Temple Drake is the pivotal character at the center of William Faulkner’s controversial 1931 novel, Sanctuary. In Sanctuary, Temple’s responses to crimes against her raise an important question: Is Temple herself to blame for the rape and sexual corruptions that she suffers? Literary critics have labelled Temple as a “nymphomaniac” who “deserves to be raped”. However, a close look at the text reveals that the Temple was not a willing victim who wanted to be attacked. Temple attempts escape, both physically and emotionally, and resists what is happing to her as much as she is able to. Her ability to fight back has been altered a result of the way that Temple was raised. In a culture that is quick to blame the victims of sexual assaults, one must take a critical look at the ways that she rejects the actions taken against her. Temple Drake can be sympathized with as a victim who does not desire, nor deserve, the treatment that she receives. When looking at Temple’s actions in the novel, one must consider that she was raised in a household dominated by men. These men, her father and four brothers, used, dominated, and controlled her in a place where there is no maternal influence to instruct her about being a woman. The men in her life offered only inadequate protection at their own terms. Even at college, Temple comes and goes only at the whims of men who take her on dates in their cars. She does not know how to operate without the influence of a male, and this is reflected in her actions. While Temple is at the plantation, she is constantly in flight, running and hiding whenever she can. She is terrorized in particular by Lee Goodwin, but also Van and Popeye as well. She has never depended on herself, so she looks to others, e... ... middle of paper ... ...Temple’s last scenes near the end of the novel, we see that she is indeed free of Popeye’s grasp. Unfortunately, she is once again in the control of her father and brothers. At this time Temple is characterized as a girl, a “ruined, defenseless child” (288). As her father leads her out of the courtroom, her brothers surround her, and she once more begins to move; not with the carelessness she had as a college girl, not with the terror as she had at the plantation, nor with the anger that she had at times Miss Reba’s house. Instead, she moves in a “shrinking and rapt abasement” (288). Looking once more at the results of the traumatic event Temple experiences at the hand of men around her, one can have sympathy and not blame for what was done to her. Temple Drake was truly a victim in Faulkner’s Sanctuary, and did not deserve what she went through at the hands of men.
The concept of displacement from rape in “Woman Thou Art Loosed” and “Mississippi Damned” is represented by mental distortion, trauma, and self-degradation.
For someone who is convicted of "illuminating the invisibles" through her work, Barbara Kingsolver surely sheds an eerie, dreary light on an oppressed Turtle. Ignorantly bathing in her innocence, Turtle is the spotlight of the dawn of human suffering, child abuse and molestation within the prose. The abused child splashes around the bathtub while Taylor fights to contain her repulse. "The Indian child was a girl. A girl, poor thing. That fact had already burdened her short life with a kind of misery I could not imagine.
It leaves the readers in an awe of silence as they deliberate and take in the powerful message of Kindred. Octavia Butler extablishes the site of trauma as adaptation and the cause as the inhumane act of slavery. Butler led her audience to question the equality not only of the past, but also the present. Developing and critically thinking about the world around us is the message that Butler wanted to convey. Are black people really free? Have blacks gained all the right that are reserved to them by constitutional law? Those answers are to be decided by each individual, but in the words of Jesse Williams, “the burdened of the brutalized is not to comfort the bystander. If you have no interest in the equal rights for black people, then do not make suggestions for those who do. Sit down.”
Mrs. Jackson’s journey into town forces her to face obstacles of every kind. The trip itself is physically exhausting on her frail body. She endures emotional abuse from multiple people in regards to her race and age. For example, when she comes across the hunter. He threatens her with a gun telling her to stay
Misogyny in this text is represented through many factors showing how women can only prove their dominance by removing the men’s sexuality and freedom of independence. It is also represented in the fact that Nurse Ratched is seen as perfect except for her breasts, her outward mark of being a woman. “A mistake was made somehow in manufacturing, putting those big, womanly breasts on what would of otherwise been a perfect work, and you can see how bitter she is about it.” (6) The fear of women is usually stemmed from ...
Mary Shelley’s magnificent minor character Justine endures a horrendous death and maintains courage and grace when faced with a daunting trial. The powerful description of this strong young woman magnifies the gross wrongdoings of Victor Frankenstein and belittles his masculinity as he is seen as weak in comparison. Frankenstein is incapable of possessing the qualities inherent to Justine thus supporting the idea of womanly might as a formidable force.Through the representation of Justine’s intense, unwavering courage during her trial and Frankenstein’s absence of masculine bravery and justice, one can see that Shelley’s minor character is an affirmation of the undeniable strength of women.
At the beginning of the novel, when Temple hits a girl in the eye with her textbook and is expelled, she says, “As usual, she stood up for me… I finally ended up going to a school with which mother had had considerable contact the previous year.” (Grandin 69). Temple’s mother constantly stands up for her, even when Temple inflicted harm onto another girl. Eustacia argued with the principal for expelling Temple when Temple did actually physically harm the other girl. She also in a way rewarded Temple by taking her to a new school with many privileges. At the middle of the novel, when Temple is failing many of her classes, she says, “Then Mr. Brooks, the psychology teacher, challenged me with the Distorted Room puzzle, which in turn, interested me in learning… Mr. Carlock, was my salvation…. He didn’t try to draw me into his world but came into my world.” (Grandin 90). Temple relies on others in order to raise her grades. She does not take initiative and help herself but she waits until others help her. This is because Eustacia does not let Temple help herself but she constantly helps Temple. Eustacia constantly is there for Temple which makes her successful but dependent on others to reach her
In struggling against the brutal dynamics of a system that simultaneously set before her ideals of a true woman, but refused to acknowledge her as a human being, Jacobs emerges scarred but victorious. Her rational powers and will to action facilitate her efforts to find strategies for dealing with sexual harassment from her master, for maintaining family unity, and in estab...
Margaret Garner: a mother, murderer, slave, and inspiration to Morrison’s novel. Margaret, like Sethe, greatly adored her children and had no intent to see them suffer the life she did. The trial that continued afterwards obtained nationwide awareness and was a focal point of attention for many apart of the anti-slavery movement. To entirely comprehend what provoked her to execute such an immoral crime, Toni Morrison endeavors in a journey to write a novel based on the troubles Margaret similarly faced as Sethe. It is vital to inspect the circumstances of enslavement that she and many were forced to serve.
...could relate to the daily struggles of completing chores to please their husbands and children and understood how Minnie Wright could develop feelings of desolation due to the lack of variety in daily activities. When the men found the unwashed towels by the sink and the burst jars of fruit in the cupboard, they quickly took a tone of disgust and disappointment that Mrs. Wright fell short of her “womanly duty” of picking up daily messes. Women in the early 20th century often were not rewarded for completing difficult tasks amongst the homestead on a daily basis, but could be punished and mistreated for not completing the tasks in a timely manner. Glaspell’s work “offers a sympathetic portrait of an abused wife, a woman who is mistreated economically, psychologically, emotionally, and perhaps physically… [her actions] supporting battered woman syndrome” (Keetley).
She is sorely bruised, but cannot talk about it, which typifies the domestic abuse that women, and the girl child suffer. Some women are forced into silence because they want to keep their family together, while others are silence because the society blames them in the end. Turtle’s silence mirrors the author’s experience in her younger years as a rape victim. She could not talk openly on it because she was blamed for the rape which was labelled ‘acquaintance rape’ (Critical Companion 6). Lamenting what Turtle had gone through as a child, Kingsolver wrote, “The Indian girl was a girl. A girl, poor thing. That fact had already burdened her short life with a kind of misery I could not imagine” (The Bean Trees 25). Here, the author shows that being a girl usually herald an uneasy life, and this theme is explicated throughout the rest of the
In The Murder of Helen Jewett, Patricia Cohen uses one of the most trivial murders during the 1800’s to illustrate the sexiest society accommodations to the privileged, hypocritical tunneled views toward sexual behavior, and the exploitation of legal codes, use of tabloid journalism, and politics. Taking the fact that woman was made from taking a rib from man was more than biblical knowledge, but incorporated into the male belief that a woman’s place is determined by the man. Helen had the proper rearing a maid servant, but how did she fall so far from grace. Judge Weston properly takes credit for rearing her with the proper strictness and education. Was Helen seduced at an early age and introduced to sexual perversions that were more persuasive that the bible belt life that the Weston’s tried to live? Was Helen simply a woman who knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted? Through personal correspondence, legal documentation, census reports, paintings, and newspapers we are able to make our own determinations. Cohen provides more than enough background and history to allow any one to make their own opinion how the murder of a woman could be turned into a side show at a circus.
While other, less accomplished writers use violence to shock or provoke, Joyce Carol Oates is usually more subtle and inventive. Such is the case in "Naked," the story of a forty-six year old woman whose placid outer identity is ripped away by a brutal assault while out hiking not far from her fashionable, University Heights neighborhood. Like many of Oates' stories—and in this regard she probably owes something to Flannery O'Connor—"Naked" focuses on a woman so entrenched in her rigid self-image that nothing short of violence could make her vulnerable to a humbling, though redemptive, self knowledge.
What is it about sex that makes everyone so uncomfortable? Upon reading Randa Jarrar’s A Map of Home, one of the major themes that the novel goes in depth about is Nidali’s sexual awakening. Many students would argue that this novel is littered with too much sexual activity, i.e. masturbation. However, A Map of Home is a novel about finding your place in this world; the search for your identity and purpose. Sexual identity plays a significant part of that continuum. You may question, “Well, could you have figure out a way to describe her story without all the sex stuff?” This statement would demolish the novel’s relatable and sheer honest tone, as well as disintegrate the genuineness behind the narrative if Jarrar would omit Nidali’s sexual experiences. The complete fact that young teenagers do think about sex so often makes one grasp the true relatability this novel showcases through the main character’s sexual experiences. In this essay, I plan to explore the importance of sexual awakening, Nidali’s own reasons for experimenting with her sexuality, and what we can ultimately learn from being open with what we want in that context.
Throughout Drake’s musical career, the theme he raps about the most is the male/female relationship. As I referenced it before the relationship between men and women is one of the pillars of rap. His most commercially successful and loved songs are about the relationships he’s had with a woman. Instead of talking about selling drugs or violent lyrics, Drake raps about his love of women and the relationships he has with him. He talks about the mistakes he’s made in the relationship one song in particular “Sooner than Later” he talks about how he has this girl he loves but let’s her get away from him and doesn’t realize it until she’s gone when he raps, “I forgot to call on your birthday/ You swear you’re the last thing on my mind, yeah/ There