ipl-logo

Women In Literature

1556 Words7 Pages

Rowaida Elbatrawy 55736
ENG 215
Spring 2016
Final Exam
Sat. May 21, 2016 Arab Women in Literature
Women in the Arab world are struggling to demand equality by facing negative consequences of their decision against their culture norms and tradition. Furthermore, any story that illustrates the struggle of a woman gave in their characteristic and identity in literature. In our stories, “The Answer is No” and three small stories written by different writers under the name of “the Picture” illustrates the female protagonist as she searches for emancipation, equality and liberation from patriarchal domination. Their identity is defined by their own choices and their beliefs. These stories have several similarities as well as differences in female’s …show more content…

They are willing to make their own decisions, expressing their decision-making and ready to face the consequences of their choices, actions and decisions. A feminist literature doesn’t only illustrate women in relationship, but discusses the stereotypes designed by society towards women, especially in the Arab world. My thesis will mainly analyze the stories; “the Answer is No” and “the Picture” by how they embrace the feminist literature and which story represent more positive representation of women by discussing each women protagonist.
A noble prize winner in Literature; Naguib Mahfouz wrote “The Answer is No”. The story begin with a beautiful teacher with severe past experience as she struggles with the culture’s norms and tradition. This teacher knew a headmaster was hired and was shocked to see who he was. …show more content…

The first story by al-Sadaawi talks about a teenage girl Narjis and her struggle with her sexuality as she is bewildered by her body change and feels uncomfortable with it. As she sees herself in the mirror she noticed the reflection of her father’s picture and she recalls how her father was well reputable and respected by the people. According to al-Saadawi, “She wanted to look at him without bowing her head, to fix her eyes on his eyes and see them, know them, get acquainted with them. But she couldn’t. There was always a distance separating his eyes from hers” (1993, p.62). She always shows respect and obedience towards her father, but suddenly when she sees her father with another woman; the maid. She is paralyzed by his behavior that she manages to return to her room and remove her father’s picture that it fell from fingers into small pieces. This story mainly is about how society observe and not criticize men’s behavior that leaves them act freely and not caring about others’ criticize, that leave their women oppressed and constraints their liberty and emancipation. Also, we can relate this story with “The Answer is No”, as both protagonists face severe repercussions that both got deceived by the male dominant character. In the story “the Answer is No” the protagonist trusted and respected her tutor as her father, but he misused this trust and raped her. While the

Show More
Related
577 Words | 3 Pages

In an effort for people to correctly identify themselves, languages adopt and replace numerous terms over time. When it comes to terms to define one’s gender, there is a correlation between the terms and a person’s age. Anne Curzan’s article “Guys and …?” explores the issue of finding age appropriate terms to describe women. The article discusses how this dilemma is prevalent for female college students, as at times neither “girl” nor “woman” seems suitable.

Read More
194 Words | 1 Pages

Another similarity, between these two short stories, both of the women held them selves as superior.

Read More
345 Words | 2 Pages

While

Read More
261 Words | 2 Pages

I think the portrayal of woman in popular literature does not change much in the thirty years. In both the book The Natural and Christine, woman are used as a tool to depict the characteristics of the male main characters. In The Natural, the role of Memo Paris is to reveal the naïve and innocence of the main character Roy Hobbs. Memo represents evilness in the book and it affects Roy negatively. In Christine, the “strange car” Christine is presented as a female character.

Read More
615 Words | 3 Pages

The prejudice that the author brings forward strongly is the notion of feminism. The author’s main purpose of writing this novel is to examine the role of women played around

Read More
1564 Words | 7 Pages

The lead characters share a fundamental similarity: they are both women navigating their men-dominated patriarchal society. Despite their disparate

Read More
1708 Words | 7 Pages

For example, both short stories are set at a summer camp with the story surrounding the friendships and mistreatments between girls. The stories share similar character attitudes and emotions. For instance, Charlene and Arnetta have leadership qualities and are assertive when it comes to getting what they want. They are extroverted and have sidekicks that follow their every move even when they are doing something very wrong. The girls immediately dislike Verna and Troop 909 for no reason and treat them as though they are something out of this world.

Read More
900 Words | 4 Pages

Many differences and similarities arise in each of these stories including their beliefs differing in the way humans were created, while the attitudes base

Read More
238 Words | 1 Pages

Compare and Contrast 2 Emily Nasrallah and HananAl-Shaykh 's use women as their main characters in their stories. These authors also portray women as oppressed human beings in their own societies which gives a sad tone to these stories. What caught my attention the most was that these authors try to reveal some of the dark secrets harbored by the veiled women of the Arabian Countries. For instance, an old man is unable to recognize his own wife of about thirty to forty years in a hospital from Hanan’s ‘Unseeing Eye’. Emily uses Imagery in most of her novel titles.

Read More
751 Words | 4 Pages

How Were Women Portrayed and Compared to Men in the 1800’s Through Feminist Short Stories? “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done ask a woman.” ~Margaret Thatcher. This quote is saying that woman can do anything.

Read More
1118 Words | 5 Pages

To start of, both the women had different stories that made them to become the woman they

Read More
978 Words | 4 Pages

(Hosseini, 86). But after the Mujahedeen took over, women were treated horribly especially by their husbands and were sometimes the punching bags if something wrong happened. The novel does a great job on letting the readers know why women were always blamed and/or beaten, what happens after the men blame the women for something and shows examples of little things that a woman has done or does that trigger the men to become angry or upset. If you dig deep

Read More
983 Words | 4 Pages

In both stories, the women characters appear to be revealed and developed in consideration

Read More
1248 Words | 5 Pages

Fatima Mernissi’s works include: Dreams of trespass: Tales of a harem Girlhood, Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World, and the well-known as well as her first Monograph, Beyond the Veil, which was published in 1975. It has become popular book in fields such as sociology and anthropology of the women in the Arab World. Summary The Monograph THE VEIL AND THE MALE ELITE tackled various issues and subjects in the Islamic religion, which were mostly based on the role of the women as well as their rights in it. Initially in the preface of the Monograph the Mernissi compares the Islamic society with Judeo-Christian societies in order to unravel the reason as to why

Read More
1495 Words | 6 Pages

The role of women in literature crosses many broad spectrums in works of the past and present. Women are often portrayed as weak and feeble individuals that submit to the situations around them, but in many cases women are shown to be strong, independent individuals. This is a common theme that has appeared many times in literature. Across all literature, there is a common element that causes the suffering and pain of women. This catalyst, the thing that initiates the suffering of women, is essentially always in the form of a man.

Read More

More about Women In Literature

Related Topics

Open Document