Social Stereotypes In Gail Godwin's A Sorrowful Woman

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In a world of wars against one another, every society faces one common foe, mental illness. The phrase seems less harmful than the firepower it holds within. It’s not only an enemy every nation and individual has to face, but it’s intangible, immortal, and unstoppable; yet there are ways to combat it. There are signs that everybody can see, but choose to ignore. When someone is in need, and those around choose to ignore them their problem will fester and grow engulfing everything they are. The sickness stems from the need to conform to stereotypes pushing people to their limits, breaking them and driving them towards an undesirable end. Gail Godwin encompasses the result of what stereotypes can do to a person in “A Sorrowful Woman.” The woman …show more content…

This created a hierarchy as women were seen as inferior to males. Having continuing the social hierarchy from pre WWII through today’s society women are still pressured to become homemakers. As depicted in Godwin’s story the woman became “a wife and mother one too many times,” forcing herself to conform to the stereotype although it wasn’t her desires (Godwin 1). On the second night of her rapid mental decay while putting dishes away, she began to realize exactly what she’d become, a housewife. When following the stereotype forced by society it becomes clear how limited her potential becomes. The pressures limiting her caused anxiety to develop nearly instantaneously where she became overwhelmed, and resulted in a mental crash. In a study done by Allan Horwitz when these stereotypes began, “20 percent of women…used a minor tranquilizer,” mainly Miltown, to suppress the emotional strain brought on by anxiety and stress (116). Now that’s only the women that did seek help for their issues. Chances are a great deal more than 20 percent of women did experience anxiety than those who took drugs. While these drugs may have helped cope with the pressures to conform to stereotypes it didn’t help resolve the issues at hand. The muted anxiety was stimulated by subliminal messaging to ignore the issue, allowing growth and progression towards a worse state, depression. The main difference between pre and post WWII was the technology that was used to communicate

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