Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
studying gender roles in literature and life
research on gender roles in literature
studying gender roles in literature and life
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: studying gender roles in literature and life
Journey into Self in Nicola Griffith’s Ammonite and Nancy Springer’s Larque on the Wing
Let your soul roam free. Discover your true self. Play with your inner child. Share the memories of your ancestors. Understand your parents. Have total self control. Open yourself up and peer inside. These are accomplishments most humans will never achieve, but Nicola Griffith’s Marghe from her novel Ammonite and Nancy Springer’s Larque from her novel Larque on the Wing are able to do all of these things and more. They are accomplished not simply through careful, quiet reflection, but from action, adventure and danger which drive them to the point at which they must adapt and grow or lose themselves forever. Both women are fully grown at the time of their respective adventures, both have struggled through puberty and young adulthood, and have already “come of age” in so many words, and both are strong individuals who seem relatively happy with their work and their lives. However, because of the conflicts they are thrown into, they receive the chance to understand themselves more fully. Marghe and Larque’s adventures and misadventures open up possibilities for them to look deep within themselves and discover who they truly are-to remember their pasts, gain insights into their personalities, and to fully realize their potential as human beings. All of these things combine to paint exciting stories which give the reader greater insight into the human mind and a chance to explore gender roles in ways unavailable to us in our day to day life.
For Marghe, her stay on Jeep was supposed to be short, a trip to study the people and their society, but once she realized that she would be spending the rest of her life there, sh...
... middle of paper ...
...natural and healthy. Both authors have presented a view of gender in which having specific “male,” or “female” qualities is unimportant, and what matters is exploring all of your potentially human qualities.
Marghe and Larque unexpectedly embark on quests to learn more about themselves, and what they discover is more than they had ever thought possible. They connect with their pasts, discover hidden desires, and gain insights and abilities which cause them to grow exponentially. They discover who they truly are. Truth with a capital “T.” As Lark proclaims near the end of the novel as she battles her mother in a battle of the wills heightened by their psychokinetic powers, “I am ME!” (Springer, 1994)
Works Cited
Griffith, Nicola. Ammonite. Toronto: Ballantine Books, 1992.
Springer, Nancy. Larque on the Wing. New York: Avon Book, 1994.
When Marie tries to ask the protagonist to take a walk, this action shows that she is trying to achieve Pauline’s dream by getting her outside of the house. Therefore, she could finally feel the true meaning of freedom. Nevertheless, Pauline’s mother’s response demonstrates that she wants her daughter’s safety more than anything. The mother tries to keep Pauline away from the danger, so the protagonist can at last have a healthier life. However, Agathe’s reply shows that her mother is willing to sacrifice Pauline’s dream to keep her secure. Therefore, the author uses contrasting characters to mention that safety is more valuable. Furthermore, the protagonist starts to describe Tante Marie and reveals that she always has her hair “around her shoulder” (85). When Pauline describes Marie, Pauline shows how her Tante is open-minded. In fact, Marie helps Pauline to let go of her limitations and to get a taste of her dream. Therefore, Marie always wants Pauline to go outside and play hockey or even to take a walk. These actions that Pauline’s Tante takes show how she is determinate to make Pauline’s dream come true. Thus, the author
Sports Illustrated has failed to appropriately report the survey results. Consequently, we do not know (a) how participants were recruited, (b) how they were contacted, (c) if they ...
In our current generation, the year 2016, one may think racism would be diminished but it has yet to be acknowledged. Most people would have thought discrimination ended with the time of slavery, but it continues to exist in indirect ways. When people think Native Americans, they think about how they were the true Americans and how they aided Columbus’s settlement into the Early Americas. Native Americans experience discrimination to this day, yet nothing has been said about the Indian’s existence and rights. In Kimberly Roppolo’s essay, “Symbolism, Racism, History, and Reality: The Real Problem with Indian Mascots,” constructs the reason and gives us an idea on why this type of racism still exists and why people continue to unknowingly discriminate
The author champions the thesis that there are several factors such as the occupation of Haiti, the referendum on the foreign ownership of land, and a backward and savage culture among others that might have contributed to the country’s failure to overcome its problems and become a successful independent state, which, arguably, could be inherently solved and mitigated if good governance
...hetypes of these primary characters, both of these novels make a parallel statement on feminism. The expectations of both themselves and society greatly determine the way that these women function in their families and in other relationships. Looking at the time periods in which these novels were written and take place, it is clear that these gender roles greatly influence whether a female character displays independence or dependence. From a contemporary viewpoint, readers can see how these women either fit or push the boundaries of these expected gender roles.
This article was written to bring attention to the way men and women act because of how they were thought to think of themselves. Shaw and Lee explain how biology determines what sex a person is but a persons cultures determines how that person should act according to their gender(Shaw, Lee 124). The article brings up the point that, “a persons gender is something that a person performs daily, it is what we do rather than what we have” (Shaw, Lee 126). They ...
I In recent years there has been a growing controversy around the use and abuse of Indian mascots. This practice, which some claim is a representation of competitive spirit and team identity while others declare discrimination, has sparked passionate debates and intense protests. Multiple schools have voluntarily abandoned their Indian-related names. However, some have not and the dispute remains ever-present. Truly, there should be no compromise. The use of Indians as sports mascots is immoral because it discriminates unfairly against Native Americans.
They are energetic and ready to have fun; however their adventures force them to mature. They have different journeys and experiences, but they ultimately get the same outcome which is an increase in maturity. These experiences allow the two girls to discover their true identities.
The next reason we’ll be looking at are the stereotypical images commonly seen in literature and mascots. Mainstream media such as “Dances with Wolves”, “The Lone Ranger”, and “The Last of The Mohicans” and mascots in professional sports teams like Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago Blackhawks all include representations of Native Americans that for some, are offensive. With this in mind, ...
In Alice Munro’s “Boys and Girls,” there is a time line in a young girl’s life when she leaves childhood and its freedoms behind to become a woman. The story depicts hardships in which the protagonist and her younger brother, Laird, experience in order to find their own rite of passage. The main character, who is nameless, faces difficulties and implications on her way to womanhood because of gender stereotyping. Initially, she tries to prevent her initiation into womanhood by resisting her parent’s efforts to make her more “lady-like”. The story ends with the girl socially positioned and accepted as a girl, which she accepts with some unease.
The mascot controversy is a campaign against the use of Native American propaganda on mascots in which are supporting American sporting teams. The mascots are shown as the logos, and are often displayed on merchandise that are sold to loyal fans of the teams.
In this article, gender is identified as a social identity that is constructed and reformed throughout life in order to achieve a true sense of identity. It is not a term or label given from biological sex such as male or female that defines ones’ gender role. The writer claims gender is more than a social settlement, that it is not a binary construction of male or female and involves a matrix of genes, hormones, and social influence.
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.
Identities are an important part of the human experience. One of the many identities that creates a person is gender. Society, being the entity establishing social norms and social roles, plays a part in effecting the individual’s gender, and how they choose to express themself. The underlying or overlying identities also have the same effect. Gender is not only an identity, it is a lifestyle inside and out. Gender, like race, class, and sexuality; is not limited to the binary scale, and that is normal, natural, and human. The concept of gender is man-made, but it forces one’s hand to analyze the thought processes behind an individual's perception on gender through self, through society, or through the dichotomy and/or correspondence of the
discussed here is ‘gender’. At first, it is important to understand what gender is? The literal