Introduction In the World’s Wife Carol Ann Duffy gives a voice to the imagined wives - some fiction, others real - history long forgot or never gave a thought too. Duffy surgically dissects the quintessential homogeneous relationship of husband and wife. A recurring motif of marriage being exposed for all it’s foibles and weaknesses is expressed throughout the collection. It would be a misconception to suggest Duffy’s focus is the not hetrosexual relationship, though other forms are explored. These include: God, mother and daughter, female friends and lovers, her relationship with the self as well as her first love: literature. Relationships tend to come in three modes: the good (Anne Hathaway), the bad (Little Red Cap) and the downright ugly (Mrs Beast). This essay will explore the themes and motifs duffy exploits and question impression left by the collection. Little Red Cap In Little Red Cap the protagonist embarks on her personal journey from an impressionable innocent child to an independant accomplished woman. Endeavoring to escape the expectations of a predictable life at ‘the factory’ (Duffy, 2015, p2-3) and ‘allotments’ Red Cap ventures - perhaps naively - into a hetrosexual relationship with a wolf. The wolf plays the villain of the revisionist fairy tale and is an allegory to the alpha male trope. Duffy states “it’s based on my own first love, first relationship” (Brown, 2005) therefore this is an autobiographical view of her own experience. We soon learn
Contemporary novels have imposed upon the love tribulations of women, throughout the exploration of genre and the romantic quest. Zora Neale Hurston’s Their eyes were watching God (1978) and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (2000) interplay on the various tribulations of women, throughout the conventions of the romantic quest and the search for identity. The protagonists of both texts are women and experience tribulations of their own, however, unique from the conventional romantic novels of their predecessors. Such tribulations include the submission of women and the male desire for dominance when they explore the romantic quest and furthermore, the inner struggles of women. Both texts display graphic imagery of the women’s inner experiences through confronting and engaging literary techniques, which enhance the audiences’ reading experience. Hurston’s reconstructions of the genre are demonstrated through a Southern context, which is the exploration of womanhood and innocence. Whilst Woolf’s interpretation of the romantic quest is shown through modernity and an intimate connection with the persona Clarissa Dalloway, within a patriarchal society.
The Red tent is a book that follows the life of a woman named Dinah. The stories that are told throughout take place in biblical times, and follows some of the lineage of the bible itself. The book begins by telling the story of Dinah’s four mothers, along with their relationship with Dinah’s father Jacob. After being introduced to Dinah herself, the book follows her life story from beginning to end, all the way from Haran, through Canaan, Shechem, and into Egypt. Throughout this paper, I will be describing and comparing events of the book verses modern day, in relationship to child birthing practices, family dynamics, personal life experiences of characters, along with discussing herbs, spices, and medications used by
In Judy Brady’s essay, “I Want a Wife,” she examines why she would like to have a wife. Brady believes that a wife performs all house chores and the husband does nothing, but to expect the wife to do everything for him. Brady tries to persuade the reader to look at a husband viewpoint of what a wife should be. The essay was written during the early 1960’s, during the second wave of the feminist movement in America. Brady is pushed by certain reasons to write, “I Want a Wife” to show the humanist humor.
Women are taught from a young age that marriage is the end all be all in happiness, in the short story “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin and the drama “Poof!” by Lynn Nottage, we learn that it is not always the case. Mrs. Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” and Loureen from “Poof!” are different characteristically, story-wise, and time-wise, but share a similar plight. Two women tied down to men whom they no longer love and a life they no longer feel is theirs. Unlike widows in happy marriages Loureen and Mrs., Mallard discover newfound freedom in their respective husband’s deaths. Both stories explore stereotypical housewives who serve their husbands with un-stereotypical reactions to their husband’s deaths.
Harwood throws the readers the suggestions to acknowledge the most unlikeable elements of marriage and love. The truth that a woman’s self in Harwood’s time would be completely lost with her wedding vows. This becomes equally relevant to date because of questionable equality between the sexes. Harwood is therefore condoning the practices that endorse
‘The Company of Wolves’ is a twisted and raw reinvention of ‘Little Red Ridding Hood’ while symbolizing female sexuality and embracing it. The wolves in the story have been described by the author as skin and bones, “so little flesh on them that you could count the starveling ribs”. Their food source has been taken away by
of himself as an unwanted old bachelor and accordingly sets out to remedy the problem. The fact that he does not love Carol, whom he knows ?less than three weeks,? does not faze him in the least. Following the opinion of the 1950s, Carol, in his mind, becomes his ?competent housemaid? who will perhaps collect ?old pottery? and bake him ?little casserole dishes.? But Carol doesn?t mind. To be deemed ?complete? in the eyes of society in the decorum of marriage is enough for both individuals. In the characterization of Carol and Howard, who use each other?s presence as shields against judgment by a critical society, Gallant creates an amusing portrait of marriage as something that makes ?sense? with ?no reason?to fail? as long as both parties have ?a common interest? and ?[s]imilar economic backgrounds.?
Romance can be a part of someone’s life, but it isn’t always the main focus. In the article “I Can’t Think About Kissing: Strong Female Protagonists and Romance in Dystopian Young Adult Fiction”, university student Mollie Hall discusses romance in dystopian novels: “Romance is pursued, but it is a side pursuit in the female protagonist’s journey instead of the goal.” (Hall 5). This statement is true in the novel Blood Red Road by Moira Young. Saba is a girl with a plan, who has had her brother stolen from her own home. She vows to get her brother back and sets off on a journey, meeting many interesting, villainous, and kind characters. That being said, Saba finds a bit of romance. This, however, is not her main goal. This is evident during Saba’s first meeting with Jack, her need for help, and her thoughts on her relationship with Jack. To begin, the initial meeting between Saba and Jack demonstrates a romantic viewpoint in the novel. Upon seeing Jack, Saba instantly feels a sense of love from her heartstone, a necklace charm that heats up when you are near your heart’s desire:
Original fairy tales restrict the opportunities of female protagonists, allowing their fate to be controlled by male characters and society’s restrictive expectations of women. Authors such as Perrault of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ were quick to provide advice to their suggestible female readers in moral that girls should not try to drift from the path that society has laid out for them. Thus they became ‘parables of instruction’ (Carter) to indoctrinate the next generation in the values of a patriarchal society. Fairy tales of this time consistently remind us that those of the female sex will not prosper if they choose to ignore and defy the social constructs. Pre 1900s, the roles of women were entirely predetermined. A clear female dichotomy was established portraying them as either ‘the virgin’ or ‘the whore’. Stereotypical perceptions of women reduced them to biological functions and stated that they should acquire the role of wife and mother – objectified to such an extent where they were essentially their male counterpart’s possession. Both authors scorn the importance placed on domesticity and conformity, stressing the vital nature of being able to choose and uncover the consequences of societal ignorance. Carter highlights to her literary audience a passive generation of women who face the inability to vocalise their thoughts and opinions in the context of oppressive patriarchy. Within her work ‘The Company of Wolves’ “The
Where to begin? In the beginning of the book Red Mars, the character Arkady states that “History is not evolution! It is a false analogy! Evolution is a matter of environment and chance, acting over millions of years. But history is a matter of environment and choice, acting within lifetimes, and sometimes within years, or months, or days! History is Lamarckian! ” (Robinson 88). Arkady is stating that we choose our own history. Over the course of the book, the story of Mars twists and turns, and becomes something completely different. Mars changes from red to green.
Nalo Hopkinson’s short story “Riding the Red” is a reinterpretation of the famous childhood folk tale "Little Red Riding Hood". With the use of literary devices, Hopkinson was able to write a story with two different messages. Reading the words on the page Hopkinson writes about a grandmother telling the story of big bad wolf. On the other hand, reading between the lines a whole new story emerges from the pages talking about love, innocence and growing up.
Every marriage has there ups and downs. In fact, there are no such things as a perfect marriage. The subject of marriage and gender roles are usually mentioned in literary pieces that put the emphasis on mostly on the way the family is set up. The following comparative essay will put the emphasis to center on the two fictional stories; 'I'm going' by Bernard Tristan and 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' by James Thurber. The researcher is able to relate to both of the stories on account of the certain dealings that he has had in marriage unions. These two literary pieces are the researcher's preferred choice to talk about the subject of gender roles and marriages. This following two sources of literature puts the emphasis on the marriage that is among Henri and Jeanne also as Mr. and Mrs. Mitty.
Examine Austen’s presentation of what is called in the novel, ‘women’s usual occupations of eye, and hand, and mind’. In Jane Austen’s society, the role of women was controlled by what was expected of them. In most cases, marriage was not for love, and was considered as a business arrangement, in which both partners could gain status and financial reassurance. Though Austen opposed the idea of none affectionate marriage, many
Folktales are a way to represent situations analyzing different prospects about gender, through the stories that contribute with the reality of the culture in which they develop while these provide ideas about the behavior and roles of a specific sex building a culture of womanhood, manhood and childhood. This is what the stories of Little Red Riding Hood of Charles Perrault (1697) and Little Red-Cap of the Grimm Brothers (1812) show. This essay will describe some ideas about gender in different ways. First, the use of symbolic characters allows getting general ideas about the environment in the society rather than individuals. Second, it is possible to identify ideas about gender from the plot from the applied vocabulary providing a
Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Little Red Cap. Everyone believed that she was a sweet and innocent girl, but did someone else lay beneath her exterior? In the Brothers Grimm version of the story, Little Red Cap takes on the persona of childlike innocence. In the animated movie Hoodwinked!, she is seen as a young girl who is smart, independent, and named Red. There are numerous fairy tales that have been told throughout the course of history. Many of the tales remain independent and true to the original version, and then there are those that have been altered in many different ways. “Little Red Cap” has been revised into the version of “Little Red Riding Hood,” which many of us are familiar with, to the different and modern film version of Hoodwinked!. These stories are updated to appeal to modern generations, cultures and societal views. Consequently, they do pose many similarities, but their differences make each work unique in their own way.