The Apartment
Power determines everything, how someone is defined, how someone acts, and someone is. In “Domination and Subordination” by Jean Baker Miller, she shows both sides of inequality, a dominate and a subordinate. There are two types inequality, temporary and permanent. The film, The Apartment by Billy Wilder, starts off with a man, C.C.Baxter who is constantly allowing people to use his apartment for their own personal pleasures. Baxter gives in to his co-workers at the office to use his apartment and often risking his basic needs for survival, like sleep. Mr. Sheldrake, Baxter’s boss, has the authority to treat others how he wants to. Fran Kubelik, the elevator woman, Baxter and Sheldrake use everyday at work. Miss Kubelik tends to have a undercover relationship with Mr. Sheldrake. These characters relationships of temporary or permanent inequality define their dominant or subordinate behaviors.
Baxter and Sheldrake have a relationship of temporary inequalities. During the film, C.C Baxter continuously goes through problems with his office buddies constantly needing his apartment. Baxter believes no matter what he does or says with Mr. Sheldrake it will not be taken into consideration. “Just following doctors orders, I’ve decided to become a ‘mensch’, Mr. Sheldrake that means being a human” and Baxter finally took charge (Apartment). Baxter’s relationship to Mr. Sheldrake is a temporary inequality situation due to him constantly taking orders from others. Miller’s document claims that dominants rely on Subordinates; lack of skill, knowledge etc… In Baxters position he is always giving in to people's needs. “But the most basic difference is the one between men and women” and Baxter acts like a woman in his relationship with Mr. Sheldrake. When Baxter and Sheldrake are talking about Baxter’s promotion he gave him a slight threat for his job. The dominant, Sheldrake understands that power and him acting as a dominating man forces Baxter to behave as a subordinate and take his orders. A similar relationship to Baxter and sheldrake is Miss Kubelik and Sheldrake.
Kubelik and Sheldrake are in a state of permanent inequality. Miss Kubelik has a undercover, not very solid relationship with Mr. Sheldrake
Throughout history empowerment and marginalization has primarily been based on gender. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, this idea of empowerment is strongly flaunted. Tennessee Williams’ characters, primarily Stanley, Blanche, Mitch, and Stella, conform the expected roles of men and women at the time. Although World War Two temporarily allowed women a place in the work force, they were dismissed from such empowerment when the war came to a close. Characters in A Streetcar Named Desire are accurate representations of the social historical context of that time. The power struggle between Stanley and Blanche conveys dominant ideas about gender such as the primitive nature, aggression, and
The short story ‘Harrison Bergeron’, Written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and the novel ‘The Giver’ by Lois Lowry both share a theme of forced equality and uniformity. Both stories take place in dystopian worlds. Woven throughout both of the stories are, authority is forcing egalitarianism onto citizens because they want an indefectible civilization. In the short story Harrison Bergeron, the world is ruled by Handicap General were in The Giver the world is ruled by the Elders, so that the community would be equal. But in both stories the protagonist goes against the community to break the peace and gain freedom and demonstrates how the authority always doesn’t know the best.
What I learned this week which I found most interesting is the evolving situation of housing segregation in this country. If I would have been asked why our country is still so segregated I would say that this situation is due to the fact that we had Jim Crow laws in effect only 60 years ago and many communities have just not changed that much since then. What I wouldn’t have guessed is the widespread extent to which the races intentionally segregate themselves. Less than 50% of both blacks and whites say they want to live in a community of people who look like them. However when people actually choose their home 74% of whites end up in white communities and 66% of blacks end up living in black communities. (Chang, Alvin) Whether it is basic
society he lives in on lies. Both characters share their attraction towards the opposite sex in
government’s power. Equality hopes to live out his days in the Home of Scholars, where he can begin researching and pursuing science and math. When he is assigned the role of street sweeper
Equality only discovers more and more about the world around him and all of the things the city kept him from knowing. He finds a house filled with
Imagine a place where there are no decisions to make throughout the day. In this place, everyone’s career gets chosen for them, and their hopes, dreams, and aspirations are given to them. There are none of those difficult life decisions to make because they will be made for everybody. Now despite all these seemingly terrible things, we do get something great from all the sacrifices: equality. In this world everyone is equal; no one person smarter, more athletic, more talented, or better than any other. Everyone in this place completely equal, and all thanks to the government, the authorities, the higher-ups, “the man,” or whatever these enforcers’ wish to be called. The world of Harrison Bergeron functions like this. Now while it may seem
By him saying he is over six feet tall and it is a burden, Equality is introducing his internal conflict to readers. It can be concluded, his internal conflict is he wants to fit it because he is upset by the fact he is six feet tall and other men are not. This can prove the theme of the story is individuality outweighs the expectations of society because the theme of the story has to be a positive message. The theme has to be a positive message because it is a dystopian story and the author is trying to teach what they do not want in society. After Equality has gone through all of his schooling and has been assigned a job at the home of the street sweepers he finds a tunnel and wants to enter it, he says, “‘We shall go down,’ we said to International 4-8818”(Rand 31). Equality showing he wants to go into the tunnel proves this is the introduction to conflict because it is when he starts being different which is what our goal for him is to be different. The introduction to conflict can prove the theme because he is starting to follow his own rules and not the rules of the
Unknown and inexistent to the eyes of the middle and upper class, the deplorable conditions that the poor had been living in remained prevalent throughout the streets of New York City. Unsanitary and overcrowded tenements, massive numbers of children left out on the streets, brothels, and gambling dens (Oxford University Press 640) were just a few of the inhumane and dire aspects of New York City’s underworld that were in need of reform. After the start of the Civil War, New York city received great amounts of African Americans from the South. With the hopes of freedom and equal opportunities for all races in the North, many African Americans jumped at the opportunity to come to cities like New York, but when their expectations came face-to-face with reality, their dreams no longer ceased to exist. When it
In "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, we are introduced to Mrs. Mallard. She is portrayed an unloving, heartless, woman who is overjoyed by the passing of her husband- or at least that is the common misconception. Mrs. Mallard although perceived as inhuman, is actually more human than most would like to believe. While her actions may seem questionable or even to be condemned, they are hardly unthinkable in light of the issues involving marriage and the woman's role throughout history. The story itself presents a valid argument in favor of Louise as she is portrayed as the oppressed wife finally set free after her husband's death.
The book The Classic Slum: Salford Life in the First Quarter of the Century by Robert Roberts gives an honest account of a village in Manchester in the first 25 years of the 20th century. The title is a reference to a description used by Friedrich Engels to describe the area in his book Conditions of the Working Class. The University of Manchester Press first published Roberts' book in the year 1971. The more recent publication by Penguin Books contains 254 pages, including the appendices. The author gives a firsthand description of the extreme poverty that gripped the area in which he grew up. His unique perspective allows him to accurately describe the self-imposed caste system, the causes and effects of widespread poverty, and the
Gender roles are socially constructed rules that dictate the types of acceptable behaviors based on sex. In modern society, gender roles continue to hinder the progress of equality between a man and a woman. A man and woman’s acceptable role in a 1960s American society is clearly portrayed in the episode of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (2007), written by Matthew Wieners, of the series Mad Men. The episode illustrates the concepts of the glass ceiling and glass escalator, and how these concepts affect home and work life for two women: Peggy Olson, one who plays by her gender role, and Rachel Menken, one who breaks free of her gender role.
Countless women in the 1980s were discriminated based on their gender alone, so they believed in order to establish themselves they needed to act like a businessman to be heard. “Being used to having successful executives being, and therefore acting like, men teaches managers and leaders to expect women to model the same behavior.” Women that related to Kathrine Parker’s character believe they need to act like their dominate counterpart in their business, since the attitude men were giving gave them
Inequalities exist an all aspects of life. The nature and result of such inequalities shapes our social as well as economic lives. As people progress through their educational life certain inequalities will result in different outcomes of schooling for different sets of people. “In post war Britain pupils from a working class background are constantly found to gain fewer academic qualifications, to be under represented in institutions of higher education and to end up in jobs offering little opportunity for social advancement'; (Brown 1987 p11). It is inequalities such as these that are present both in and out of school that will determine life chances of individuals. It is commonly accepted that education is the main
A society with unequal power will cultivate unequal cultures, values, and lifestyles. So social inequalities must be minimalized instead of being ignored. She speaks of "rough equalities" that render more useful than equality in absolute terms.