In order to deal with a feeling of isolation and entrapment, many people place the blame on one or two things when in reality, there are multiple factors. In the short story, “The Dress”, by Marta Jara, Jara develops the idea that an individual’s desire to escape an oppressive force is a very powerful thing that can bring an individual to defy authority and her standard way of life. When blunt confrontation does not work, they may become conniving. Eloisa wants a dress to go to church in Chiloe because she “‘just need[s] someone to notice [her], that’s all’” (Jara 221). Her mother barely gives her any attention, and it is certainly not positive; therefore, Eloisa craves attention from the men in the city. She lusts after attention, thinking that “‘somebody, will have to notice [her], if only because of the dress’” (217). Instead of having confidence in herself, she places the solution in wearing a feminine article of clothing to attract a man. The significance of this is exemplified when “[she] was standing there, embracing the blouse as if it were a man” (221). This helps develop the idea that since she now has nice looking clothing, she can get a man to marry her. …show more content…
Living on a farm and being in a time period where travel was not as fast or as easy as it is today, she does not go to the city often, nor does anybody come to visit her very much. “‘I’ve been thinking about you for days. I saw you in Chonchi. And from that day on I’ve been telling myself, ‘This is my chance’’” (220). Eloisa says this to the peddler’s wife, who sold her a skirt and blouse, which shows how long she has been waiting for this opportunity to start detaching herself from her mother. Because going to the city is such a special occasion, and because she hopes to attract a man, she decides “[she will] wash real good and do [her] hair, and when [she goes] to church, [she will] put on [her] new dress”
In Erzulie’s Skirt, the reader sees two disoriented women awaking to the harsh reality that they have been tricked and imprisoned after their voyage. They are then locked in a concrete room with nothing but their clothing and two beds, forced to work as prostitutes for the personal gain of a racist woman named Delia. In the brothel, Micaela and Miriam are made to allow men to enact their sexual desire and unnatural fetishes, and if they dare to resist or refuse, they are beaten nearly to death. In the most obvious way, this position mirrors the treatment ...
Women were auctioned off as “merchandise” to the best suitor they could get in town. Beauty, though important, was not as important as the dowry the woman possessed, because it was the dowry the family provided that could exalt a man’s societal status to all new heights. Once married, women were expected to have son’s for their husbands in order to take over the family business. A barren woman was not an option and could have easily been rushed to the nearest convent to take her vows of a nun, for no honor could be brought otherwise. No woman could run from the societal and legal pressures placed upon them. Rather than run, some chose to accept their place, but, like Lusanna, some chose to fight the status quo for rights they believed they
As a young aspiring author, I am thrilled to be reporting over the short story Torn Lace by Emilia Pardo Bazán. Bazán was born in Galicia, Spain; there she was well trained in the art of womanhood. She is also well-known for her feminist views and eminence writing. She published over twenty novels, twenty-one novellas, seven plays, six-hundred short stories, and hundreds of essays. Yet, Torn Lace is about a woman who defied the cultural and societal standard during the 19th century Spain. At the alter she refused to marry a man and no one knew the reason why till a few years later. The narrator bumps into the once bride and ask the reason why and she reveals that her fiancé became angry due to her ripping lace on her dress he gave her. Similar to her other novels the theme represents the relationship between opposite sexes, love, and feminist movement.
The exterior influences of society affect a woman’s autonomy, forcing her to conform to other’s expectations; however, once confident she creates her own
Beatriz Kimpa Vita was born “near Mount Kibangu in the Kingdom of Kongo, now a part of modern Angola around 1684. She was born into a family of the Kongo nobility, probably of the class called Mwana Kongo, and was probably baptized soon after, as Kongo had been a Catholic kingdom for two centuries.”
As “The Blue Hotel,” “The Displaced Person,” “Bernice Bobs her Hair,” and In Dubious Battle demonstrate, the outsiders in each story, though instilling an initial fear in the eyes of society, experience a sudden and considerable downfall in the end. Each of these defeats, some more extreme than others, result from a clash of society’s fixed guidelines with an outsider’s challenge of these rules. Whether this rebellion against society constitutes a conscious or unconscious effort, and whether the punishment results in justifiable or unjustifiable consequences, one pattern emerges. The outsider instills fear in the mind of the community, and as a defense mechanism, society takes it upon itself to conquer the stranger, leading to his or her ultimate downfall.
From the conventional Victorian dresses of the 1800’s to the rock-and-roll tee shirts of the 1980’s, American culture has experienced incredibly diverse trends in clothing. This ever changing timeline of fashion provokes the question: what is the cause of such differing styles? By considering the state of society throughout the eras, it can be seen that clothing directly correlates with the current way of life. Specifically, American women’s fashion of the 1920’s and 1930’s proves to not simply be a meaningless trend – rather an accurate reflection of the specific era.
The color of clothing that the women wear is an important element because it helps to show the women’s power and privileges. The color of clothing a woman wears reflects how much freedom she will have. Th...
Restraints are set by parents on their children to aid with the developmental process and help with the maturity level. Restrictions and the ability to control exist in our society and our lives. We encounter restraints daily: job, doors, people, and the most frequently used and arduous become intangible. In the following stories tangible and intangible scenarios are presented. Autonomy, desires, and talents spurned by the husbands in John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums and Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The authors share views regarding a similar theme of male domination and imprisonment. “The Yellow Wallpaper” involves the treatment of a depressed woman who is driven insane in a male imposed detention in her own room. On the other hand, Elisa Allen in the “The Chrysanthemums” struggles internally to find her place in a fully male dominated society with definite gender roles. The mirror-like situations bring upon a different reaction for both the women in different ways. The importance of symbolism, control from their husbands, and the lack of a healthy marriage will be discussed in this paper in two stories.
...taphors, and the simplistic approach are all ways she used to express the feelings of a young fifteen year old girl, wondering when they will grow into their bodies and out of the awkward stage they are stuck in. She beautifully illustrates the longing for that perfect dress which will solve all of their problems for even just one night. But even after it is said and done with, and we have grown into our skin, we will more than likely not be perfect by Cosmopolitan standards, but perfect just the way we are supposed to be.
The setting of these two stories emphasize, on visually showing us how the main characters are based around trying to find freedom despite the physical, mental and emotional effects of living in confinement. While on the other hand, dealing with Psychology’s ugly present day behavior showing dystopia of societies views of women during the time period they lived.
If Pope's intent in writing an Ovidian heroic epistle is to show the entire range of his protagonist's emotions from meekness to violent passion, then he was wise to choose the twelfth-century story of Eloisa and Abelard as his subject. Eloisa and her teacher Abelard retired to different monasteries after her family discovered they were lovers and brutally castrated him. Years later, Eloisa by chance intercepted a letter from Abelard to a friend chronicling their love affair. The letter reawakened Eloisa's long repressed passion for Abelard, and she struggles to reconcile her sexual passion with her religious vows. As she has taken a vow of silence, the only mode of expression left to Eloisa is her emotion, which she often expresses by weeping. She tells Abelard in her mind:
In both Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”, we see that there are two types of women who arise from the demands of these expectations. The first is the obedient woman, the one who has buckled and succumbed to become an empty, emotionless shell. In men’s eyes, this type of woman was a sort of “angel” perfect in that she did and acted exactly as what was expected of her. The second type of woman is the “rebel”, the woman who is willing to fight in order to keep her creativity and passion. Patriarchal silencing inspires a bond between those women who are forced into submission and/or those who are too submissive to maintain their individuality, and those women who are able and willing to fight for the ability to be unique.
Judging a woman by her appearance became a social norm in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since women were not allowed to hold high or reputable positions, they often relied on their husbands to pay and bring in most of the bills and money. Such conditions often left a young woman scrambling to find a husband, or better said it was in her best interest to find a husband. Modern literature originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At the time, true women were thought to exhibit the following traits: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity (Welter). Not only did women criticize each other, but the media did as well. Women were also responsible for upholding their physical beauty. A woman could’ve had all the traits that made her a true woman, but if she lacked physical beauty, she was shamed by society. The majority of modern American texts began to shift from the standards of women being weak and submissive but they still regarded physical beauty as a trait that all women had to maintain and obsess about.
Moreover the sexuality of women is seen as an essential part of their body, and the debates are centred on women dressing to please and attract men, ‘this ignores the fact that sexuality is not an essential feature of bodily display and dress, but an effect of the reaction of others’ (Bakare-Yusuf, 2011:123). It also ignores the fact that women might be dressing to please and express themselves or that their sexuality is not heterosexual...