idealistic about what the future holds for Dunstan and herself. This explores an aspect of Diana’s traditional conceptualization of marriage. However, Dunstan does not care about their future as much as Diana. Dunstan’s action exhibits the ideology of male chauvinism: treating women merely as sexual objects. Moreover, Dunstan also believes that women lacked logic and rationality. Diana is a turbulent character who possesses the traits of a traditional woman and independent female at the same time. Diana personifies the change of the social role of …show more content…

During this time period, women extricated (liberated) themselves from the oppression of male-dominated society. “She had been in the W.R.N.S. during the war and had risen through the ranks to become a lieutenant commander and a very capable one. After the war she had established a small travel agency and made it a big one.”(Davies p238) In contrast to Liesl, Denyse emerges more in the domain of politics and possesses more masculine characteristics. Denyse is recognised to be “a power in the world of women” due to her sense of independence that promotes herself to strive hard on her business and political endeavours. Meanwhile, Denyse also is an ambitious, emulative and successful woman who is willing to sacrifice her female traits to acquire a position on the same level as men in this male-dominated society. “Now he [Boy] became aware that this poor girl had sacrificed so much of her feminine self in order to gain success in the business world, and to advance the cause of women who lacked her clarity of vision and common sense.” (Davies p) Denyse undermines the traditional female’s social role. As a result, this sense of independence attracts Boy’s attention and he falls in love with Denyse. “Boy had always been found of the sexual pleasure women could give him, but I doubt if he ever knew

Show More
Related

  • The Power of the Written Word: Literary Greats Paving the Way for Social Equality

    1276 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, women have struggled with, and fought against oppression. They have been held back and weighed down by the sexist ideas of a male dominated society which has controlled cultural, economic and political ideas and structure. During the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s women became more vocal and rebuked sexism and the role that had been defined for them. Fighting with the powerful written word, women sought a voice, equality amongst men and an identity outside of their family. In many literary writings, especially by women, during the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s, we see symbols of oppression and the search for gender equality in society. Writing based on their own experiences, had it not been for the works of Susan Glaspell, Kate Chopin, and similar feminist authors of their time, we may not have seen a reform movement to improve gender roles in a culture in which women had been overshadowed by men.

    Read More

  • Comparing A Raisin In The Sun And Ibsen's A Doll House

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women and men are not equal. Never have been, and it is hard to believe that they ever will be. Sexism permeates the lives of women from the day they are born. Women are either trying to fit into the “Act Like a Lady” box, they are actively resisting the same box, or sometimes both. The experience of fitting in the box and resisting the box can be observed in two plays: Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” and Henrick Ibsen’s “A Doll House”. In Hansberry’s play, initially, Beneatha seems uncontrolled and independent, but by the end she is controlled and dependent; whereas, in Ibsen’s play Nora seems controlled and dependent at the beginning of the play, but by the end she is independent and free.

    Read More

  • epq

    923 Words  | 2 Pages

    Knowing this you would think women would portray themselves more seriously, but the exact opposite is happening. These continuous loops of failure have severely weakened women’s physical presence, and because of this, are continuously singled out in world discussions on topics such as war or threats to national security, and are constantly burdened with tasks regarding health and family life. In my research I read many books from the nineteenth-century onwards, such as, Stuart Mill’s book ‘The Subjection of Women’ (1869) to Butler’s ‘Gender Troubles’ (1990), both of these and many more books has helped in my quest to conjure up a personal concept of women, but out of all of them I found Berger’s ‘Ways of seeing’ the most fruitful in terms of a literal explanation of women.

    Read More

  • Disorderly Women : Gender And Labor

    936 Words  | 2 Pages

    Accordingly, I decided the purposes behind women 's resistance neither renamed sexual introduction parts nor overcame money related dependence. I recalled why their yearning for the trappings of progression could darken into a self-compelling consumerism. I evaluated how a conviction arrangement of feeling could end in sexual danger or a married woman 's troublesome twofold day. None of that, regardless, ought to cloud an era 's legacy. I comprehend prerequisites for a standard of female open work, another style of sexual expressiveness, the area of women into open space and political fights previously cornered by men all these pushed against ordinary restrictions even as they made new susceptibilities.

    Read More

  • Female Roles In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

    545 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Awakening” is a courageous piece of literature work that demonstrates how civilization forced tremendously elevated expectancies for females and their hypothetical roles. Kate Chopin uses this novel to bring those “expected roles” to light. Edith Wharton also shows how this epidemic has restricted and impaired two of the protagonist in her story “Roman Fever”. During the time period that this book was written, in the early nineteenth century, this epidemic of forcing roles on women was widespread, and this altered the lives of these women in an abysmal way incessantly.

    Read More

  • In Anne Bronte's 'The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall'

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    Helen fell in love with Huntingdon based on his wit and handsome looks, but realising his negative features like his heightened levels of self-indulgence and selfishness resolves to change his ways through gentle persuasion and example. As the story unfolded her marriage goes down hill after the birth of their son, Arthur, who Huntingdon sees as a rival for his wife’s attention. The situation is further aggitated by visits of Huntingdon’s drunken friends. The voice of women who suffered was never heard or undermined by the men who controlled them and it seemed as though marriage was a trap for mice in pursuit of love. Intrahousehold inequality has been an underlying issue for a number of years, although times have changed and laws have come into fruition, the unspoken code of gender complementarianism still thrives and exists. You can find it when you look at the dynamics of a household. Look at who spends more time on household chores and who has more time for leisure? Consider whether or not households spend the same amount of income on girls’ and boys’ education, health and nutrition? Furthermore, speaking into the finances of the home, do married women have a say in how their own cash earnings are spent and do they participate in decision-making on major household purchases? These are the dimensions that expose the factual level of equality in a

    Read More

  • Women's Independence in the 19th Century: The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Men weren't really the enemy - they were fellow victims suffering from an outmoded masculine mystique that made them feel unnecessarily inadequate when there were no bears to kill.” (quotegarden) As changes in industry and lifestyle swept the nation in the mid-nineteenth century, questions regarding women’s place in society started to arise. This prompted many women to reevaluate their positions in their own lives. At the time, women were dominantly domestic figures, residing in the house to matronly care for children and tend to household duties not to be bothered with by the husband. It is important to note that men in this century were raised and cultivated to have a certain view of women, so they are not actually malicious as some might view them, they are simply products of their environment. It just so happened that women drew the metaphorical “short stick”. Socially and politically, women were not independent. The only voice they had was through their husbands, and relationships and ideas shared with other women at this time were thought to be nothing more than domestic chatter, not to be taken seriously. The only exception to this widely accepted rule was, of course, a widow. She was not tied to a husband or father, or any male for that matter, so she had more freedom over not only her estate but her personal life as well. This is the situation Louise Mallard finds herself in in Kate Chopin’s short story, The Story of an Hour. Chopin illustrates the woman’s newfound feelings of pure freedom that come with the death of her husband and helps readers to understand the oppression felt by women during this time period using Mrs. Mallard’s view on her marriage and her intense emotions, along with the inner conflict she feels. ...

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in Little House on the Prairie

    2315 Words  | 5 Pages

    During the Victorian Era, society had idealized expectations that all members of their culture were supposedly striving to accomplish. These conditions were partially a result of the development of middle class practices during the “industrial revolution… [which moved] men outside the home… [into] the harsh business and industrial world, [while] women were left in the relatively unvarying and sheltered environments of their homes” (Brannon 161). This division of genders created the ‘Doctrine of Two Spheres’ where men were active in the public Sphere of Influence, and women were limited to the domestic private Sphere of Influence. Both genders endured considerable pressure to conform to the idealized status of becoming either a masculine ‘English Gentleman’ or a feminine ‘True Woman’. The characteristics required women to be “passive, dependent, pure, refined, and delicate; [while] men were active, independent, coarse …strong [and intelligent]” (Brannon 162). Many children's novels utilized these gendere...

    Read More

  • Kingdom Of Matthias Analysis

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the nineteenth century and The Second Great Awakening, the rising market and the changing of women’s roles in society began affecting everything around society. Before the growth of the women’s roles, Matthias and the rest of the men in the community had control over the women, but as the women began gaining freedoms, the men lost their complete control over the ladies, and Matthias began to feel as if his rights as a man and as a laborer had been taken away (Fiorini, 3/10). The book’s has a strong relation to women’s rights during the era of The Second Great Awakening and the equality between men and women during the nineteenth century.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Susanne Beacker's Monster Culture

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Like the Good Other Woman, the Evil Other Woman often spends much of her life hidden away in the castle, secret room, or whatever, a fact suggesting that even a virtuous woman’s lot is the same she would have merited had she been the worst of criminals. The heroine’s discovery of such Other Women is in the one case an encounter with women’s oppression-their confinement as wives, mothers, and daughters-and in the other with a related repression: the confinement of a Hidden Woman inside those genteel writers and readers who, in the idealization of the heroine’s virtues, displace their own rebellious

    Read More

  • The Use Of Irony In The Necklace By Madame Losiel

    1591 Words  | 4 Pages

    The men treated their women as if they were an object. After marriage the husbands had full control over any finances or property that the women had once owned. Women didn’t have to many rights if any and were expected to stay at home and be the stereotypical house wife doing the daily house duties, looking after the children and making the meal. Even if women didn’t like it it was almost as if they were forced to be the stay at home mother. Mathilde Loisel suffering from this middle class life style just wanted to live a glamorous and luxuries life. “She would so much have liked to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be seductive and sought after."(Maupassant 1). Loisel felt trapped in this life of almost poverty and just wants to escape. She wants to live this glamorous life of having things done for her and being able to have the luxuries that the upper class have and is clearly jealous of her wealthy friend Mme. Frostier and would like to be in her shoes. But at the end of the day she is confined in this middle class lifestyle and can only wish for a better

    Read More

  • Women Roles In The 19th Century

    1395 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women roles have changed drastically in the last 50 to 80 years, women no longer have to completely conform to society’s gender roles and now enjoy the idea of being individuals. Along with the evolution of women roles in society, women presence and acceptance have drastically grown in modern literature. In early literature it was common to see women roles as simply caretakers, wives or as background; women roles and ideas were nearly non-existent and was rather seen than heard. The belief that women were more involved in the raising of children and taking care of the household was a great theme in many early literatures; women did not get much credit for being apart of the frontier and expansion of many of the nations success until much later.

    Read More

  • Nineteenth Century Literature Heroines and Conformity

    1654 Words  | 4 Pages

    By definition, a heroine is a woman who would typically encompass the qualities of nobility, courage, independence and strength. Nineteenth century English women would have struggled to accomplish any of these particular acts of heroism within their social environment as ultimately, their roles within civilisation saw them becoming a good wives and mothers and before that, obliging and caring daughters. Within this ubiquitous discourse of separate spheres, Kathryn Gleadle suggests that women were ‘encouraged to see themselves as ‘relative creatures', whose path in life was to nurture the family and to provide unstinting support for the head of the household' In this respect, the nineteenth century British woman conforming to this ‘path' would prove to be the heroine of that time as a free-spirited independent individual would have been cast aside as socially unacceptable. Essentially, although it would appear that many women wished to lead active, working lives and so make an important contribution, either to their families or to social welfare, ‘the woman's position [was] to preside over a loving home whilst men were to brave the vicissitude and demands of public and business life' Novelists Thomas Hardy and Emily Brontë present us with two strong and independent females Tess Durbeyfield and Catherine Earnshaw. These women are far from the idealistic view of nineteenth century females; Tess, intelligent and strikingly attractive, strives to uphold the values expected of her but outside forces beyond her control determine her fate. Catherine on the other hand begins her life free-spirited, rebellious and of a wild nature. However, her inner desire craves social ambition which, in turn, shows her slowly representing culture and civilisation.

    Read More

  • Treatment of Women in Jack Kerouac’s On The Road

    2339 Words  | 5 Pages

    Women play a key role in this novel in many ways. In the case of...

    Read More

  • The Evolution of the Role of Women in British and American Literature

    1818 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.

    Read More

More about Diana Dunstan Misogyny

Open Document