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Examples Of Norms In The Bloody Chamber

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Defying norms in Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber Frank Zappa once said, “Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” In this essay we are going to take a closer look at some of the main characters in Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber and how they might or might not conform to a reader’s presuppositions of norms, especially regarding gender and traditional gender stereotypes. Exploring further how some characters might deviate from the reader’s norm. This, of course, depends on how the reader defines and value norms. So, what is a norm? Merriam-Webster define “norm” as being a “standard of proper and acceptable behaviour.” Let’s take this definition and apply it to both Terry Eagleton’s argument that a deviation cannot exist …show more content…

She goes on to find a room with bodies of Bluebeard’s former wives. He then returns and tries to kill her, but in the end, her brothers comes to save her and they kill Bluebeard. The bones of this story and the characters are almost identical to what we find in The Bloody Chamber. One can argue that the protagonist, a virginal girl who marries the monstrous Marquis, is a very predictable character. She is, in most ways presented as the typical damsel in distress who marries the rich, mysterious guy, and ultimately needs saving. This is shown time and time again through the Marquis’ dominant nature and his total power over her. EXAMPLE FROM STORY! The Bloody Chamber deals with objectification of women, but the author does give the main character, and the other female characters for that matter, more detail so that they become something other than victims. Additionally, the reader is presented with an actual strong female character. Carter puts a big emphasis on virginity and the importance of this theme is shown throughout several of her stories. In The Bloody Chamber, the protagonist is, in some ways, empowered by her virginity and its “potential”, in spite of its innate innocence. It is her virginity that convinced the Marquis to marry

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From climbing up seven hundred foot cliffs to fighting off unusually large rodents, The Princess Bride is the story of an adventure that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. It is a romance narrative surrounding the cliché, the hero always gets the girl. We follow the protagonist Westley as he sets out on an action filled journey driven by his love for a woman named Buttercup. Certain characters such as princes, henchman, and witches are distinctively characterized during a romance narrative, but in The Princess Bride they inhabit alternative roles which contribute to this light hearted tale. The manipulation of tropes, commonly recurring literary devices, give a comedic feel to this intriguing and twist filled storyline.

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However, Leanne also illustrates the opposing side of this through the inclusion of certain concepts and scenes in the memoir that depict the Stanley women trying to fit in to society and live up to the “norms”. Leanne highlights

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In the essay “The Common Elements of Oppression” from Suzanne Pharr’s book Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism we learn about the different types of oppression. While watching the film Milk (2008) many of those elements of oppression are being strongly depicted. Throughout this piece examples will be given on how the film depicts three of those elements as described in Pharr’s book. The three elements of oppression that were the strongest in the film are: a defined norm, stereotyping and isolation.

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Octavia Butler is an Afrofuturist, science fiction author who writes many dystopian stories that allude to questions about gender, social structures, and an individual’s ability to control her body and sexuality. When people think of speculative and science fiction they tend to think of nerdy white men writing stories about space and light sabers, but Octavia Butler challenges this stereotype herself by being one of the few African American women in this genre. In Octavia Butler’s speculative fiction short story “Speech Sounds” there is a reversal of gender roles and a strong idea of feminism that is portrayed through the main character Rye. There is also the use of simile and metaphor to help point out flaws in the social structure of the story and the world of the reader.

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The Bloody Chamber and The Collector are both influenced by variations of the French folktale Bluebeard, Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber based on Charles Perrault’s Barbe bleue (Bluebeard), and John Fowles The Collector influenced by the opera Bluebeard 's Castle by Béla Bartók. Both The Collector and The Bloody Chamber use captivity narratives to drive the plot with the clear influence of the Bluebeard tale. In this is essay I will analyse how in both of the texts the female protagonists become surveyors of themselves, and how the surveyor within herself is male. I will further apply my understanding of Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze to critically analyse both texts, additionally demonstrating the techniques used within both and

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She discusses misrepresentation with a list of “ten enlightened sexism…pretense of simple, depicting reality.” (198) which reinforces these pop culture into own ideals of what gender roles should be in our society.

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(Carter 35) However, the biggest change from the original was the addition of the heroine's mother, whose relationship with the heroine is the center of the story and is the one who ultimately saves her from Bluebeard. At the beginning, she is concerned about the marriage of her seventeen year-old daughter to a much older man, and continues to keep in contact with the heroine throughout the course of the story. Then, after getting called to come to aid, she rushes in on a horse as a "wild thing" and then "put a single, irreproachable bullet" (Carter 40) through Bluebeard's head. Throughout The Bloody Chamber, Carter takes the sexist conventions of Bluebeard's time and filters them through a lense that surfaces both their problems and

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It revolves around the flight of the princess to escape the awful marriage to his father (Perrault, 1977). Charles Perrault uses the princess’ character to reveal the major themes of overcoming evil, child abuse and incest in the story. Perrault also brings out the moral that it is better to encounter awful challenges in life than to fail in one’s duty. He shows that although the virtue may seem unrealistic, it can always triumph. The author uses various literary devices to reveal the various morals of the story.

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Cultural theories by Kathleen Rowe, Laura Mulvey and Stuart Hall can help the audience seek an explanation to how these stereotypical gender roles are portrayed in the movie and how it can create power for the specific

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Often, we see a society’s cultural values reflected in its citizens. For example, the United States values equality, a standard that is shared in all facets including gender. The opposite is true of Gilead, a fictional society in Emily Bronte’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The novel’s main character, Offred, is subjected to degrading treatment simply because she is a woman. It becomes apparent that this repeated degradation has affected the protagonist’s mind.

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Captivating gothic elements indulge the reader in “The Woman in Black” by Susan Hill. Gothic elements are supernatural effects that create a feeling of dread and mystery. In the novella, Hill uses precise details to add a gothic atmosphere with the London Fog, Crythin Gifford, and the scene at the park. The first chilling detail that gives the novella a gothic element is the London fog.

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Angela Carter, the author of the collection of short stories The Bloody Chamber was an English novelist, journalist and short story writer. The Bloody Chamber, published in 1979, is one of Carter’s most popular short story collections (Carter 1). The collection consists of ten stories including "The Bloody Chamber". All stories are rewritings of fairy tales and folktales. This paper will firstly offer a narratological analysis of the short story “The Bloody Chamber” while in the second part the short story will be analysed from a feminist perspective.

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In what ways are women abused and discriminated against inside literature and throughout history? In many patriarchal societies, men have held authority over women due to gender. This power imbalance between men and women sometimes led to unjust treatment of women; men exert their authority over many women in the play, The Crucible. In The Crucible¸ male characters intimidate women to achieve specific outcomes and mark their superiority. Elizabeth Proctor, the protagonist’s wife, shows the standard for Salem women as she is submissive and does not defy her husband or the traditional role as a housekeeper.

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Feminist literary criticism’s primary argument is that female characters have always been presented from a male’s viewpoint. According to Connell, in most literary works, female characters often play minor roles which emphasize their domestic roles, subservience and physical beauty while males are always the protagonists who are strong, heroic and dominant (qtd. in Woloshyn et al.150). This means that the women are perceived as weak and are supposed to be under the control of men. Gill and Sellers say that feminist literary criticism’s approach involves identifying with female characters in order to challenge any male centred outlook.

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