Female Protagonists In Annie Ernaux's La Cure

“On ne nait pas femme, on le devient. ” Simone de Beauvoir’s famous quote concerning the social inequality between men and women, was the first argument of its kind to suggest that gender inequality was not natural. It suggests that women are not born weaker or more obtuse than men but are taught and encouraged to behave as a ‘woman’, i.e. socialisation. The use of female protagonists in French literature has helped shape an image of what a woman should be for French society. The construction of femininity will be examined in two books: Emile Zola’s La Curée (referred to as LC) and Annie Ernaux’s La Femme Gelée. (referred to as LFG) The two books differ in many aspects and, therefore, cover a wide range of material and perspectives. Zola is

What is more interesting is the contrasting perspectives represented by each author due to their distinct genders. As a male author, Zola has a different perspective of his female protagonist (Renée), compared to that of Ernaux towards her female narrator. In this essay, I will examine the way both of these authors have illustrated how the role of men shaped and influenced the construction of femininity. I will focus specifically on the male gaze, woman as man’s Other and each author’s approach to sex. A close critical analysis of vocabulary, syntax and symbolism illustrates male dominance, man’s oppression of women, woman’s suppression of herself. I will argue that men in these novels have had a predominant control of women, not only through direct actions alone, but through expectations and reactions; as well as through controlling women’s own thoughts and

The upbringing of Ernaux’s narrator is more neutral than that of Renée. In an interview Ernaux says her father, the first male character, fulfilled some female roles (“la function de maternage était éfectuée par mon père.” ) Her upbringing was not only gender neutral but her parents’ traditional gender roles were reversed too. The term gender role was first coined by John Money (1955); it refers to the manners in which people expressed their gender status in a situation where no evident biological assignment was present. The narrator grew up in a family environment where there was little or no biological assignment to gender, hence she behaved differently to how women were expected to, e.g. not caring about how she dresses (“rien que des vêtements pour être à l’aise” p33). The introduction of Ernaux’s narrator shows that should one’s upbringing be gender neutral, then women would form different behaviours, as there is no socialisation . On the other hand, with Renée the readers are provided with a brief flashback into her childhood. It is enough to gauge that she has been taught how to behave like a woman. The process of socialisation has already begun as she can be seen being dressed by others (“tante Elizabeth les a habillées” p287) and behaving like a woman should (“pour ne pas se salir” p287). The