In the short story “the devil and Tom walker” written by Washington Irving, he likes to poke fun at marriages. Irving uses the marriage of Tom and his wife as an example of how much he looks down upon marriages. Irving uses satire to criticize the existence of marriage and people who marry. Through observing the walkers, Irving demonstrates the way he sees marriage in a negative way, Tom won’t sell his soul and he even feels he should cheat, as well as at the end his wife is missing and he becomes happy about it and praises the person who did this.
The story “Summer” written by David Updike captures the title completely. The story is about the summer month of August for the story’s main protagonist, Homer. Homer is a young man who is out of school for the summer and is looking to get away from his family for a little while to gain his sanity back. Homer spends his August with the Thyme family at their lake house. The Thyme family, consisting of the known characters: Fred, Sandra, and Mrs. Thyme, are family friends of Homer and are very comfortable with one another; in fact, Homer describes himself at one point as being their “surrogate son”.
Although Janie worked in the store when she was married to Joe, she never worked side by side with him because he was the mayor and was always above her in some capacity. Janie’s grandmother would have expected Janie to never dress like a man or to work alongside them because of the practices and values she taught Janie as a young child. This final relationship with Tea Cake defies everything Janie was told and taught as a child. For example, this marriage was based on love all the way to Tea Cake’s death and this marriage also allowed a lot of freedom from gender roles and expectations for both Janie and Tea
The end of the eighteenth - beginning of the nineteenth century England was characterized by the downfall of the revolutionary “Jacobin” movement which advocated for freedom and equality, and symbolizes a return to, as well as an empowerment of the conservative British patriarchal system. This was the context in which Amelia Anderson Opie wrote “her most political novel”(King and Pierce, viii) Adeline Mowbray, a tale which provides a case study about, as Roxane Eberle notes, “progressive ideas that heterosexual relationships can and should exist outside of marriage”(1994: 127). As a result the clash between these innovational type of relationships and the English legal and social norms collide in their representation of models of proper conduct
By encouraging the audience to marry earlier rather than to encourage the audience to focus on their careers, Wong goes against one of the main ideas of feminism which sets up her
First Generations: Women of Colonial America, written by Carol Berkin, is a novel that took ten years to make. Carol Berkin received her B.A. from Barnard College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. She has worked as a consultant on PBS and History Channel documentaries. Berkin has written several books on the topic of women in America. Some of her publications include: Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence (2004) and Civil War Wives: The Life and Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis, and Julia Dent Grant (2009).
Not only a pastor’s wife, but also the woman of the household who whips them into shape when one decides to chase the cows on a dare, smuggle a Doobie Brother’s album into his bedroom because it’s a sin, or surreptitiously walk into the movie theatre, after implementing an oath of allegiance never to enter because that’s also a sin—or from the devil, maybe both. Either way, these humorous, and sometimes challenging stories, mold the success of the traditional family in the 1900’s. My generation, however, has integrated models of the family, establishing new standards of what the traditional family entails. The journal articles, A Fatherless America, The Myths of the Traditional Family, and a chapter from the book Unhitched, embody the transformations of America’s family structure since the post-World War II era, contrasting with the modern family implications within America’s society. I want to introduce you to these changes made in America, and the observations these sources present.
“I came to a clear conclusion, and it is a universal one: To live, to struggle, to be in love with life--in love with all life holds, joyful or sorrowful--is fulfillment. The fullness of life is open to all of us” (Betty Smith). Betty Smith, born as Elizabeth Lillian Wehner, grew up in Brooklyn, New York as the daughter of poor German immigrants. At the time, child labor was legal and Smith began work at the young age of fourteen to help support her family. Smith’s life in the slums and her experiences during the Great Depression greatly influenced her writing.
Rebecca Skloot takes a more in depth approach and follows a family who
American Women in the Late 1800’s Were married American women in the late 1800’s expected to restrict their sphere of interest to the home and the family? In the late 1800’s women were second-class citizens. Women were expected to limit their interest to the home and family. Women were not encouraged to obtain a real education or pursue a professional career. After marriage, women did not have the right to own their own property, keep their own wages, or sign a contract.
The theme of marriage is very clearly present in the play, as one of the main characters, Lady Happy, tries to avoid the pressure of having to get married by having herself and a few other women withdraw themselves from society and its strict (gender) roles, to live in more freedom. Knowing that, it would be easy to come to the conclusion that The Convent of Pleasure speaks in favor of freedom for women, and encourages them to, just like Lady Happy, refuse to satisfy the expectation of society to get married. This is, however, far from the truth, as the play eventually ends with the strong-willed Lady Happy, who was previously so adamant about remaining unmarried, being married to the prince, who despite Lady Happy’s precautions had managed to slip into the convent, disguised as a princess. In
As we look at marriages in today’s day and age, it is difficult for a man to be more dominant over his wife. Women are allowed to work in any profession they choose, and do not need to rely on a man for money. However, centuries ago in the progressive era, men were superior and dominant over their wife. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s novel “The Yellow Wallpaper” portrays this type of image where a woman is controlled and trapped in her marriage by her husband John. In this era, they considered articles exposing issues like this as muckraking.
Women often marry older men in arranged marriages, because their family wants them to marry wealthy. What they don’t mention is the frustration and fear some women have, when married to these men. “The Leaving” written by Budge Wilson is a short story of a mother and daughter named: Elizabeth and Sylvie. Sylvie lives with her mother (Elizabeth), father and her four brothers in Nova Scotia. Sylvie and her mother are treated with no respect in their household.
On the other hand, Wilde explores how social relationships can influence the compatibility of marriage between individuals. Both of these factors acts as an obstacle for Jack as he seeks approval to marry Gwendolen Fairfax. Oscar Wilde demonstrates the importance of social relationships and the social status as the determining factors for the compatibility of marriage and love during the Victorian era. The Victorians valued one’s social status as it was seen at the utmost importance when it comes to marriage.
It goes without saying that in the United States underage drinking is a major cause for concern. Yet many are unaware of just how significant a problem underage drinking is. The facts reveal that alcohol has become the drug of choice for the vast majority of youth in the United States and the pervasiveness of alcohol puts every state, community, and family at risk. The question that we ask ourselves today is alcohol really harming to our youth and if so what should we do about it as parents, siblings, and friends who are affected by the abuse of this drug by young adults we know.
