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Portrayal of women in literature
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Portrayal of Women in The Good Earth
The Good Earth focuses around the life of a Chinese peasant, Wang Lung, who struggles to overcome a poverty-stricken life. The accounts of Wang Lung's life portray traditional China. One prominent aspect of this story is how women were depicted in society. The role of women in China is woven throughout the novel. Depending on their social status, each female character within the novel gives readers a different perspective of a woman's role during this period. In addition to their roles, the author includes the trials and tribulations these women must face as well. As a whole, the importance of these female characters are based upon their contribution to the ego's of the male protagonists and as being providers of support to both family and order in society. In Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth, women are depicted to be consistent with the authentic Chinese culture of that period.
Paul A. Doyle, a literary critic, remarks that Buck's stories were improbable and simplistic (Chauhan, 1994, 120). He later adds: "In structure, The Good Earth uses a chronological form which proceeds at a fairly regular pace. Buck's stories take the epic rather than dramatic form, that is to say, they are chronological narratives of a piece of life, seen from one point of view, straightforward, without devices; they have no complex plots, formed of many strands skillfully twisted, but belong to the single-strand type, with the family, however, rather than the individual as a unit (Buck 35). As Wang Lung and his father begin this family strand, one by one characters are introduced from Wang's viewpoint. In regards to women in his society, he objectively portrays them for what they are worth. In spite of his smooth surface, the novel shows a complicated feminism. On the one hand, the woman's situation is clearly, almost gruesomely, presented: Chinese village society is patriarchal, oppressive, and stultifying to women (Hayford, 1994, 25). The clearest illustration of this occurs through O-lan, the wife of Wang Lung.
O-lan comes about in the first chapter of the novel. At the age of ten, her parents sell her off to the Great House of Hwang, where the village's wealthiest landowner resides.
The character of Inspector Goole repeatedly states that he is on duty, one example being, ’No, thank you, Mr Birling. I’m on duty.’ Goole takes responsibility of making sure that he carries out his job correctly. His attitude and dedication shows how the characters in the play take responsibility for different things in different ways. The character of the Inspector contrasts the character of Mr Birling in their ideologies. The Inspector is polite to Birling by saying ‘thank you’ and doesn’t sway from his intentions to question the Birlings. The Inspector is a clear symbol of socialism, similarly to Priestley and is portrayed as a man that prioritises fairness and equality. In the nature of the situation, Priestley’s Inspector is meant to be shown as a favourable character that the audience would respect. In contrast, Birling is a symbol of capitalism and avoids the burden of responsibility for those outside his family and class. The audience is made to dislike Mr Birling, and therefore dislike the ideology of capitalism. The two ideologies handle responsibility in opposing ways and Priestley aims to influence the audience into choosing socialism through the characters in the
The third chapter is an overview of the theories and perspectives of the authors. The main points that are discussed in this section include Horton's articulation of the importance of having a broad vision of where you are going (p.
Comparing Inspector Goole and Mr Birling in Act One of An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
Inspector Goole, in the play “An Inspector Calls”, plays a very important role in the message the play gives. Set in 1912, a time of great confidence in the future of the country, but written in 1945, the play shows Priestley’s views of the world in 1945, but projects them, via the Inspector, onto the Birlings. A family who are very much set in their upper class, capitalist views.
J. B. Priestley uses the inspector to express his views to people. One more of Priestley’s reasons for writing this play was to show how people were behaving at the time. He wrote this play to reflect what people were really like and what they thought. The Birling family are rich and they look down on the lower-class as less than human make no difference to society. Mr. Birling believes he just needs to look after for himself, but Priestley doesn’t agree with this.
... in life is her sexual being. It is presented in the novel that men were disrespecting woman and have tried to gain control over women by disrespecting them. In the novel it was the want of knowledge which caused both men and women in the Okanagan to be unaware of a woman’s self-respect. Not only did men disrespect women but women disrespected themselves and other women around them in this era. By comparing characters of the novel to the women of now days they are considered equal and are respected. There are a lot of female characters in the novel that show qualities of being poor and insecure. Women should be given the same respect they give men and they should not be abused or mistreated. Everyone in the world today should stand up for the women and protect them so they are not abused. This is a crime and should be stopped to let the women live comfortable lives.
Can a simple inspection turn people’s minds around? Well, Inspector Goole certainly turned the Birling’s mind around, by inspecting them one by one. During his inspection we see the effect he has on the play. He represents Priestley’s central themes, and sends a message to the audience, stating that everything we do or say can affect other people’s lives. And by his mysterious appearance we are able to see that he plays an important role in the play.
Living with their traditional Chinese culture in American society, these eight Chinese-American women suffer the problems of cultural conflicts in compliance with their gender. Asian women were looked at as being "positive, subservient, compliant, quiet, delicate, exotic, romantic and easy to please" (Mulan). They are nicknamed "China dolls" or " lotus blossoms", which are sexually loaded stereotypes of Asian women. These stereotypes discriminate against women by degrading their worth as people. By men taking advantage of their obedience and submissiveness they are showing that these women are not valued and that they have no voice. Judith Butler responds to these roles by saying, "Gender is an act, a performance, a set of manipulated codes and costumes rather than a core aspect of essential identity". By the middle of this century, Chinese women had been playing this manipulative, subservient role for m...
Towards the end of, Of Mice and Men George had to make a very significant decision of ending Lennie’s life. As a friend everyone has had to sacrifice something in order to make each other happy. And in this incident the only way to fulfill Lennie’s happiness was to exhume him from all of the worlds harm. And Lennie fulfilled George’s happiness by always being there for him, understanding his frustrations and complications of life. George and Lennie are the best of friends because they’ve gone through many difficulties and have stuck with each through
Poor people are always the victims. And through these two novels, we see that the leading female characters are both victimized because they came from poor households. I feel that Eileen Chang’s writing style has made her female characters seem too unrealistic. These situations are unfathomable. Her novel does not seem to depict the true struggle of traditional Chinese women.
The play ‘An Inspector Calls’, was written by J.B Priestley in 1944. In the play, the author presents the character Mr. Birling as a successful business man. Through this essay, I’m going to be talking about how he presents Mr. Birling by being powerful and rich, optimistic and small-minded, guilty, arrogant, by blaming others and unintelligent.
Positive Step: Accept the fact that your body will naturally change throughout the life cycle. Celebrate the health and capacities of your body rather than trying to attain cultural ideals which are unrealistic.
How Does J.B. Priestly use the inspector for dramatic effect in his play “An Inspector Calls”?
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.
In the play ‘An Inspector Calls’ it is clear that Priestly uses all of the characters to relay a message to the audience, the Inspector included. Although he initially appears nothing more than an ordinary inspector, he soon proves to be something more mysterious and enigmatic. None of the Birlings have committed a crime, but the Inspector questions their morality and contradicts Birling’s speech about only looking after yourself.