For thousands of years, gender stereotyping has been a common characteristic of the different human civilizations. In fact, before the appearance of the Women Rights Movement in the middle of the 19th century, physical and biological divergences between men and women were considered as the main points affecting and controlling the role and the life style of each of them. In her essay entitled “The War against Boys”, Christina Hoff Sommers, the former philosophy professor, by analyzing the boys’ bad performance at school proved that gender stereotyping, in some circumstances, can be very harmful because it leads to a sequence of dangerous results. Even if America is one of the few countries establishing strict laws heading to a gender equity,
The Return of Martin Guerre written by Natalie Davis gives the audience a rare glimpse into the world of peasant life in sixteenth century France. It also allows a modern day audience a chance to examine and to compare their own identities and questions of self. What makes the story so interesting to modern day viewers and readers is how relevant the story and the people in it are to our own times. This story is about a history of everyday people rather than royalty and generals, history's usual subjects.
Bravery can be showed by having strength, being willing to sacrifice, and standing up for yourself and others. Life will not be very fun if you do not try to make it fun. One has to be brave to make life fun. If one is not strong it would make it hard to be brave. If Holling was not strong then he would not have been able to play Ariel in the Shakespeare play. All of his friends showed up when he was was wearing yellow tights and feathers on his butt. He stayed strong and finished the play. “Still ringing in the hands of Danny Humfer, Meryl Lee and Mai Ti who were standing in the very front row.” (Schmidt 86) That moment was when Holling first saw all of his classmates watching him in the play. At first he only saw Danny’s parents, but then
"Battleground America," written by Jill Lepore, provides a strong history of guns and the way they have changed in the eyes of the American through the years. She proves her point with strong evidence throughout her article, sprinkling it with opinion and argument that is strongly supported. She presents her argument to convince her audience that the open availability of guns allows citizens to undeservingly purchase them by displaying the credibility in her sources, using negative connotations in her speech, and the strength and objectivity only a strong logos appeal can provide.
A true war story blurs the line between fact and fiction, where it is neither true nor false at the same time. What is true and what is not depends on how much you believe it to be. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story” from the novel “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the author provides various definitions to how the validity of a war story can be judged. The entire chapter is a collection of definitions that describe the various truths to what a true war story is. Unlike O’Brien, who is a novelist and storyteller, David Finkel, the author of “The Good Soldiers”, is a journalist whose job is to report the facts. Yet in the selection that we read, chapter nine, Finkel uses the convention of storytelling, which relies heavily on the stories the combat troops tell each other or him personally. Finkel attempts to give an unbiased view of the Iraq war through the stories of the soldiers but in doing so, Finkel forfeits the use of his own experiences and his own opinions. From O’Brien’s views on what a true war story is combined with my own definitions, I believe that Finkel provides a certain truth to his war stories but not the entire truth.
Women in America have been described as “domestic household slaves” referring to their status in society. Do the documents support this assertion? If so what is the evidence?
War can be defined as conflict and battle. Wars are waged intentionally to destroy bonds between relationships, however, there are also wars that occur within oneself. These wars negatively affect the mentality of humans as it is able to manifest conflicts within the mind. Through the use of literary devices such as: tone, mood, imagery and pathos, writers Paul Boyer, Tim O’Brien, and Kenneth W. Bagby are able to convey the idea that war has a substantial impact on the self. In the texts written by these authors, the notion that war is affects the self the most is apparent.
In the first half of the book, “Half-changed world”, “Half-changed minds”, the author argues about how social and environmental factors influence the mind on the gender differences. She also includes the history and impact of the gender stereotypes we see and how science has been used to justify the use of sexism. In the first chapter in the “Half-changed world” section of the book she uses an example of if a researcher tapped you on the shoulder and asked you to write down what males and females were like if you would write down things such as compassionate for females and aggressive for males or if you would look at the researcher and tell them that every person is unique.(Fine,3) Based on the information in the book most people would pick up the pencil and write down descriptions of each gender based on the way the world perceives gender. She also talks about marriage and how “the husband is the breadwinner and works outside the home to provide financial resources for the family. In return, his wife is responsible for both the emotional and household labor created by the family…” (Fine,78)
Since the beginning of time there has been an ever present divide between the male and female genders in every way. From politics all the way down to expectations, the common denominator in categorizing who takes care of what has always been decided by gender. In earlier times this divide led to the strict and often harsh treatment of women, but as time continued and the emergence of equal rights and feminist movements arose, the divide between the two genders has since begun to close, and has led to better relations between men and women.
Today, women are not typically seen in higher levels of position in the work force than men. In Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All”, she uses her own experience to convey why it is not possible for a woman to work in a higher position, due to women being more emotional than men. People still believe it’s a women’s place to stay at home to cook, clean and take care of the children, while the men go to work to pay the bills. And it’s considered odd if the man is a stay at home father and the woman is working 24/7 and is never home. Even though it is rewarding to be able to always be there to see your child’s milestones in their life. It is always nice to get away from that life for even a moment. I don’t mean going out with the girls or guys, while you hire a babysitter, but helping your husband or wife pay the bills, so you have two rather than one income coming in at the end of the month. In Richard Dorment’s article, “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All” he states that both men and women can’t have it all. I agree with both Slaughter and Dorment, but not entirely. I believe if you want to be a good
World War One or “The War To End All Wars” was one of the most devastating events in the history of humankind. When looking back at such a gruesome war it is understandable that we might dwell on the key battles and tactics, which are often summarized by statistics on death tolls. However, we often forget that statistics create an illusion that warps our perception of death. As Stalin put it “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is just a statistic”. In the novel “The Wars” by Timothy Findley, the author draws away from traditional war stories by showing a true appreciation for life that truly touches the reader on a human and emotional level. Timothy Findley narrows in something anyone can relate to: a loving mother worried about her son risking his life in a war. This mother in the “The Wars” is Mrs. Ross, who represents the home front while her son, Robert Ross, fights for the British in World War One. As the book progresses and Robert gets further into the death trap known as the “Great War”, Mrs. Ross becomes increasingly obsessive and connected to her son as his fate becomes more clear.
Capturing children and turning them into child soldiers is an increasing epidemic in Sierra Leone. Ishmael Beah, author of the memoir A Long Way Gone, speaks of his time as a child soldier. Beah was born in Sierra Leone and at only thirteen years old he was captured by the national army and turned into a “vicious soldier.” (Beah, Bio Ref Bank) During the time of Beah’s childhood, a civil war had erupted between a rebel group known as the Revolutionary United Front and the corrupt Sierra Leone government. It was during this time when the recruitment of child soldiers began in the war. Ishmael Beah recalls that when he was only twelve years old his parents and two brothers were killed by the rebel group and he fled his village. While he and his friends were on a journey for a period of months, Beah was captured by the Sierra Leonean Army. The army brainwashed him, as well as other children, with “various drugs that included amphetamines, marijuana, and brown brown.” (Beah, Bio Ref Bank) The child soldiers were taught to fight viciously and the effects of the drugs forced them to carry out kill orders. Beah was released from the army after three years of fighting and dozens of murders. Ishmael Beah’s memoir of his time as a child soldier expresses the deep struggle between his survival and any gleam of hope for the future.
How do you differentiate between right and wrong? Is it what you have been taught growing up, or how you have been raised? Is it your religion that shapes your beliefs, or is it the law that defines right or wrong for you? What if religion was used as law? In Margaret Atwood's “The HandMaid's Tale, the crude society of Gilead is a theocracy, a government at which church and state are combined.
A misconception about gender equality is that the seemingly perpetual battle, has been won. In reality, humankind is far from the victory it seeks. However, the key to eradicating gender based barriers, inequity and discrimination is to pinpoint its origin. It is evident that female suppression was a prominent issue within the Interwar era. The main factors that led to the suppression of women during this time period were societal ideals, fears and industrial growth.
American society needs to break from the mold of the myth of gender, which suggests that society and culture dictate our roles as men and women, as can only restrict us into unnecessary conformity. The opinion of society should no longer decide who we are, what we do, and what we’re capable of doing. We, as Americans, need to deeply analyze and question this fallacy of gender and the way it restricts us at home, in the media, and in the classroom. If we continue to follow the invisible guidelines of in invisible rulebook, we’re destined to hurt ourselves and our future generations by remaining nestled into our cultural cocoons and never shedding them.
Gender roles and racial discrimination has changed in many ways throughout history as within recent societal representation. In the the early 1900s, woman wore skirts that brushed the floor, belted jackets, fancy dresses etc. In the early 1990s, women wore short dresses, heeled shoes, turtlenecks etc. In fact, every succeeding generation has brought with it different expectations for how races,women and men are viewed within society. Although, we may be more open to expectations than were past generations, there are still expected norms of behavior for women and men in society. For example,“gender roles” means society expects