Power and Manipulation in The Ladies Paradise
As the world has grown throughout the centuries, females have generally been under the domination of males. This remained culturally entrenched until the late nineteenth century, when women began to appear in public more often and also began to join alongside men in the work force. In the network of employees and employers in the emerging institution of the Parisian department store, men and women depended on each other for survival in the workplace. Such interdependence is a microcosm of the bourgeois French society during that time, which Emile Zola wrote of in The Ladies’ Paradise, the eleventh book of the Rougon-Macquart series detailing middle-class life. According to Professor Brian Nelson, “The department store in The Ladies’ Paradise is a symbol of capitalism, the experience of the city, and the bourgeois family” (Zola x). Through his usage of characterization, Zola uses the development of the Parisian department store as a microcosm of the economical and societal changes taking place in the larger bourgeois culture of France. In Zola’s book as in life, female characters tipped the balance scale of power in their own direction, robbing men of the power they had previously used to manipulate women to their advantage.
The department store began as an expansion of the small family- owned draper’s shop but soon grew to be a capitalist power in the French economy. By the twentieth century, in order for to be considered a department store, an establishment needed to be
“… organized by merchandise departments with administrative subdivisions corresponding to physical segregations of merchandise” as opposed to specializing in single commodities like the shops lining the streets ...
... middle of paper ...
...ce, Mouret, Denise, and the Mademoiselles who shop at The Ladies’ Paradise could not have formed the powerful entrepreneurial revolution in society without each other.
Bibliography:
Abelson, Elaine S. When Ladies Go A-Thieving. New York: Oxford UP, 1989.
Crossick, Geoffrey, ed. Cathedrals of Consumption. Brookfield: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 1999.
"Emile Zola." Literary Lifelines. Danbury: Grolier Educational, 1998. 202-203.
Hower, Ralph M. History of Macy's of New York. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1943.
Lancaster, William. The Department Store: A Social History. New York: Leicester UP, 1995.
Miller, Michael B. The Bon Marché. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1981.
Schelle, Beth. The Ladies' Paradise: Selling Women, Power, and Lace. Sweet Briar College. 13 Nov. 2001 .
Zola, Emile. The Ladies' Paradise. Trans. Brian Nelson. New York: Oxford UP, 1995.
This novel tells the story of the cultural and social aspects of patriarchal culture, which attempt to subdue Adele Lindner, a young Jewish woman living in New York City during the turn of the 20th century. Adele must continually face patriarchal oppression of the “workhouse” under the authoritarian management of young women to be domestic servants, instead of being trained as independently minded businesswoman in the community. Arthur Hellman, the manager of the working house, is a major barrier to Adele’s education, as the Beauvoir’s theory of women as the “other” is expressed in her critical opinion of the taskmaster of the working house:
In the summer of 1788, France was on the brink of revolution. Thousands were starving and peasant revolts were popping up all over the country. At this time, French government and society was in a period called the “Old Regime,” where mobility between classes was nearly unheard of. A person born into aristocracy was lucky, while one born into poverty would most likely struggle for their entire life. Women’s roles were “strictly defined,” no matter what class they were a part of (Streissguth 6). Before the revolution, most women did not question where their place was: in the home. It was very rare for a woman to work outside the domestic sphere, because they did not have as much freedom as men, even men in the lower class. In May of 1789, France had fallen into deep economic turmoil and public unrest was high, forcing the king to call the Estates General. The Estates General, according to Thomas Streis...
French, Marilyn. “Gender Roles.” One World, Many Cultures. Ed. Stuart Hirschberg. 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1995. 143-152.
Mayer, M. L. (1989). 1949-1989: retail reflections. Journal of Retailing, V65 n3, p 396. JAI press, Inc.
...found that the book gave perspective to each of the individual classes, rather than covering only the bourgeois or the proletariat. Today you will scarcely find a job or institution were women are not allowed, had I not read this chapter it would have been very difficult for me to understand what women at this time went through.
The growth of one woman interferes with one man’s idea of being able to conquer Woman. The two main characters of the book Ladies’ Paradise named Denise and Mouret have a unique sense of love, if it really even is “love.” She is very shy and unattainable while he is charismatic and lives a greatly successful life. Her unordinary attitude creeps into Mouret’s mind, causing him to desire her at an extreme amount. Mouret is not able to conquer Denise in the same way that he does women in his department store which defeats his conquest of Woman. The idea of feminism is prominent throughout the novel since Denise is such an independent character and does not give into Mouret’s power immediately. She briefly gives Mouret a new set of eyes, allowing
Different from Woods' 1950s view of femininity, Charles Huchet's 1981 article compares Marie's lais to other works of the times. He suggests feminism is not present...
Women were expected to be nurturing, proper, and obedient. When men wanted their wives and daughters to stay home, the women had no choice but to cooperate, “The growing separation between the workplace and the home sharpened distinctions between the social roles of men and women” (Brinkley 240). As the separation between the home and the workplace began to grow, the shift in gender roles became more evident in society. Additionally, a new culture for women emerged from this shift in society, “Within their own separate sphere, middle-class women began to develop a distinctive female culture. A ‘lady’s’ literature began to emerge” (Brinkley 240). This newfound female culture gave women a sense of connection to other women with lifestyles. In some ways, this shift in gender roles was not completely harmful to women. However, women were still considered to be inferior to
It is interesting to consider Veblen’s theory of conspicuous consumption as it pertains to the modern day fashion industry, specifically the luxury fashion sector. In The Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen said “we all find a costly hand-wrought articles of apparel much preferable to a less expensive imitation of it;” however, at the beginning of the 20th century, couture clothing was exclusively available to those who were very wealthy, simply because of how much the garments cost. By the mid-1930’s, businesses were beginning to change their ways of thinking after seeing the enormous profit that the Walt Disney Company received once they licensed the making of Mickey Mouse novelty items. Christian Dior was the first of many fashion designers to foll...
During the Great Depression, while the competitors were cutting costs and reusing outdated designs, Kress was expanding and building more elaborate stores than their previous ones. The architecture was referred to as an “emporium” evoking an elegant atmosphere more suited to a fine cloth or furniture store in New York rather than the five & dime stores dotting small town America. Many wonder what the driving force was behind these design decisions, especially during a national time of economic recession. Perhaps simply to outpace the competition, but perhaps more importantly Samuel Kress was an avid art collector and a proponent of public art enhancing a community. In this way the Kress legacy of the brand became more than a retail business, it became a symbol of small town civic pride.
Was it the Market Revolution that changed women’s quality of life, the strong will of many women, or both? At the beginning of the market revolution women were just being sought after to join the work place. Beginning a time when women started to question their rights and statues in the United States. Several women decided to stepped forward and raise up for women’s rights by fighting to remove women from the “Cult of True Womanhood”, equal wage rights, higher education and showing the importance of the American women in the workforce. Emma Willard, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Grimke Sisters and many nameless women joined the fight to improve the quality of life for women in the first half of the nineteenth century.
The freedom to choose and globalization helped in the establishment of modern super markets. A standard supermarket displays more than 30,000 items (Cross, 2000:55). Assu...
The men treated their women as if they were an object. After marriage the husbands had full control over any finances or property that the women had once owned. Women didn’t have to many rights if any and were expected to stay at home and be the stereotypical house wife doing the daily house duties, looking after the children and making the meal. Even if women didn’t like it it was almost as if they were forced to be the stay at home mother. Mathilde Loisel suffering from this middle class life style just wanted to live a glamorous and luxuries life. “She would so much have liked to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be seductive and sought after."(Maupassant 1). Loisel felt trapped in this life of almost poverty and just wants to escape. She wants to live this glamorous life of having things done for her and being able to have the luxuries that the upper class have and is clearly jealous of her wealthy friend Mme. Frostier and would like to be in her shoes. But at the end of the day she is confined in this middle class lifestyle and can only wish for a better
This sense of individualism shared in the writing s of Zola and Herbert and depicted in the paintings of David and Delacroix shows people looking back in history that women in France were not perceived the same way in similar countries. A nation like our own didn’t give voting rights to women until thirty years ago. The culture of France and French people and their perception of women in society eventually helped France to be the classiest, most respectful nation of power.
The familiar saying "Behind every great man is an even greater woman" can certainly hold true in many cases. A woman may very well be the driving force behind any successful man. However, a woman can also use her strong influence in a negative way. This can be seen in Macbeth, where Lady Macbeth is the evil force behind Macbeth's cruelty and evil doings. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the main reason that Macbeth is transformed from a noble, respected Thane into a ruthless, murderous character. Lady Macbeth fuels his inner desire for power and brings forth his greed and ambition, which both eventually lead to his downfall. The tactics that Lady Macbeth use to drive her husband to this downfall are manipulation, dominance, and her evil nature.