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Portrayal of gender issues in literature
Portrayal of gender issues in literature
Portrayal of gender issues in literature
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This passage is from the book Cinderella Ate My Daughter, by Peggy Orenstein. The overall purpose of this book is to inform the readers of the stereotypes girls must face as adolescents. The author is able to express her opinion as a parent and give advice to other parents with daughters of how to overcome the stereotypes so girls do not succumb to the girly culture that bombards the media. The book touches on Orenstein’s role as a mother to her daughter Daisy and the challenges she faces due to all the stereotypes for young girls. This passage focuses on girls conforming to the stereotype regarding pink is the color for females.
In the book There There, by Tommy Orange, we see many characters’ points of view as they experience and struggle to find their own identities as Native people. The characters are fragmented as a result of rejection from family or others within their culture. Looking at characters in the story through the gender theory lens allows the reader to analyze and understand characters more deeply. And through their journeys of being gender stereotyped, Orange gives the reader personal glimpses into how they coped and overcame it. Most notable Blue, Orvil, Jaquie and Octavio as they overcome or exceed the expectations that were set for them.
In Chapter 2, Nanny compares a woman of color to a mule. This symbolization of animal motifs exposes that their supposed role in society is doing all the hard work and being bossed around by men, especially white men. The animal motifs in the form of symbolism are used to manifest the lessons about life that the reader is assumed to grasp from reading the
Nilaja Sun’s play No Child… uses the characters to make a statement on children from rough neighborhoods by trying to break down barriers and eliminate stereotypes. The play is set at Malcolm X High School in the Bronx. The janitor is the narrator of the play. He has been at Malcolm X High School for many years, silently observing what goes on around him. During scene 12 it is revealed that he had passed away.
The Lord Of The Flies by William Golding is a book about a plane full of boys crashing on an island. The boys are by themselves no adults so they have to survive on their own and establish their own government. Piggy is one of the first characters we meet as a boy with poor eyesight, a weight problem and asthma so the readers already like him even if no one else likes him. Piggy is the closest thing the boys have to an adult on the island. Throughout the story Piggy embraces the character traits of being intellectually intelligent, Mature and loyal.
The Outsiders Most kids go to their parents with problems, but what if a child did not have a parent to provide support? These unfortunate children suffer from not having the power to make decisions, Ponyboy, the main character in The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton does not have a father or mother to go to, he just has his two brothers and his greaser gang. The greaser's stereotype hinders Ponyboy from changing into his true identity and having an education but he eventually overcomes the stereotype by having the support from the greasers and becomes his true self, a bright and kind kid.
Would you let your child read a sexist book? Most children's books in this day and age are very sexist and put females down. Not a lot of adults notice this sexist quality that children's books have, however children definitely pick up on the gender inequalities. According to a United Kingdom newspaper, a study found that gender bias was predominant in books that featured animal characters. These books often favored male animal heros rather than female animal heroines.
Watership Down was written by Richard Adams in 1972. The book revolves around two main rabbits Fiver and Hazel. These rabbits escape their own warren with other rabbits and seek a place to set a home. The role of women is set in this book as, birth givers and hole-diggers. The undeveloped role of the does, and the eagerness of the bucks to find them is more understood with the history of the 1970’s.
From the beginning, Woodrell clearly depicts Ree as a strong-minded young woman with an odd strength and habit of rejecting typical female stereotypes. Her combination of combat boots with her yellow dress shows that strength overlaps with her feminine traits. In addition, she also hopes to join the army so she can have “only her own concerns to tote” (pg. 15). This means that despite her love for her family, she does not want to stay and take care of them the way her society wants her too. She rejects the idea of being a matriarch for the rest of her life.
In the majority of Philip K. Dick’s work, women are portrayed as accessories to their male counterparts, rather than fully developed characters. In the short story The Golden Man, PKD’s depiction of Anita Ferris regresses into a weaponization of female sexuality, victimizing women as mere sources of reproduction. Next (2007) continues a similar ideology, with Liz Cooper being used as a plot device throughout her questionable relationship with Cris. Both works attempt to evoke sympathy towards their male characters at the expense of how women are treated. The Golden Man introduces Anita, in typical Philip K. Dick fashion, by paying special attention to her “cultivated figure”.
The stereotypes applied to nineteenth century women were not just stereotypes, they were realities. Women were expected to stay home and do all the cooking and cleaning for their family. They were entirely dependent on their male counterparts for all their tasks outside the domestic sphere. They were generally considered unintellectual and uneducated. Women were generally suppressed in early society.
By examining the gender stereotypes that Tom believes to be true in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, the reader can understand how those beliefs shape Tom’s interactions with females throughout the book, by causing him to try to guard and comfort girls, which in turn improves their view of Tom. One day in class, Becky Thatcher tears a page of the schoolmasters book, and she begins to worry about being whipped for the first time at school and Tom thinks to himself, “What a curious kind of a fool a girl is! Never been licked in school! Shucks! What’s a licking!
Synthesis #1 Our concepts of gender are constructed by our biological characteristics and societal factors. In many societies, these concepts of gender, and the differences in men and women are rooted in tradition. The moment a child is born a kind of social construction begins. A child whether girl or boy will most likely be shown some behaviors on how they should behave according to their biological characteristics. Throughout history, we have seen the same stereotypes placed on gender, men should be strong and brave.
People should not be defined by others' stereotypical views. The Dinner Party by Mona Gardner ties together different events and conflicts in the story to develop the theme that everyone has a different amount of self-control no matter what their gender is. Mrs. Wynnes the Hostess develops the theme by her actions and not letting the Colonel define who she is and defying any such stereotype. Gender stereotypes are introduced early in the story, that is when a girl brings up that "Women have outgrown the jumping-on-a-chair-at the-sight-of-a-mouse-era" (Gardner 8), but the Colonel disagrees and talks about women's propensity to be melodramatic in most crisis. For instance, the Colonel says " 'A woman's unfailing reaction in any crisis is to scream,
From Sexism to Social Reformation Many actions and ideologies of the characters in The Taming of the Shrew create an overarching conflict between comedy and sexism for most readers. Specifically, the relationships between the men and women introduce controversial topics such as obedience and love which must be questioned thoroughly. The conditions of Petruchio and Katherine’s marriage was more “traditional” in the sense that it was primarily patriarchal, and that Kate was expected to be subservient and obedient. While this is sexist, on the surface, this was not the intended meaning behind the works.
