In the Novel Revolutionary Road, architecture, design and the layout of the suburbs while intended to create the perfect middle class neighborhood, in fact are explained to induce a sense of conformity on their inhabitants, and a loss of individual initiative. The wishes of individuals and families such as Frank and April Wheeler are snuffed out because of social norms, expectations and roles that people are forced to play. The architecture, design and layout of the suburbs deeply influences the way social interactions take place and these social interactions in turn force people living in the suburbs to live lives that are no longer under their control as much as under the control of their gender roles and responsibilities. The central theme of the novel is that the suburbs, through layout and architecture press their inhabitants to conform to roles like those in a play. This is occasionally contrasted with the way the layout and architecture of cities stimulates a less controlled and freer lifestyle in which people are more in control of their lives. The architecture of houses in the suburbs follows a set pattern as described in the book: small neat houses with smooth trimmed private lawns and picture windows, which provide a feeling of comfort. Suburban houses all conform to this standard, with a trimmed front lawn, perfect symmetry and a large picture window (a trend of the times). Thus they also influence their inhabitants to conform. As the main characters in the novel April and Frank explored their house they noticed “ the very symmetry of the place was undeniably appealing-the fact that all its corners made right angles, that each of its floorboards lay straight and true, that its doors hung in perfect balance and closed... ... middle of paper ... ... way they are made to live their lives. The architecture of suburban neighborhoods in the book, with its perfect symmetry, neat lawns, back yards and picture windows induced conformity on the lives of the inhabitants by encouraging them to take care of their house and lawn. The conformity of homes influences their inhabitants to conform. The layout of the suburbs is such that there is little privacy in the home life and social pressures thus force people living there to conform to gender roles as if they were acting in a play. This is contrasted with the effects of Urban architecture which invokes a sense of disorderly freedom through its ruggedness. The social pressures of the suburbs caused by their architecture and layout eventually proves enough to drive April to her death, as she constantly resists them and eventually tries to abort her baby in her desperation.
Phillips, E. Barbara. City Lights: Urban-Suburban Life in the Global Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
"Woman is not born," feminist Andrea Dworkin wrote. "She is made. In the making, her humanity is destroyed. She becomes symbol of this, symbol of that: mother of the earth, slut of the universe; but she never becomes herself because it is forbidden for her to do so." Dworkin’s quote relates to women throughout history who have been forced to conform. Although women can be regarded highly in society, representing images of fertility, security, and beauty, many people still view them in stereotypical ways; some people believe that all women should act a certain way, never letting their true selves shine through. Amy Lowell’s "Patterns" and Helen Sorrell’s "From a Correct Address in a Suburb of a Major City" accurately portray the struggles of women in relation to conformity. Through contrasting descriptive details, symbols, and language, the authors depict the plights of two remarkably similar women who wish they could break free of their social confinements as women.
Where gender roles, depictions of the home lifestyle, and faith come into play in illustrating the characteristics of a culture are in the people that live in it and practice what surrounds them. Women taking control of themselves has been seen as a commonality between both works. Small differences in the larger idea of a poor Chicago neighborhood and a terrorizing dictatorship show how similar these two diverse cultures can be and what affect it would have on its people. Faith, seen being taken into one’s own hands and strictly enforced by another have left up for decision the question of faith in the people of a cultural society. For as much as a culture has developed, it has developed through the trickling down of its people through the ages.
Countless times throughout Robinson’s work, the idea of the home is used as a way to contrast society’s views, and what it means to the characters of Robinson’s novels. In Robinson’s most famous novel Housekeeping, two young girls experience life in a home built by their grandfather, but altered by every person that comes to care for them. After their mother
There are various varying emotions and perspectives in association with this subject of suburbanization and women’s role, and this causes inconvenience to answer the above question. It is key however to survey and have a comprehension of this thought of suburbanization before dealing with the proposed question. I will go in detailed explanation of suburbanization for a better understanding of women’s role in it.
In Arthur Miller's, “Death of a Salesman” and Charlotte Perkins Stetson’s, “The Yellow-Wallpaper” both struggle to maintain their own individual expectations in companion with Societies' input. Death of a salesman focused on how financial success plagues the family as they fail to meet the standards of the American Dream. The Yellow-Wallpaper focused on how society’s view of gender inhibits the narrators in functioning beyond her basic duties.
The lives of men and women are portrayed definitively in this novel. The setting of the story is in southern Georgia in the 1960’s, a time when women were expected to fit a certain role in society. When she was younger she would rather be playing ...
The lives we lead and the type of character we possess are said to be individual decisions. Yet from early stages in our life, our character is shaped by the values, customs and mindsets of those who surround us. The characteristics of this environment affect the way we think and behave ultimately shaping us into a product of the environment we are raised in. Lily Bart, the protagonist in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, is an exceedingly beautiful bachelorette who grows up accustomed to living a life of luxury amongst New York City’s upper-class in the 20th century. When her family goes bankrupt, Lily is left searching for security and stability, both of which, she is taught can be only be attained through a wealthy marriage. Although, Lily is ashamed of her society’s tendencies, she is afraid that the values taught in her upbringing shaped her into “an organism so helpless outside of its narrow range” (Wharton 423). For Lily, it comes down to a choice between two antagonistic forces: the life she desires with a happiness, freedom and love and the life she was cut out to live with wealth, prestige and power. Although, Lily’s upbringing conditioned her to desire wealth and prestige, Lily’s more significant desires happiness, freedom and love ultimately allow her to break free.
After reading from the novels The Last Hurrah and The Living is Easy, both surrounding the city of Boston in similar eras with similar views on public and political life, what comes to mind most of all is the portrayal of the middle class. This middle class is not the idea conjured from traditional historical figures, but rather a constantly fluctuating zone of monetary and social value. Being vague by definition, the middle class arises as people move from the inner city to the suburbs and form newly constructed neighborhoods, which were previously held by the wealthy. In The Living is Easy, Cleo desperately tries to rid herself of the stigmatism surrounding her race and the stereotypes, which follow it. By moving to Brookline, she attempts to move up in the world. The Irish immigrants in West’s novel are even more visible in The Last Hurrah. O’Connor’s novel fast-forwards to the beginning of the Irish expansion to the suburbs and into a state of normalcy and association with the middle class. Race is a prevalent issue in both novels and surrounds the commencement of moving to a new social and political stature within city society. While Cleo looks inward and remains aware of the state of her appearance and that of others around her, Skeffington is maintaining his own image and does not wish to evolve towards any new horizon. Racially, the novels’ protagonists share a differentiation from other people in their society. Cleo is of a minority among the middle class and Skeffington has made his life to serve and be idolized by them. With each story coming into contact with racial migration, it’s fair to say that the construction of each of these novels leaves the reader with a view of a changed city, where neighborhoods are changing...
The Story begins with a description of the house. The house in itself is a symbol of isolation women faced in the nineteenth-century. The protagonist describes the house as isolated and miles away from the village, but also described as “the most beautiful place” (Gilman 217). During the nineteenth-century, women were in a sense isolated from society, just like the house. The role of the women was to stay home and tend to the
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, follows the maturation of Amir, a boy from Afghanistan, as he discovers what it means to stand up for what he believes in. His quest to redeem himself after betraying his friend and brother, Hassan, makes up the heart of the novel. For most of the book, Amir attempts to deal with his guilt by avoiding it and refusing to own up to his mistakes. Because of his past, Amir is incapable of moving forward. His entire life is shaped by his disloyalty to Hassan and his desire to please his father over helping his friends. Throughout the novel, his attempts to atone for his sins end in failure, as neither physical punishment nor rescuing Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from Assef prove to be enough for Amir to redeem himself. Only when he decides to take Sohrab to the United States and provide his nephew with a chance at happiness and prosperity that was denied to his half-brother does Amir take the necessary steps toward atonement and redemption. Khaled Hosseini uses a series of symbols to reinforce the message that atoning for one’s sins means making up for past mistakes, rather than simply relying on forgiveness from either the person one betrays or from a higher power.
In conclusion, this essay has outlined an example range of ‘making and remaking’ on City Road in relation to ‘connections and disconnections’. It outlined how differences and inequalities are produced, how a person’s identity is attributed to them by other people and it is not always chosen and finally, the relationship between; society, making and remaking and connection and disconnection.
Physical surroundings (such as a home in the countryside) in works of literary merit such as “Good Country People”, “Everyday Use”, and “Young Goodman Brown” shape psychological and moral traits of the characters, similarly and differently throughout the stories.
Starting off the discussion we will start with chapter one. Chapter one is about Decent and street families. Decent families are families who live by society’s norms and try to avoid violence, drugs, confrontation, whereas street families embrace violence and fear because it is a way to stay alive within their neighborhoods. In the chapter they discuss how many families in the inner city actually have the decent family values, but can also harbor the street values. For example in the chapter they actually discussed an instance where Marge a women they had interviewed had a problem with others in her neighborhood. Her story s...
The title of Edith Wharton's novel The House of Mirth waxes poetic irony in the case of the old money society of turn-of-the-century New York. The individual as part of the collective of society which seeks to oppress individuality is representative of the "house" in the novel's title. To remain ignorant and play by the "rules," therein lies the "mirth." Clearly, the victimization of the story's heroine, Lily Bart, by the elite social "set" she associates herself with illustrates Wharton's disdain for the rigidity of this society against the individual. Lily is, at first, an example of the collective society she is a product of; however, as she finds herself being victimized for embracing individuality, a metamorphosis of her character takes place through an internal struggle over the faults of her external world, leading to her discovery of the truth and the loss of her innocence.