Social and Gender Standards: Tahar Jelloun's The Sand Child

It is all a matter of control. Up until the very end of the story John is still trying to restrain his wife under his power which Gilman demonstrates when he “(faints)…right across (her) path”(642). Through John’s condescending behavior towards his wife, the author sends a clear message that most men tend to degrade their wives so as to establish their self-worth. Gil... ... middle of paper ... ...s an hysteric and prescribed a “rest cure” which prohibited her writing and labeled her feminism and social critique as symptoms for uterine illness. The Oxford Dictionary defines feminism as an advocacy of woman’s rights and sexual equality.

Her opinions and physical activity is constantly oppressed and dismissed by the husband. The story portrays John’s dominance over his wife. As well, her deteriorating sanity is evidence that the male discourse is not superior and, therefore, enforces feminist pedagogy. In addition, the environment in which the wife is oppressed represents the dominance forced upon her by her husband. The feminist literary lens addresses the imprisonment of women, and the imbalance of power between the two genders.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, women were often portrayed as submissive to men. Women were seen as oppressed by society as well as by the males in their lives. Both of Gilman’s bodies of works, “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Turned”, illustrate the fight for selfhood by women in a demoralized and oppressive environment. The narrator’s escape from her unbalanced marriage and captivity is her complete loss of sanity. Mrs. Marroner overcomes her husband’s infidelity and emotional control by taking in the vulnerable Gerta and leaving her husband.

After Hamlet’s speech about suicide and death, Hamlet describes the causes of his pain, specifically his disgust at his mother’s marriage to Claudius. Hamlet is upset with his mother’s choice in remarriage more so than the actual death of his father. As Hamlet contemplates his mother’s marriage, he cries out “frailty, thy name is woman!” (Shakespeare, I. ii. 150) Because of his mother’s actions, Hamlet sees all women as weak, frail, and untrustworthy. Hamlet goes on to explain the unreasonable timing of his mother’s marriage, stating how an animal would have mourned the loss of its mate longer than Hamlet’s mother did.

The Yellow Wallpaper is about the external conflict between an unnamed woman, trying to break free of her submissive role and find her voice in life, and her domineering husband who ... ... middle of paper ... ...eference to the characters apparent role in society and at home being beneath her husband. By acknowledging this she is once again voicing her opposition to the oppression of her officious husband. At the end of the story John faints in the path of his wife and she proceeds to “creep” over him (530). Symbolically the repressed wife has finally brought her husband down and has triumphed over him. Charlotte Perkins Gilman writes a haunting tale of lost identity and the struggle to break free of oppression and find a voice to be heard.

This indicates how the outside of the house is narrator's father’s domain while inside of the house is narrator's mother’s domain. It also shows that her father is okay with all this but her mother isn’t and doesn’t want to talk about the killings. According to Reingard, male and female children are socialized according to different role patterns, forming them into two different species, boys and girls (2007). After her father discovered that she let Flora out, she felt embarrassed and put her head down and started crying. She felt as if her father will punish her like he would have with her brother, by sending her to her room.

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is a short story that describes the oppression of women from male authority. Emily the protagonist demonstrates her abilities as a young women to set an example by challenging the norms of her own strict community. Through this Emily establishes respect among her fellow community members, but at the same time she is shamed for not following the social norms such as the submission to male authority. This story is told in a feminist perspective from the subject position of a man to give the significance of women empowerment and the goodness of their nature. Despite what women went through, Faulkner shames the male gender for oppression women.

The portrayal of women greatly influenced the way John Steinbeck wrote this story. In The Chrysanthemums, John Steinbeck intends to suggest that all women are not equal to men in society. Elisa understands this when she is not able to take part in the same male oriented activities that her husband takes part in. Elisa is seen as a lesser of a person just because of her gender. That demoralism of women leads me to believe that Steinbeck thought all women were insignificant.

However female activist bell hooks writes in response to Sandberg arguing that men created this stereotypical “stay at home” woman. Hooks begins by going further than Sandberg, in reasoning about the unequal gender crisis, with putting both men and women at fault. Sheryl Sandberg 's writing in “Lean In: What Would you do if you Weren 't Afraid?” expresses her views on women in a lower work class in comparison to males. Sandberg

Weak and powerless are so me of the words that describe women’s role in Puritan society. Men were the breadwinners and women were confined to the household. Most women lived their lives under the authority of men, but because of her unusual place in society Hester was able to overcome this. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne switches the typical male and female roles to prove that when given the opportunity, women can be strong and independent members of society. Hawthorne uses Hester’s reaction to her punishment of wearing the letter A, to show women can survive in society without being dependent on men.