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She Can Only Go Home: Roles of the Female in the Domestic Sphere 1
She Can Only Go Home: Gender Roles in the Domestic Sphere
In the film Tough Guise the narrator flashes a scene from The Wizard of Oz as an example of the masks that males in western culture are expected to wear as an expression of their masculine gender. It made me think about the roles the women play in this film and how that relates to how women are expected to wear their gender in the public and private spheres, and how these roles relate to the expectations placed on women in their work and home life.
Women in American culture have some pretty clear expectations placed on them as to what their role in society entails. A little girl’s first toy is often a baby doll,
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When faced with the Wicked Witch of the West, one of the possible consequences of rejecting the domestic life, suddenly there is “no place like home.” Teetering on the edge of perceived comfort and consequence, Dorothy finds herself wishing for home fervently, without taking any pleasure or curiosity in the world she has stumbled into. As she learned from Aunty Em there are far more important things to do than to frivolously explore the land around …show more content…
It is through this destruction of their desires that woman will be deserving of taking her place in the home. When she destroys that part of herself that is wanting for more, she is agreeing to prioritize home and hearth above self-indulgence and curiosities. The audience knows that the Wicked Witch wants the ruby slippers, but never knows what it is she wants them for, the simple act of wanting is enough to condemn her. The dangers of being a woman who wants, as Friedman (1996) explains, has the danger of only being able to want, of having no way of finding satisfaction in domesticity, she becomes a threatening symbol of female power, outside of the realm of the female. She Can Only Go Home: Roles of the Female in the Domestic Sphere 4
The Witch’s counterpart in Kansas, Almira Gultch, although a powerful woman, is not respected, nor perceived as desirable. It is this very model of spinsterhood that Dorothy must defeat, via the Wicked Witch of the East, in order to return home. Dorothy must overcome her rejection of domesticity or risk becoming that which she despises. As Fisher (2013) points out this is an unsuitable situation for a woman to find herself in at this time and place in culture, regardless of Dorothy’s personal feelings on the matter.
“As marriage was the normal and expected role for middle class women to follow, those that did not marry were regarded as
The allegory behind of Dorothy and her background relates perfectly to the political issues that took place in real life during the time the book was written. Dorothy, the main character of the story, represents the common good hearted citizen; she is essentially who every American strives to be. Dorothy embodies positive characteristics and is viewed as the girl next door. She lives in Kansas where everything from the landscape to the lifestyle is portrayed as being lifeless and lackluster during the beginning of the book. The unfavorable depiction of Kansas relates to the condition is was in during the late1880’s when it was plagued by sweltering droughts, harsh winters, and invasions of insects leaving it a wasteland. The angry people of Kansas combated the politicians who did not care for the predicament they were in, this is when the Populist Party arose to become the people’s party and fight for their rights. Populism spread like a wildfire throughout the Midwest and the south. Kansas was chosen as the
Through fresh writing, the character of Witch is allowed to have the most contradictions, therefore blurring the rigid binary of good vs bad, an idea ingrained in popular culture for eons, in effect making her the play’s most human character. This is key to de mystifying the Grimm Brother’s fairy tale “Rapunzel”, as she is no longer placed in a 2 dimensional mold of evil figure. While her defining moments in the text are marked by unexplained rage, jealousy and retribution lensed with zero objective perspective within into the Woods she is given opportunity to be viewed in a more well rounded light as she is central in everyone else’s story allowing the audiences to experience more of her. Through this there is chance to
Women in today’s society seem to be having a very difficult time expressing themselves without dealing with lots of criticism. Common values are standing in the way of women’s drive toward molding themselves into whatever they desire. Our culture has made standards about how should women look, act, and conduct themselves that greatly limits what they can do, and still gain respect. Martin S. Fiebert and Mark W. Meyer state that, “[there are] more negative [gender] stereotypes for men than for women.” This idea doesn’t seem to have a great amount of validity in our present society. Society set certain standards that men are supposed to live up to such as strength and confidence, which are more behavioral characteristics. Women seem to be more trapped than men by societies standards because they are supposed to live up to standards dealing with beauty and size, which are more physical characteristics These specific guidelines have been set by society that are sometimes unattainable for a majority of women. The women that follow the specific criteria are greatly respected, and the ones that try and be innovative usually are criticized if not disliked.
Sometimes, the hardest parts of life can make one a better person in the long run, it just takes time. In the novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy learns the importance of being independent and brave. By going on the journey to Oz, she runs into many challenges throughout the novel that help her grow into a hero at the end of the novel. In the story, Dorothy lives a normal life, but then there was a twister that hit her house and flew her away into a different land. This land was called, munchkin land. Here, Dorothy was welcomed, then she tells the princess she wants to go home and the princess tells her the only way to get home was to follow the yellow brick road to Oz. So she follows the road and runs into many obstacles, but in the end, Dorothy ends up talking to Oz and getting home safely. Dorothy grows into a hero because she had to face her fear of defeating the witch and makes it back home, while also helping out the scarecrow, tiger, and the tin man and she has to learn how it is important to be independent.
...ected by good will, the farmer, the laborer and the politician approach the mystic holder of national power to ask for personal fulfillment are all self delusional.” Basically their need for a solution is not real need such as the case of Dorothy who a selfless and wants to be home with her family the only true fulfillment that can’t be met due to its legitimacy. In the end of the article Littlefield explains essentially how the good guys win. The Scarecrow is the leader of Emarld city the Tin Woodsman rules the west and the Lion protects smaller beasts. The Wizard of OZ is time tested to fit the imagination of adults and children alike, with the political nature of this book being understandable to adults and True American character Dorothy Littlefield displays a correct and analytical argument for the political allegory’s that are riddled within the Wizard of OZ.
Warren Farrell is a well educated man who focuses his attention on gender. In his essay “Men as Success Objects,” he writes about gender roles in male-female relationships. He begins, “for thousands of years, marriages were about economic security and survival” (Farrell 185). The key word in that statement is were. This implies the fact that marriage has changed in the last century. He relates the fact that post 1950s, marriage was more about what the male and female were getting out of the relationship rather than just the security of being married. Divorce rates grew and added to the tension of which gender held the supremacy and which role the individuals were supposed to accept. “Inequality in the workplace” covered up all of the conflicts involved with the “inequality in the homeplace”(Farrell). Farrell brings to attention all ...
During the late eighteen hundreds, according to society, women were not allowed to have their own identities. Their thoughts and opinions were irrelevant. Women were far from being an equal to their spouse. Married women with children had a role to play and were not expected to deviate from that role, unless they were mentally incapable. Society instilled what was to be expected, therefore women should know their position in a marriage.
“Like most wives of our generation, we’d contemplated eventual widowhood but never thought we’d end up divorced” (Hekker 278). Traditional wives married for love and to follow th...
Not being married was not always accepted as what it is today. People of the older generation were forced into marriage, even if they didn’t love that person. It was more of the concept of “they will learn to love each other.” Whereas today, anyone has the option of when to get married, who to marry, or even to never get
In conclusion, the protagonist of The Wizard of Oz Dorothy Gale, is initially unsatisfied with her life on her Aunt and Uncle’s farm and dreams of a foreign land over the rainbow, where there are no worries or disasters. Although as the story progresses, Victor Fleming incorporates a wide range of
Kuttner also agrees, “a lot of ugly realities were concealed by “traditional values”; the legal and economic emancipation of women was long overdue, and the task now is to reconcile gender equality with the healthy raising of the next generation.” (124). Before the 1890s, females had no other options but to live with their parents before marriage and with their husband after marriage. They couldn’t work and if they did, their wages were way lower than men.
Women in the nineteenth century, for the most part, had to follow the common role presented to them by society. This role can be summed up by what historians call the “cult of domesticity”. The McGuffey Readers does a successful job at illustrating the women’s role in society. Women that took part in the overland trail as described in “Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey” had to try to follow these roles while facing many challenges that made it very difficult to do so.
Picture a child sitting in front of a television watching the Wizard of Oz. To them, it is an assortment of magical beings, a land filled with wonderful places, with varieties of different colors. They do not picture it as something with far more meaning than just a plain fairytale. On the other hand, gender/feminist critics have been able to analyze the Wizard of Oz as well as Wicked, in order to find a more elaborate meaning behind the story itself. They have discussed what lies behind the story when it comes to the issue of sexism and masculinity towards the book itself as well as the characters. There are many concepts as well that help to further explain feminism and gender criticism. The four concepts that will be discussed later on are gender, feminist writings, patriarchal society, and gynocriticism. These concepts will then be reviewed as to how they play a part in the book Wicked.
Many women in modern society make life altering decisions on a daily basis. Women today have prestigious and powerful careers unlike in earlier eras. It is more common for women to be full time employees than homemakers. In 1879, when Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll's House, there was great controversy over the out come of the play. Nora’s walking out on her husband and children was appalling to many audiences centuries ago. Divorce was unspoken, and a very uncommon occurrence. As years go by, society’s opinions on family situations change. No longer do women have a “housewife” reputation to live by and there are all types of family situations. After many years of emotional neglect, and overwhelming control, Nora finds herself leaving her family. Today, it could be said that Nora’s decision is very rational and well overdue.
...he turn of the 20th century. This ideology shared in Paris gave individuals the right to not have to get married and settle down. Even the married couples within Paris didn’t really like to “settle down” as close to thirty six percent of married couples did not have children. This sense of individualism was even shared within the female realm as many females did not “need a man” during this era.