More handpicked essays just for you.
Masculinity and femininism
Representation of women in film essay
Gender roles defined and reinforced by culture
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Both, Restrepo and The Invisible War are movies about men and women in the military. Restrepo focuses on the male perspective and The Invisible War focuses on the women’s perspective. These movies connect to the information taught in this course, as well as the additional text being read. Information such as, gender socialization, Hegemonic Masculinity, Emphasized Femininity, “Doing Gender,” and gender regimes. Each movie shows the difficulties of gender norms and how it affects some of the bravest people in the country. Although these two movies are, in contrast of each other there are evident similarities. In Restrepo, the movie introduces soldiers fighting a war in Afghanistan. These soldiers are some of the bravest men fighting for our country, but as we see, they go through some tough, gender defining times. This team of soldiers had an idea of what type of deployment …show more content…
Unlike the men in Restrepo, the women in The Invisible War wanted to get rid of their memories because the PTSD was taking over their life. The women in The Invisible War often tried to take their own life. Where as in Restrepo, the soldiers wanted to remember the memories because as stated by one “it makes him appreciate what he has.” These men are taking in and accepting all of their emotions, the good and bad that makes them brave men. These films show that despite the definition of gender norms found in the texts, men and women can create their own individual views of what gender is to them and how they want to act. Such as, we see women being strong and men showing fear. Creating their own gender identity is what makes individuals different, which can be connected to Nina Here Nor There. No matter the gender or the stereotypes found in previous reading every individual in Restrepo and The Invisible War is strong and brave for being a part of the military and serving our country, even if it seems that our country did not serve
Do you believe all women are smart enough to get an education or strong enough to go to war? In countries like Afghanistan and even America, there is a preconceived notion that women are simply best for bearing children, raising them, cleaning, and cooking for their husbands. From a young age, many women are given gendered roles, such as being taught by society to find husbands and care for children. For instance, girls are given baby dolls and kitchen sets for their birthdays instead of books. In Flashes of War, by Katey Schultz, the two stories “Deuce Out” and “Aaseya and Rahim” the protagonists Stephanie and Aaseya may live in different worlds, but they share much more than we think. Because of predetermined expectations that society has imposed upon women, Schultz’s book comes to a surprise since it defies pre-conceived notions of women.
In the book “The Things They Carried” four female characters played an important role in the lives of the men. Whether imaginary or not, they showed the power that women could have over men. Though it's unknown if the stories of these women are true or not, they still make an impact on the lives of the soldiers and the main narrator.
The consequences and effects of war, may be psychological, physical, or emotional. Can effect directly, for example, a solider or indirectly, for example, that soldier’s relatives and friends. “The Things They Carried” and “The Red Convertible” exam these matters. “The Things They Carried examines the psychological, physical, or emotional side of destruction that the Vietnam War bought. While “The Red Convertible” focuses on the psychological strain on soldiers they endure after the war as well as their families. These stories raise the questions is really war really necessary and can a solider back out of duty. Both stories are initiation stories or coming of age stories. These aspects are most effective when analyzing these works. The pieces may go deeper into the issues and questions at hand. The Centering on characterization, the point of view, symbolism or imagery, and significance of the title all help support the theme of these works and develop thoughts and opinions on the stories issues.
When the war was over, the survivors went home and the world tried to return to normalcy. Unfortunately, settling down in peacetime proved more difficult than expected. During the war, the boys had fought against both the enemy and death in far away lands; the girls had bought into the patriotic fervor and aggressively entered the workforce. During the war, both the boys and the girls of this generation had broken out of society's structure; they found it very difficult to return.
Through Baümer, Remarque examines how war makes man inhuman. He uses excellent words and phrases to describe crucial details to this theme. "The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts," (page #). Baümer and his classmates who enlisted into the army see the true reality of the war. They enter the war fresh from school, knowing nothing except the environment of hopeful youth and they come to a premature maturity with the war, their only home. "We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. We are not youth any longer" (page #). They have lost their innocence. Everything they are taught, the world of work, duty, culture, and progress, are not the slightest use to them because the only thing they need to know is how to survive. They need to know how to escape the shells as well as the emotional and psychological torment of the war.
There is a major change in the men in this novel. At first, they are excited to join the army in order to help their country. After they see the truth about war, they learn very important assets of life such as death, destruction, and suffering. These emotions are learned in places like training camp, battles, and hospitals. All the men, dead or alive, obtained knowledge on how to deal with death, which is very important to one’s life.
...often times tragic and can ruin the lives of those who fight. The effects of war can last for years, possibly even for the rest of the soldiers life and can also have an effect on those in the lives of the soldier as well. Soldiers carry the memories of things they saw and did during war with them as they try and regain their former lives once the war is over, which is often a difficult task. O’Brien gives his readers some insight into what goes on in the mind of a soldier during combat and long after coming home.
The Forgotten Soldier is not a book concerning the tactics and strategy of the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War. Nor does it analyze Nazi ideology and philosophy. Instead, it describes the life of a typical teenage German soldier on the Eastern Front. And through this examined life, the reader receives a first hand account of the atrocious nature of war. Sajer's book portrays the reality of combat in relation to the human physical, psychological, and physiological condition.
Women during wartime situations were so determined to participate in the defense of their country and their homes, they went from performing the traditional duties of cooking, sewing, fixing the weapons for the soldiers to serving as soldiers themselves along side the men. They hid fugitives and even became spies. During World War II and the Vietnam War, women were only allowed to serve as nurses because military leaders did not want to expose women other than nurses to the horrors of combat. Women were not given any form of training and were not permitted to carry weapons which would able them to defend themselves against the enemy. Decisions permitting the deployment of women especially enlisted women, to the combat area was the military habit of over-protection, based on the notion that the women would not be able to cope with the slightest inconvenience without loss of morale and efficiency. It was just this kind of thinking that was continually interjected into the decision-making process when it came to enlisted women, which were often treated as though they were not much brighter than a young child. “The male soldiers, sailors, airmen and hostile wives back home labeled these
Trying to hold the homefront together while there was a war waging abroad was not an
...as Mary Ann in the novel show that women can do so much more than sew and cook. Without women, all wars would have been a lot harder. Although men tend to keep a macho facade in order to calm others (such as the women in their lives), inside they may be like glass, easy to break. A society set on the ideal stoic, fearless warrior who acts ruthlessly and saves the damsel in distress (also showing that women are weak) obviously is one where doomed to sexism. Without the comfort and inspiration, men would have deteriorated in the face of death. All and all, women provided the needed comfort, nursing, “manpower”, and love that the soldiers of Vietnam need, something that helped them endure the havoc of war. O’Brien’s expert use of the feminist lens allows the reader to know that women indeed were a powerhouse in the Vietnam war, without whom, men would have perished.
...nd bloodshed. Women gave a reason to go to war, a reason to come back from the war, and oddly, a reason to want to return to the war. The men were in a fraternity of life, and with no women around for so long they began to rely on themselves, and no longer had the needs that were provided them by women. They wanted to play in the jungle with their friends, only this time with no guns. They missed the life that they spent together eating rations and swapping stories. When they went home they were veterans, like the old men of the World Wars. If they stayed, they were still heroes, warriors, and victims. They still loved deeply the women at home, because they had no reason to fight or bicker, or possibly realize that the women they assumed would be waiting for them had changed in that time. The men were torn between love of women, and the love of brotherhood.
Since the war began women were led to believe that they were the ones who had to be the patriotic sacrifice until the men came home from war. The film reveals how the government used the media to alternately urge women to give up such elements of their feminin...
Mary Anne is initially introduced to the audience, narrated by Rat Kiley, as an innocent and naïve young woman present in Vietnam solely to visit her boyfriend, Mark Fossie. She arrives in “white culottes” and a “sexy pink sweater” (86), and is deemed by the other soldiers as no more than a happy distraction for her man. As Mary Anne settles in though, her abundant curiosity of Vietnam and the war heighten, and she soon enough possesses as much interest in the war as many of the men. Forward, Mary Anne’s transformation into a soldier begins as she leaves her sweet femininity behind. No longer caring for her vanity, she falls “into the habits of the bush. No cosmetics, no fingernail filing. She stopped wearing jewelry, [and] cut her hair short” (94). Mary Anne’s lost femininity is also evident when she handles powerful rifles like the M-16. Not only does the weapon literally scream out masculi...
Throughout our nation’s history, women have played an important role in the military. It has not been until recently however, that women have been able to fully contribute to the military and be recognized for their past achievements in this area. With this new recognition and admittance, many debates and problems have arisen. One of the most common debates surrounds the idea of women in combat positions. Others include the issue of pregnancy, housing, and the physical requirements in order to serve. One problem that has arisen is that of the sexual harassment and rape of some women soldiers.