Gene Brucker offers insight into the lives and minds of 15th century Italy through a court case about Giovanni and Lusanna’s involving the legality of their marriage. He utilized several primary sources to provide a descriptive narrative of this case. Even though Brucker used primary sources, primarily notarial sources, these show clear evidence of bias, and in turn these biases are reflected in his work. To begin with, Brucker’s primary material falls into the legal category, notarial sources, from Ser Filippo Mazzaei. Although these legal works supply the evidence and court battle that occurred, these don’t provide a clear voice to the defendant, Giovanni, nor the plaintiff, Lusanna.
Through the first person narration in this story, readers can uncover the thoughts and feelings of the main character, and even some universal truths this text has to offer. The main character in this story, doubling as the narrator is named Claudette. This name is given to her by the sisters at St. Lucy’s in their attempts to civilize a “pack” of girls who have been brought up as if they are the offspring of wolves. The majority of the girls are compliant with learning the new ways, however some learned slower and some progressed much faster.
Julia Alvarez's historical novel, In The Time of the Butterflies, captures the lives of the Mirabal sisters and the Dominican Republic under the appalling dictatorship of Trujillo. Unfortunately, in a dangerous scheme to overthrow Trujillo, the Mirabal sisters meet their tragic fate. Before their death, these martyrs dodged through dozens of obstacles. In the Dominican Republic, it was extremely difficult for women to be respected and taken seriously because they were seen as domesticated and inferior. This old ideology of gender roles gravely affected the Mirabal sisters and their participation in their revolution against Trujillo; however, they still managed to challenge these gender limitations throughout the book.
The description given about Venus tells us many things about her personality, that she is shyer than the rest of her siblings, doesn’t shine as bright compared to the bravery of her brother and the intelligence of her sister. After all, she is only a planet. The wording her dad uses describing this gift The novel The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a memoir of her increasingly difficult and troubling life. Throughout these adventures her and her three siblings travel to many places from California to Phoenix, to the quite backward town of Welch, and to New York City itself. In which, her relationship with her parents and family is at times, straining and at the times, one of the strongest relationships she has.
A certain loss in Antonio’s life is his late friend , Florence, a classmate sincerely against God. Antonio is saddened and worried about Florence and attempts to let Florence at least believes in something, like the Golden Carp. Before Antonio can introduce Florence to the peaceful pagan god and make him realize that not all gods are powerful and intimidating, Florence dies drowning. After the drowning of Florence, Antonio is forced to question the restriction of Catholicism, once again. Antonio looks in the direction of religion for help as he can feel the innocence fading.
Looking for Alibrandi In the book looking for Alibrandi, Josie is the main character. Josie is a teenager who has Italian background and has been brought up by one parent all her life she is also about to finish her last year of school. Her last year of school was defiantly her hardest year, she went through a lot of stuff that makes her year very difficult. She took on the leadership responsibilities within the school, but her personal life also got in the way, the suicide of her best friend was the hardest thing she went through near the end of the year.
She asks her readers to rise above their defeats, to not allow anyone to stop their dreams. In demonstrating how she succeeded she has been a role model for women of all cultures and races. The “Phenomenal Women” poem is a celebration
Judith Butler’s Gender Troubles emphasizes gender as the constant repetition of non-existent ideals to uphold a masculine-dominant culture. Likewise, “Body Politics” highlights this belief within the overtly feminine qualities of city women. As a whole, the poem contrasts idealized feminine “city women” with a “real woman” who possesses both feminine and masculine qualities. The mother figure challenges both the gender binary and the patriarchal order by rejecting the feminine gender norms of the society. This feminist reading of the poem makes many valuable and probable claims, however the feminist approach contains some weaknesses.
This story, said to be Alcott’s first novel written before she was twenty, is about an Italian orphan who works for a rich family, but soon finds out she is the true heir to the family’s
Throughout history, women have made a name for themselves. By rising up and fighting for something that they believed in, the Mirabal sisters made a name for themselves in the Dominican Republic and in Julia Alvarez’s novel In the Time of the Butterflies. By applying a theory to a novel, readers can relate the book to the world they are living in today (Davidson). Feminism can be defined as a dynamic philosophy and social movement that advocates for human rights and gender equality (“Feminism”). Feminist Theory involves looking at how women in novels are portrayed, how female characters are reinforcing stereotypes or undermining them, and the challenges that female characters face (Davidson).
Set against the backdrop of Naples, the characters in Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend are immersed in a world of violence, ignorance, and poverty. Under this shadow, Elena and Lila struggle to define the past of their parents from their own future. In fact, it is the weight of despair that allows small moments of joy to become vibrant within the story; as James Wood describes, “deprivation gives details a snatched richness” (Wood 10). The luminosity of moments like when Elena travels to Ischia, when the two girls purchase Little Women, and lighting fireworks on New Years Eve, are integral to the depiction of brilliant friendship between them.
More than six hundred years later the same issues of inequality and misogyny are still present in our society. The movement to fight against anti-feminism is not new. Thus, it only proves that the discrimination of women is more than centuries old. Written in 1405, The City Of Ladies is an allegorical story in response to the attack of men against women. Christine De Pizan highlights how a women are capable of good and moral character despite to the contrary of what male philosopher claimed to believe.
This proved when the narrator’s mother always tried to get the narrator to do work that appropriate for a lady instead of outside work, however it was not something that she enjoyed. The narrator also was not considered of real helper to her father because she was a female. This proved when her father introduced the narrator as ‘his new hired hand’ to a salesman, he replied, “I thought it was only a girl” (line 76, paragraph 10).This shows how the society view girl as ‘just a girl’ at that time and it means that their roles are not really significant in the society. As being said by Alexander Pope (1688-1744), “Most women have no character at all.” (Bressler, C.E., 2011).
The portrayal and role depicted in the literature helped women in the long run to gain acceptance and equality in society. The literary contributions made and for women continue to be a springboard for women to gain equality to men. Finally, the accomplishment of these women writers who struggled to publish their fragile poems and stories could spread a template for other women around the word on how they can actually voice out their thoughts and help improve their own rights. Thus, women will continue to gain equality and recognition, and this success will also continuously impact the
She lost her mother when she was very young and is the only daughter of a Marquis who kept her in her beautiful house for most of her life. She knows nothing about the real world and her ideas about it are based on the books she read. She was raised in an uncommon way and she was given an uncommon education for a woman of the 18th century. She is very well educated and enjoys reading her father’s book, where she finds
