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Gender's role in literature
gender role in literature
Gender's role in literature
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In Girl and The Women’s Swimming Pool, have similar historical period and also have different cultures. Both stories were written in a historical period when women were not allowed to make decisions for themselves. Women’s right was not a thing in this historical period in which these two stories were written. Society made every decision for them as individual as well as groups. Society gave women a definition of what they stood for. Women had no choice but to follow whatever society told them to because there was no other option for them. Change was very hard for these women due to unexpected demands required from them. They held back every time change came their way, they had to put up with their oppressors because they didn’t have a mind of their own. Both authors described how their society affected them during this historical period. …show more content…
The society aspect of women roles and the duties as a woman. Society plays a role that is shown in a parallel between Girl and the Women’s Swimming Pool. In girl, her role is restricted in the direction by her mother. The restrictions come’s with consequences that she has to follow. These restrictions are guidelines that may or may not help her as a woman but she is subjected to do them in order to survive in a society that is controlled by men. While in The Women’s Swimming Pool, the young women finds a way to escape her old culture values and adapt to a new culture. She will be forced to make a decision that will put her in a position that she has to either leave her grandmother or her desire to the pool. Her grandmother is a symbol of her old culture values and the pool is symbolized as the new culture looking forward to change. As the old generation no one is willing to accept change but in the new generations they are willing to search for the change. Which comes with consequences and a great deal of
Elizabeth begins her journey apprehensively, but not without excitement. She takes many of her western ideas with her to El Nahra, but quickly discovers that in order to be accepted she must embrace the local customs. The practice of purdah, or the seclusion of women, is one with which she struggles immediately and often. Her preconceived notions regarding the veiling and seclusion of women seem to show that she regarded the practice as removing women from society. Upon her arrival, she realizes that, as the only woman without an abayah, she is a curiosity, and reluctantly changes her position on the garment, thinking “Well, it seemed I’d capitulated; I was going to wear that servile garment after all. I discovered that my principles were not as str...
Each culture has its own way of living based upon the expectations of family living. Within those expectations, there is a dominant gender role that comes into play. In the essay “Once More to the Lake,” White lives a traditional life, where men play the more dominant role. In the essay “Street Scenes”, Hood brings the reader back to her home town through vivid memories of her modernized life, where she and her mother play the female dominant role in society. E.B White and Hood represent entirely different gender roles that are acquired in society within contrasting generations, containing similar values.
In the first direction, the reader witnesses the era when women only existed to make the male happy. The main character Edna finds that she has nothing to do other than stay in the house bored, since even her children are raised and cared for by servants. Day after day, all Edna is permitted to do is care for her husband and be there whenever he needs help or entertainment. Woman at that time could not vote, could not go out without a male escort, were not allowed to smoke in public, and were not allowed in the work place. These ideals set by the male driven society caused Edna to face her second trend of free will, conflicting with her other direction of oppression.
Themes: One of the main themes of the text is gender roles. According to Boydston, gender spheres were put into place in response to chaotic changes occurring in society (143). Work outside of the home (man 's work) was very seasonal and inconsistent and therefore a man 's "manhood" was always being challenged. Women were placed into their specific roles in order to offset that challenge to manhood, and when a women entered the wage-earning world (and worked for less than a man at that) she was challenging the manhood. Women also faced challenges to their roles as time went on. Household roles changed and women 's work became less valued over time, and
Men are to represent both the man and the women in the social realm and are the “breadwinners” and women are to be the domestic housewives. This difference in roles is especially prevalent in Thucydides’s text. He asserts that citizenship in Athens was closely tied to the honor of battle and the political sphere. Citizens were expected to be active in the social and political sphere, as well as die with honor in battle. Because women could not defend themselves and represent themselves, they could not obtain citizenship, and it is precisely because they did not have citizenship that they could not represent themselves. This allowed for men to look down on women because they could not perform the civic duty that they were not even allowed to do. Therefore, there was this confusing cycle that women were trapped in. Christine de Pizan, however, challenges this notion that women have no say in the social sphere. She does this personally in her life when she manages her own land, and writes her own books. Again, her case is extremely rare in that influence and background as the wife of a nobleman allowed for this. Her education also was a great asset and in normal circumstances, had she been a woman with no social standing, this would not have been possible. Pizan also challenges the cultural role set in place; she is on one hand, still a mother who takes care of her children, but on the other hand she is also the “breadwinner” of the house. It is precisely because she is able to do both of these things, that she is able to stress the equality of both genders in both spheres of
However, well beneath the surface of the plotline, the viewer can also find himself or herself looking at a struggle for survival that is greatly affected by the roles of genders. Collins asks many questions regarding this; such as “If young girls do not see themselves reflected in media, will this diminish their sense of importance and self-esteem? Will boys conclude that women and girls are unimportant, as well? Will girls lack role models? Will adult women feel disenfranchised? Does the under-representation of women constrict societal perspectives and information in important ways?” (Collins). If Becky had not followed the standard gender role that the frame of time presented itself, she may have seen herself surviving the endeavor, despite almost no chance of her doing so. It is one of those things that today’s society may be glad to have moved past, because there is no reason for anyone to lose their life because they rely so heavily on the opposite
Women had different rights than men. Back in the 1800s women couldn’t decide for themselves unlike our society today. In the passage “Breaking Tradition” by Kathleen Ernst explains how the Civil War had a big impact on women’s roles in society. Kathleen Ernst uses Logos, Pathos and Ethos to describe how women felt about not being able to make decisions for themselves and always being controlled by other people.
Gender roles changed a lot in this century and popular literature like LIFE magazine changed with it. At first women had a set role in the house, expected to tend to the house and children and not pursue careers of their own. Thirty years later men and women had changed the way they lived life as a gender. Popular magazine articles provided a good illustration of what we were like culturally seventy years ago, and how we have changed today.
Gender roles can also play a vital part in society. Gus Portakalos thinks that a man is the head and that nice Greek girl who don’t find a husband works in their family restaurant , and that it’s a mistake to educate women,and did not think Toula needed to go to college to learn computers when she could run the family restaurant (My) Often times family expectation for their children can
Members of this society must learn what the appropriate way for them to behave is and what to expect of themselves and others. Growing up, gender roles were set on me as I played with fire trucks and cars, and my sisters played with Barbie's. The types of movies we watched were different and the types of books we read were also different. It would be thought of as bizarre for me, a male, to cry during Titanic, or to read Cinderella.
The role of women in this society was always undefined in the past. The continuous efforts by governments and other bodies are played a vital role that there is gender equality among people at the workplace and the society. John Steinbeck, the author of “The Chrysanthemums” uses Elisa as the main character to show how women were limited into doing different activities in the society. The role of housewife was the only significant job for them. The story highlights how Elisa always wanted more from her life then living I her husband’s shadow.
The films message to viewers about gender and power is that women are meant to take care of the home and play the supportive role, while men go out to their jobs and provide. Men are strong and burly and women are naïve and domesticated. Women need men and men always come to the rescue to save women and give them a happy ending. Power is portrayed in the film both visually and through the film’s script and dialogue. The common idea that women are inferior to men is placed subtly in this movie throughout the plot and how these charac...
Although we may see that females have the same rights as males in most circumstances, there is still a gender norm which controls how each gender should act. Women have fought for their rights and have been successful but the gender norms are still holding females back from being able to freely enjoy what males enjoy. Our society has been governed by these gender norms that help control how each of us as males and females should live. These gender norms help guide us through our life as being a male and female. When we were born, we are able to see our gender as displayed by someone else and we learn on how we should also act as well. These gender norms help guide how we live our lives and what we do with ourselves and helps make our decisions when we are unsure. In educating ourselves, gender norms are visibly throughout the education system as males and females are taught what is acceptable by each gender and how we should act. If we act outside of these gender norms, we are considered deviant and different. In school we are taught as males and females in what courses we should be taking and how to act as a male and
Sexism is very real, even in the least patriarchal societies of the world. From a western hemisphere point of view, the lives of women and young girls that are described in Nawal el Saadawi’s “In Camera” and Hanan al-Shaykh’s “The Women’s Swimming Pool” is almost unbelievable. Although these stories do not tell the whole story of women’s lives in these areas, it gives readers a general idea of how politics, social opportunities, and male privilege is overbearing in their way of life. While “In Camera” is has a more dark, and mature theme than “The Women’s Swimming Pool,” it is obvious that both relate in the way that their protagonists both suffer from the unnecessary and unexpected burden of being born a female.
In conclusion, through critical analysis and comparison of the two tales, it is evident tales shape gender mindsets at certain points in time whilst being shaped by changing mindsets, thereby producing more and new ideas on gender through women's place in story, the process of becoming a woman and on which gender blame tends to be put.