The Diviners by Margaret Laurence

1037 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender Roles in Literature

Literature is a cultural construct and provides us with valuable insights into the development of Societies. It helps psychological understanding and reformations of espistemological constructs. Literature in itself is a rich source material for interpreting the past. Women’s writings focus attention on the manifestation of female sensibility, feminine reality and on its significance as a means of bringing about an awareness of this reality. Feminism being an important movement in the modern world, a woman’s place, position and especially the quest for her identity and importance, are not duly recognized. Gynocentricism provides the platform to delve deep into the obstacles faced by women.
Gynocentrism is derived from the Greek word gyno, meaning "woman," and kentron, meaning "center", is a radical feminist discourse that champions woman-centered beliefs, identities, and social organization. It also challenges the androcentric promotion of masculine standards as normative, and the presentation of those standards as neutral. Gynocentric feminism is concerned to revalue sexual difference and femininity positively. The literature about women portrays the realities of their mental and physical sufferings and desperate struggle for a meaning in life and living. A woman’s experience includes a different perception. Women do not say things in the same way as men and have different ideas and feelings about what is important and what is not.
Explaining the importance of examining women’s experience Greda Lerner says:

Women have been left out of history not because of the evil conspiracies of men in general or male historians in particular, but because we have considered history only in male-centered terms. We have missed women and their...

... middle of paper ...

...eak over patriarchal norms and to equate woman with men. The oft-quoted Shakespearean adage-“Fraility, thy name is woman” is proved false in the case of Morag Gunn. She emerges as a successful, independent, maleless person unruffled by the threats of patriarchy.

Works Cited

 Laurence, Margaret. The Diviners, Toronto. Mc Clelland& Stewart,1992
 Gnanmony S. Robert: Literary polyrhythm: New voices in New writings in English. Sarup.2005.
 Showalter, Elaine.”Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness” Modern Criticism and Theory.David Lodge with Nigel Wood. New Delhi: Pearson Education,2003.
 Greda Lerner, “The Challenge of Women’s History, the Majority Finds Is Past:
Placing Women in History. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979)

 Elizabeth Hackett and Sally Haslanger, eds, Theorising Feminsims,Oxford Univ Press,2006
 Gynocentricism : free wikepedia

Show More
Related

  • Feminist Perspective of Addie Bundren of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

    1624 Words  | 4 Pages

    Irigaray, Luce. "This Sex Which Is Not One."  Feminism: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism. Ed.  Robyn R. Warhol and Diane Price Herndle.  New Brunswick, NJ:  Rutgers UP, 1991.

    Read More

  • The Power of the Written Word: Literary Greats Paving the Way for Social Equality

    1276 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, women have struggled with, and fought against oppression. They have been held back and weighed down by the sexist ideas of a male dominated society which has controlled cultural, economic and political ideas and structure. During the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s women became more vocal and rebuked sexism and the role that had been defined for them. Fighting with the powerful written word, women sought a voice, equality amongst men and an identity outside of their family. In many literary writings, especially by women, during the mid-1800’s to early 1900’s, we see symbols of oppression and the search for gender equality in society. Writing based on their own experiences, had it not been for the works of Susan Glaspell, Kate Chopin, and similar feminist authors of their time, we may not have seen a reform movement to improve gender roles in a culture in which women had been overshadowed by men.

    Read More

  • Dave Barrys Complete Guide To Guys

    1383 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is a well-known fact that our world history is dominated by a tyrannical patriarchy in which the majority of women have been forgotten. Somehow, according to Barry, it is the men who have been forgotten. "Guys have played an important role in history, but this role has not been given the attention it deserves, because nobody wrote it down"(9).

    Read More

  • Sheryl Sandberg: The Feminist Movements

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    The feminist movement raises political campaigns for the rectification of rights that should be permitted to women in the public, workplace and most importantly in one’s home. Women’s movement turn out to be a significant role as time advanced, diminutive ideas were anticipated at first, minor alterations occur but not much was being done for the privileges of a woman therefore making the women’s movement more hostile. It can be proposed that women are far too emotional to have equal rights as men due to the hormones that occur while a woman is pregnant or on her menstrual cycle, although the women’s movement has been more beneficial than crucial. Women have helped enhance the economy drastically, improve the family time in homes, as well as

    Read More

  • Women in the Revolutionary War and The Civil War

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    History books tend to relegate major credit to “men” for our country’s freedom and independence. There is no disputing that key male figures, like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, led masses of troops into battle and composed monumental doctrine that has changed our history forever. However, we must recognize that these were not one-gender wars and women played an extremely significant role in the war effort.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Born This By Sara M. Evans

    1015 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...uld motivate people to learn more. In history, women are paid a lot less attention than men. Men are mentioned more in history books than women. History books often focus more on men and their influence. Women, however participated in history as well and that should be more well known to the public. Men had more rights throughout our history and thus their accomplishments were more publicized and are now more well known. Evans argues that women helped shape America in ways that most don't hear about in their History courses.

    Read More

  • Women of the Revolution

    1764 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women are frequently overlooked when it comes to history in the 18th centuries. They were there in the flesh for all of the historical events, but they are rarely mentioned. Everyone has heard of the “Founding Fathers”, but students rarely hear about the “Founding Mothers” in their curriculum. Although women did not directly plan out our government, they still deserve to be given some credit for it. The roles that women played during the Revolutionary War greatly influenced the outcome of the war and the country that resulted from it.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Sex And The Single Girl

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nothing has more of an effect to the controversial conversation of women’s liberation than literature. The subtle cues from Cosmopolitan emphasizing femininity: beauty, sensuality, appreciating the female body… Self-help guidebooks persisting the woman to let go and just be free for once. It is liberating for the woman to see such medias to act upon what they were thinking and to even go beyond that. Talks of

    Read More

  • The Equal Pay Act

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    The most related terms when women’s right is brought up are feminism and feminist. A feminist, by definition, is someone the fights for feminism. The definition of feminism, one the other hand, is very complex. Throughout history, the word has continuously had bad images and connotations thrown its wa...

    Read More

  • The Many Faces of a Woman: An Essay Exploring the Challenges Faced by Womankind

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lindberg, Laurie. "Wordsmith and Woman: Morag Gunn's Triumph Through Language." New Perspectives on Margaret Laurence: Poetic Narrative, Multiculturalism, and Feminism. Ed. Greta M. K. McCormick Coger. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996. 187-201.

    Read More

  • Egalias Daughters

    1708 Words  | 4 Pages

    My first reaction to Egalia’s Daughters, by Gerd Brantenberg, was something like "WHAT is this". I was immediately very confused, and had no idea what this author was writing about. In fact, I felt as though I opened the book to the middle of a story, and became turned off by the whole experience. It took about three chapters, and someone’s help, until I started to read the book understandably, with ease, and began to enjoy the world I was entering. It became very apparent that I would have to detach myself from all that I thought I knew about gender, and simply allow myself to take in the message Brantenberg was trying to convey. As soon as I began to understand what I was reading, I found myself thoroughly engaged by both the story and the sociological aspects of both the Egalian, and my societies social constructions of gender. Although I was aware, to some degree of the socialization of gender in our society, having not taken any feminist or women’s studies courses, I was not familiar with how much gender is ingrained in our culture, language, government, identities, etc. This book truly brings forth those ideals by expressing the opposite of what we know in our society to be true concerning the socialization of gender.

    Read More

  • Slave Women In Caribbean Society Summary

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    Unfortunately, too many students hear teachers say that if it 's in the book, then it must be so. Much of what has been called history has been recorded by men of the dominant culture of that society. The men who write the text decided what should be recorded and what is important. There is little written about women, let alone minority women. A lot of students have deducted that since women and members of minority groups rarely appear in history texts, they contributed little to history.” She even references a book that supports her opinion by Dr. Mary Pipher, a psychotherapist and New York Times best-selling author for her book, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls (1975), says that when girls and women read a history of Western civilization, they are essentially reading a record of men’s lives. Pipher quotes Dale Spender, author of Man Made Language (1980; 1985), “Women’s accomplishments are relegated to the lost and found.” As girls study Western civilization, they become increasingly aware that history is the history of men. History is His Story, the story of

    Read More

  • Creole as a Third Space

    1613 Words  | 4 Pages

    Habib, M. A. R. "Feminist Criticism." A History of Literary Criticism: Fron Plato to the Present. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2005. 667-707.

    Read More

  • Feminist Criticism Of Feminism

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    Feminism has negative connotations in popular culture. When people think about feminism or feminists, they envision angry women who absolutely hate men. This may be true for some feminists, but not all. It may surprise a few people that feminism is integral in all facets of life. Its roots lie in a social and political movement, the women’s liberation movement, aimed at improving conditions for women. Feminism has many definitions, but one common definition features the concept of equality, such as the belief that women and men should have equal opportunities. Feminism also examines women's social roles, experiences, interests, and politics in a variety of fields. Common themes explored in feminist theory are discrimination, objectification (especially sexual objectification), oppression, patriarchy, stereotyping and so forth. These themes have developed over time and have created feminist theory. This section of paper will describe the three waves of feminism, the feminist rhetorical pioneers and their critics, and will explain how to use feminist criticism.

    Read More

  • Feminism Essay

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    One can hardly talk of a single united feminism, but rather, manifold feminisms. The US feminist movement ‘s main global struggle has been to enable ‘womankind’ to fully lead her existence and live her humanity by standing against the injustices of the dominant patriarchy and sexist discrimination . Throughout history, the dominant mainstream Feminism ( with capital F) tends to have been related to conform to the aspiration of the educated middle-class heterosexual white women who have traditionally been given unequal power to widen their significance--but the movement has lately had more ramifications. Currently, there are different kinds of feminism whose disagreements stem from fundamental intrinsic understanding of what feminism, sexism or phallocentrism mean. Each trend views it from a different perspective as in accordance with its motives or concerns. Nonetheless, they share common claims as to “the body, class and work, disability, the family, globalization, human rights, popular culture, race and racism, reproduction, science, the self, sex work, and sexuality.”

    Read More

More about The Diviners by Margaret Laurence

Open Document