Mernissi
Mernissi seemed to have a happy childhood. She spoke fondly of many of the memories she shared in Dreams of Trespass. This happiness was threatened though, by the more liberal women that lived on theterrace. In their quest for women's liberation, Mernissi's freedom wasjepardized. One of the things Merniss spoke most fondly of was the amount offreedom the children had. Since they saw everything the women on the terracedid, the children had a lot of leverage, which Mernissi speaks of in chapter18, American Cigarettes: Grownups committed worse crimes[than fooling around inolive jars], such as chewing gum, putting on red fingernail polish, and smokingcigarettes, although theses last two took place rarely, given the dificullty ofattaining such foreign items in the furst place...Since we children could havegotten any of the adult criminals in trouble with Father,Uncle, and Llala Maniif we described what we saw, we were treatted with exceptional indulgence, andenjoyed an unusually comfortalbe position on the terrace. No grown up couldboss us around without us threatening to realiate by informing the authorities.And indeed, the authorities relied heavily on us when they suspected somethingfishy was going on, for they belived that "children tell the truth."All the trespassers, therfore, gaveus VIP treatment, showering us with cookies,roasted almonds, and sfinge (doughnuts), and never forgetting to hand us ourtea before every one else.(175-8) This power over the adult women was in dangerof disolving with the more liberal women pushing for more freedom. If the womensuccede in getting more freedoms then they are liberated from the blackamilingchildren. But this in turn takes the freedom from the children who needed thewomen to keep getting what they want. Mernissi and the other children of theterrace needed the adult women to commit "crimes", and without themthey would have had the "VIP treatment" they were used to having. Itwould have been a rude awakening for Mernissi and Samir to not to have theluxurious treatment, but It would also be better for them not to blackmailtheir mothers and aunts. Children should not be aloud to manipulate thesituation to always get their way. Another one of the things Mernissi seemed toenjoy alot from her childhood was the time she spent with her divorced aunt,Habiba. Since her divorce Aunt Habiba has lived at the Mernissi household, andhas served as the designated story teller. Upstairs was also the place to gofor storytelling. You would climb the hundreds of glazed stepps that led allthe way up to the third and top floor of the house, and the terrace which laybefore it all whitewhashed, spacious and enviting.
In the story, there are many examples of women who suffer from a lack of an education. One of the Mirabal sisters, Patria, has a dream of becoming a nun, but Papa does not support her. “It started with Patria wanting to be a nun. Mamá was all for having religion in the family, but Papá did not approve in the least. More than once, he said that Patria as a nun would be a waste of a pretty girl. He only said that once in front of Mamá, but he repeated it often enough to me.” (Ch. 2 pg. 11) Papa believes that a woman cannot be more than a pretty face, that they should not pursue their interests and have an equal position in society. This describes that women were not allowed to become more than they could be. When Minerva tells her family that she aspires to become a lawyer, her mother does not take her seriously: Ay, Dios mío, spare me." Mamá sighs, but playfulness has come back into her voice. "Just what we need, skirts in the law!"(Ch. 1 Pg. 10) This shows that even Mama believes that women should not have a say in certain matters because she has a notion that women were not cut out for things like politics. Sometimes, even the women agree that they should not have equal representation as men. Mama seems to imply that it may be better for woman to preserve one’s innocence and integrity by avoiding politics. Minerva again argues that women deserve equality in their society. This is because at that time, the thought of a woman studying law was unusual. No one believed that a woman would be capable of studying law, which proved that women were not considered equal. Even though women were not given equal opportunities as men, the sisters fought for equality, and
The women in this novel are fairly passive and tend to let the men manipulate them. According to Martha Duffy, Smiley sees a link between the exploitation of women and that of the land. The land is stronger than the women in this novel in that despite the fact that men manipulate and attempt to change it as much as possible, it is still its own entity. This presents a contrast to what occurs when the women are dominated.
desire to free this narrator from her husband and the rest of the males in
Literature is the key to our world or language. Many writers have emerged from this subject such as Homer who wrote The Odyssey and Euripidies who wrote about the evil Medea. Also mentioned in this paper are the Thousand and One Arabian Nights which is a collection of folktales and stories that are compiled into one. Each of these works of literature has a woman character that has many similarities in solving their problems. In The Odyssey the woman character that will be in comparison is Penelope which is Odysseus’s wife. In the story of Medea, Medea is of course the character we will be discussing and Shaharazad is the woman character from the Thousand and One Arabian Nights that will also be in comparison. Each of these women find themselves in a particularly “sticky situation.” However, Penelope, Medea, and Shahrazad are three strong women whose perseverance and cleverness help them to attain their goals.
Rather than using the new political rights and civil freedoms to better care for their families, women were swarming in the streets brandishing weapons at each other, meddling in political affairs, of which they had little knowledge and generally causing disorder (Landes 100). As a result, the Assembly felt that women had proven themselves as, “lacking in their physical as well as moral strength required to debate, deliberate and formulate resolution” declared Ander Amar (Wollstonecraft 87). Thus when, women broke out from their traditional sphere and used the newfound rights for purposes other than conversing with their men and educating children , they found themselves right where they had started, confined into the home and the suffocating embrace of their men.
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
The subjugation of women is a key theme across my three chosen texts, Othello, The Great Gatsby and Wuthering Heights, that is presented both subtly and obviously through forms of physical, sexual and mental denegation. As a subtler example of subjugation, each woman is ultimately controlled and manipulated by a male figure, whether it be through Othello’s suppression of Desdemona upon believing she is unfaithful, Heathcliff’s domination over Isabella or Tom Buchanan’s economic control of Daisy via his financial stability within a class defined society. This confirms Evelyn Cunningham’s perception that, “Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors”, notably in the way that women’s roles are dictated and restricted by the domineering, patriarchal men in their lives, however there are still aspects of female rebellion in each of the texts.
What the Commander says here is almost the same as what he says in the book: some women could not fulfill their destinies because of how society had become corrupted.
...ed to “Greater Learning for Women” (Document 11). Women in those times weren’t allowed to go to school or learn. In some cases they couldn’t own property or go anywhere without their husbands. There were many different things that boys were allowed to do, but girls weren’t. For example, the Document states, “The great lifelong duty of a woman is obedience….When the husband issues his instructions, the wife must never disobey them. In a doubtful case, she should inquire of her husband and obediently follow his commands…. A woman should look upon her husband as if he were Heaven itself, and never weary of thinking how she may yield to her husband and thus escape celestial castigation.” Obviously, this was very different from the mortality book taught how to treat boys. Even though these Documents are very different in topic, they can be compared in many ways.
...se days a male child was more valued than a girl. Her guard had to always be up, while she had all the power in Egypt there were other people who had the same power as she.
Harriet Jacobs escaped from slavery and at great personal risk wrote of her trials as a house servant in the South and later fugitive in the North. Her slave narrative entitled Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl gave a true account of the evils slavery held for women, a perspective that has been kept relatively secret from the public. In writing her story, Jacobs, though focused on the subjugation due to race, gave voice subtly to a different kind of captivity, that which men impose on women regardless of color in the patriarchal society of the ninetenth century. This form of bondage is not only exacted from women by their husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons, but also is accepted and perpetuated by women themselves, who forge the cage that holds them captive. Jacobs directed her stirring account of the afflictions a woman is subjected to in the chain of slavery to women of the North to gain sympathy for their sisters that were enslaved in the South. In showing this, Jacobs reveals the danger of such self condemnation women maintain by accepting the idealized role that men have set as a goal for which to strive. Harriet Jacobs' slave epic is a powerful statement unveiling the impossibility and undesirability of achieving the ideal put forth by men and maintained by women. Her narrative is a strong feminist text.
...men who kept them in bondage and to sleep with them?” (6). Almost every night she would have to lie on her back and make love to her husband where she “unleashed [her] fury and [their] moments of love-making resembled a battle” (23) willingly or not. She was stripped of her body and womanly factors, and in her husband's eyes was made to be his sexual slave.
This is connected to my subject of women roles in literature because even though the women in this story are very independent they are all gullible and insecure qualities, which flaw capabilities of being dominant or at least equal to men. Reading and comparing the Odyssey, Sakuntala, and Good Country People can see the changing role of women in literature. The women in all three works are highly valued by the men close
Women and men shared similar roles; however, men had more rights while women had limitations. For instance, male slaves were freed after six years of service while female slaves (Ex. 21:7) were freed only if their master failed to provide clothes, food, and marital rights. Furthermore, the book of Judges (19:24) portrays how a concubine and virgin daughter were offered to satisfy a group of men who wanted to sexually assault another man. As a result, the group of men rape and abuse the concubine leading to her subsequent death. This story illustrates how women’s lives were regarded less valuable than men’s.
Women’s lives are represented by the roles they either choose or have imposed on them. This is evident in the play Medea by Euripides through the characters of Medea and the nurse. During the time period which Medea is set women have very limited social power and no political power at all, although a women’s maternal and domestic power was respected in the privacy of the home, “Our lives depend on how his lordship feels”. The limited power these women were given is different to modern society yet roles are still imposed on women to conform and be a dutiful wife.