Expected Behavior in The Coquette and The Female Marine

1905 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender roles in Literature

Expected Behavior in The Coquette and The Female Marine

In society, constructs of correctness have been formed on the basis of expected, gendered behavior. Individuals have traditional roles that they play which are based on the historical performance of their gender. Although very rigid, these traditional roles are frequently transferred, resulting in an altered and undefinable identity that exists beyond the boundaries of gender. These transgressions into the neuter role are characterized by a departure from the normal roles of society which, if successful, complete the gender transference and allow the individual to live within a new set of boundaries. The Female Marine, or the Adventures of Lucy Brewer is the fictional autobiography of a woman who recounts her experiences in the navy and life as a cross-dressed male. Throughout her narratives, Lucy is able to successfully leap back and forth between gender roles without repercussion. On the other hand, Hannah W. Foster's The Coquette is a sentimental seduction tale that narrates the tragic demise of a young woman who attempts to exceed acceptable behavioral boundaries by establishing herself as a virile, independent individual, a role established by Simone de Beauvoir to be associated with the male (Beauvoir 405). Because of the similarity in the situations of these women there lies a need for an examination of their narrative purpose. The differing results of success with these women are found in the author's reflection of their audience's narrative expectations that deal with the social outcome of women who attempt to move beyond gender-identified behavioral roles.

In her essay "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenom...

... middle of paper ...

...to strengthen the audience's convictions of virtue and create a security in their beliefs. (Davidson [Foster] viii) Without Wharton's narrative condemnation, the text would be morally empty, with no lesson learned, no wisdom gained. Neither Foster nor Wharton had any choice for her destiny--the narrative sin of Wharton could only be rectified by a fall, by the expected reproach and ominous warning to those who should follow her path.

Works Cited:

Butler, Judith. Ed. Case, Sue-Ellen. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution." Performing Feminisms: Feminist Critical Theory and Theatre. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.

Cohen, Daniel A (Ed.). The Female Marine: and Related Works. Massachusetts: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1997.

Foster, Hannah W. The Coquette. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.

Show More
Related

  • The History of Highfields

    510 Words  | 2 Pages

    The History of Highfields In the early nineteenth century, the part of the city of Leicester now known as Highfields was a rural area lying outside the city to the east. Known as High Fields, the area was rich in water sources and windmills; the springs in High Fields were said to give exceptionally pure water. An Ordnance Survey map of 1828 shows only a small amount of developement out of the city along the London Road. It was in the mid to late nineteenth century that Highfields began to be developed.

    Read More

  • The Extent of Opposition Towards the Nazis

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    There was little opposition that was effective in resistance to the Nazis. Hitler's power was finally consolidated in 1934 when Hindenburg died in August of that year, up until this time Hitler could have been dismissed as Chancellor. However, after this time he could not legally be removed. The evidence also suggests the mass population had not many reasons to resist a new government which, seemed at the time to turn around Germany, almost abolishing unemployment and improving living conditions. Organisations that opposed the regime were in the minority, due to the threat of punishment and the power of the police state. Also the organisations were only united in one aim, the downfall of Hitler and the Nazis, and this was not enough, as they were divided on the methods to achieve this, and what should replace Nazi Germany.

    Read More

  • Feminism In The Things They Carried

    2283 Words  | 5 Pages

    The deviated depiction of female protagonists from normalized gender binaries in The Things They Carried solidifies the masculine domination of war, and also uproots any possibility of male acceptance of the women that dare to test the masculine protocol casted on America by its own soldiers.

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Crime Rates in Different Areas

    989 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Comparison of Crime Rates in Different Areas I have gathered a great deal of information, conducted surveys and questionnaires, completed statistical tests and created illustrated maps to help me establish whether crime is higher in an inner city area like Spinney Hill when compared to a suburban area like Knighton. At the very start of this project I created an aim. This aim provided a starting point to this project and thus a goal to achieve. In my opinion I believe that I have achieved this aim as I have collected a substantial amount of evidence to aid me in approving or disproving my main hypothesis.

    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

  • How Did The New Deal Impact Women

    369 Words  | 1 Pages

    The New Deal was a series of programs that ran from 1933 to 1935 and broke down into three goals relief, recovery, and reform. The New Deal tried to provide relief for the unemployed and help better the economic system during the Great Depression. The New Deal had a major impact for women and the poor, and a minor impact on minorities.

    Read More

  • Roles Of Women In James Wolf's 'Changed For Good'

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stacy Wolf, a Professor of Theatre in the Lewis Centre for the Arts wrote the book ‘Changed for Good’. This book observes the roles of women in Broadway and how musical theatre’s history has changed massively from the 1950’s to the twenty first century by analysing, inspecting and listening to what women actually did on the Broadway stage through every chapter. It argues that ‘gender and genre are inseparable’ (Wolf. S. 2011. P. 20) the representations and performances by women radically changed in the musical from the 1950’s; from Anita in West Side Story to Adalaide in Guys and Dolls, Wolf demonstrates a centrality toward women in the form of ‘friends, girlfriends and wives as journalists, students and maids, and also as singers and dancers’ (Wolf. S. 2011. P. 4)

    Read More

  • Nevaeh And Jacari: A Narrative Fiction

    1736 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thirty minutes later, however, Jacari’s loud sounding, yellow Mustang convertible swung into our wide driveway, and Jacari was leaning on the horn before the car came to a full stop. Grabbing my coat from the couch, I walked out my front door with all the enthusiasm of a man going to stand before a firing squad.

    Read More

  • The Political Theatre Movement

    1858 Words  | 4 Pages

    Early political plays worked in creating an emotional engagement with their audience. This was achieved by many political theatre movement to stage their performances in unconventional stages. The ‘stages’ were from streets to rallies, often portable and flexible to endure the circumstances. Political theatre impacted specific audiences that shared, “a radical re-visioning of the relationship between the individual and the society in which they live (Deeney & Gale 327).” Specifically, this genre of theatre engaged the audience by issues of government as well as influences of party politics. In this paper, I will talk about three movements that impacted the early twentieth century. Suffragette theatre involved women’s rights in plays that were

    Read More

  • Wildwood, New Home-Personal Narrative

    484 Words  | 1 Pages

    airplane because there were to many people there. I closed my eyes most of the time, And did

    Read More

  • Anatomy of Criticism by Northrop Frye

    2508 Words  | 6 Pages

    In Anatomy of Criticism, author Northrop Frye writes of the low mimetic tragic hero and the society in which this hero is a victim. He introduces the concept of pathos saying it “is the study of the isolated mind, the story of how someone recognizably like ourselves is broken by a conflict between the inner and outer world, between imaginative reality and the sort of reality that is established by a social consensus” (Frye 39). The hero of Hannah W. Foster’s novel, The Coquette undoubtedly suffers the fate of these afore mentioned opposing ideals. In her inability to confine her imagination to the acceptable definitions of early American female social behavior, Eliza Wharton falls victim to the ambiguity of her society’s sentiments of women’s roles. Because she attempts to claim the freedom her society superficially advocates, she is condemned as a coquette and suffers the consequences of exercising an independent mind. Yet, Eliza does not stand alone in her position as a pathetic figure. Her lover, Major Sanford -- who is often considered the villain of the novel -- also is constrained by societal expectations and definitions of American men and their ambition. Though Sanford conveys an honest desire to make Eliza his wife, society encourages marriage as a connection in order to advance socially and to secure a fortune. Sanford, in contrast to Eliza, suffers as a result of adhering to social expectations of a male’s role. While Eliza suffers because she lives her life outside of her social categorization and Sanford falls because he attempts to maneuver and manipulate the system in which he lives, both are victims of an imperfect, developing, American society.

    Read More

  • Dennis Day: A Short Story

    1884 Words  | 4 Pages

    “I can’t.” I continued to stand next to the car’s open door. I fought back the tears that wanted to fall down to my feet freeing them from the locks that bound me to the cement. The heat from inside the car rushed out, touching my face with its warmth. I blew my hands to warm them. My gloves and hat must still be in the church, probably already appropriated by the old witch who, after weddings, steals the

    Read More

  • Gestus The Play

    428 Words  | 1 Pages

    Although so easily forgotten, Diamond reminds us of how plays during this time were generally written by upper-class white men, meaning, what they wanted society to see was what was going to be portrayed on stage. It was inevitably a brainwashing that was taking place. Instead of merely interpreting the play, Diamond takes a feminist stance, exclaiming the outrage she feels towards this façade theatre tends to play. She intends to express how the theatre "sells" women. Many of Diamond's journal publications include essays on seventeenth and twentieth century drama and Brechtian and feminist theory. Her work is always exploring the connection between performance and feminism, using texts from early modernism through postmodern art. I never thought about using my research and studies gained in my schooling to further examine, and deeply identify with the different plays I read. In the play, she realizes how female "desire" is staged, considering women in reality have no actual power, it's a masquerade. It's sort of like Gestus, in that it's untrue, yet is still used to portray a fake

    Read More

  • Fisherman's son

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    The air stuck to me while cool sweat droplets ran down my face. The dry season took a toll on the trees I usually hid under, escaping from the sweltering heat. Cars sped by me, their loud engines laughing at me. For the third time that morning, a car nicely pulled over to see if I needed help. The thought of jumping into the air conditioned car brought pleasure to me, but I was not helpless. I watched as the health workers strutted by. I could see the dollar signs in their eyes. I looked away in fear they would see me gawking at them.

    Read More

  • The Best Holiday - Original Writing

    1294 Words  | 3 Pages

    let more heat in’. It sounded amusing to me. I did not want to disobey

    Read More

More about Expected Behavior in The Coquette and The Female Marine

Open Document