The Many Faces of a Woman: An Essay Exploring the Challenges Faced by Womankind
analytical Essay
1066 words
Feminism was at its nadir in the mid-twentieth century; cries of women's liberation, freedom, and independence resonated from all parts of the world. This era is perhaps best perceived as one, which was replete with images of women burning their bras. Armed with gainful education, women from different echelons of womankind were seen fighting adversities to assert and establish their rights. Margaret Laurence in "The Diviners" illustrates this phenomenon and delineates the status and challenges faced by the women of this era, by relating the story of its protagonist Morag Gunn, and the people responsible for mapping the course of her life.
"The Diviners" narrates the story of Morag Gunn, a dispossessed girl from a small Canadian prairie town, whose life reflects the fever of freedom and liberation, which had rapt the womenfolk of this era. Morag's tale incorporates lessons in valor, endurance, and confidence tutored by diverse people. Orphaned at the tender age of five, Morag is reared by the town garbage collector Christie and his wife Princess. Morag's childhood epitomizes the life of every estranged and dispossessed child. Morag being a strong and independent woman does not let this deter her yen to thrive in this world. She overcomes various impediments posed by the world around her to become an established writer. Her endeavors pilot trysts with diverse places and people; each of them teaching her an important lesson in life.
Her lessons in independence, which begin early in life, are fostered by circumstances and the accompanying experiences. Her tenacity not to let people and circumstances preside over her life is fortified in many ways by Eva Winkler, her best friend and neighbor. Eva, a person of subservient dispo...
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...nments have made it even more difficult for contemporary women to bridge the gap between their vocational aspirations and the female expectations. Today, even though the exclamations for freedom, liberation are not perceptible, the dilemmas and conflicts plaguing womankind continue to exist.
Work Cited
Ward, Susan. "Morag Gunn in Fictional Context: The Career Woman Theme in The Diviners." New Perspectives on Margaret Laurence: Poetic Narrative, Multiculturalism, and Feminism. Ed. Greta M. K. McCormick Coger. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996. 179-184.
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.
Laurence, Margaret. The Diviners. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1988.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how margaret laurence in "the diviners" delineates the status and challenges faced by the women of this era by relating the story of its protagonist morag gunn.
- Analyzes how "the diviners" narrates the story of morag gunn, a dispossessed girl whose life reflects the fever of freedom and liberation which had rapt the womenfolk of this era.
- Analyzes how morag's lessons in independence, which begin early in life, are fostered by circumstances and the accompanying experiences.
- Analyzes how morag's first lesson in individualism, fostered by eva, transpires from her incontinence on the first day of school. she surmises her thoughts by resolving to forestall mortification on herself.
- Analyzes how the lesson learned early in life is reinforced by an episode in eva's adolescent life.
- Analyzes how morag's freedom and individualism seem amiss in her life as mrs. brooke skelton. her marital life typifies the travails of a successful career woman who sacrifices ambitions to the demands of husband and family.
- Analyzes how morag stops writing about four so she can get outside the novel before brooke arrives home. she forgets that time outside is passing.
- Analyzes how lindberg's persistence to strike a balance between the two worlds leaves her exhausted and exasperated. her frustration exacerbates her disenchantment with her marriage
- Analyzes how morag's disillusionment with brooke surfaces from his constant attempts to impose his ideas and aspirations on her. she forsakes her marriage and ventures to establish herself as a writer
- Explains that women battle adversities and seek resolutions for their quandaries, such as getting an education and finding meaningful work, achieving financial independence, maintaining female friendships, and facing the challenges of growing old.
- Explains that modern day society has placed a distinct set of challenges on women. competitive work environments have made it even more difficult for contemporary women to bridge the gap between vocational aspirations and female expectations.
- Cites ward, susan and lindberg, laurie. "wordsmith and woman: morag gunn's triumph through language."
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- Analyzes how socialization has not broken women down. many women, like the speaker, do not adhere to these values; they help each other in the face of adversity.
- Analyzes how gilman's story exemplifies the same unity among women as grahn’s poem.
- Analyzes how grahn's speaker refers to certain things as being "womanly," reaffirming the idea that caring for someone is a woman’s job.
- Analyzes how gilman portrays men as having power based on their title. her husband, john, and brother are both physicians, so she is automatically confined to doing what they believe she should.
- Analyzes how gilman's narrator is extreme about her escape, while eve in leguin’s piece takes the opposite route. she rebels only in the way she talks to death.
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- Analyzes how sethe and the other former slaves pushed away the oppressing memories of slavery because there was simply a limit to their capacity to be haunted.
- Explains that the three women discussed represent a wide variety of social and cultural backgrounds, and their histories span over centuries.
- Analyzes how beatrice's father devised a system of protection, while the unnamed woman of the yellow wallpaper fought against it.
- Analyzes how beatrice, the simplest and happiest of the prisoners, lived in a simple prison constructed by one man. the unnamed woman's prison was more miserable than her.
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- Explains that during the victorian era, countless restrictions were placed on women, and equality was not a social norm. louisa may alcott's work opened the eyes to many women.
- Analyzes how alcott resembles jo in her rebellious ways of speaking out against the unjustified ways in which she lived.
- Explains that louisa may alcott was an advocate for women's rights and was the first woman to register for voting in her hometown of concord, massachusetts.
- Analyzes how louisa may alcott's sensationalist novels helped us understand the historical significance of the victorian era and the struggles that women throughout history have had to face.
- Opines that alcott, louisa may, little women, comp. louis jambor, new york, grosset & dunlap, 1947.
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