Everything's Arranged By Siew Ye Killingley

The Damage of Gender Inequality in Nectar in a Sieve Nectar in a Sieve, a novel by Kamala Markandaya, tells the tale of a woman named Rukmani and the numerous tragedies and challenges she faces in life during a sudden phase of modernization in India, brought on by imperialism. In the novel, Rukmani, born wealthy and well learned, is married off at 12 years old to an older man, a poor tenant farmer named Nathan. Following this, the book goes on to chronicle the struggles she faces, such as poverty, famine, illness, and the death of many loved ones. Because women are considered inferior to men, this causes further hardship (in already difficult circumstances) in Rukmani’s journey. One of the first examples of how sexism leads to further misfortune in Rukmani’s life, is the expectation that women get married at a young age to be a submissive and obedient wife.

The criticism that I will be using is a rhetorical analysis which simply means analyzing texts on how they make the audience feel using symbols, the type of genre, aesthetics and more while also looking at why that happens. I decided to use a rhetorical

a story that reflects the subordination of woman in marriage. By the time of the early

She even furthers her argument by saying that this leads to sexual inequality and misogyny. Katha however argues a different side. Katha elaborates that daughters should not define themselves by relating to their mothers, because by doing this she is equating that women must adhere to the traditional values. These traditional values, are the problem with gender difference.

As stated by Tim Gillespie in his text Doing Literary Criticism, the concept of literary criticism is the field of “interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating” literary works. Thus, literary criticism is not objective; rather, it varies subjectively depending on the critic and the lens, or school, they choose to view the work of literature through. Though the actual content of literature is of extreme importance, the way it is approached is of nearly equal magnitude, as varying approaches open new and insightful views texts previously regarded as static. The feminist lens is one major school of literary criticism.

After reading Contemporary Literary Theory: Its Necessity and Impossibility, I find that I agree with most of what Robert Young says in regards to literary theory. The main point that really struck home with me was when he talked about theorists lacking the ability to connect with a wide audience. He states, “Literary theorists seem to speak and argue with each other in a private language, making little effort to address a wider audience” (Young 165). I could not agree more with this assessment. When we first read about Jacques Derrida and his theory of deconstruction I questioned my intelligence. It may as well have been written in Greek. It has been a very long time since I have encountered something that left me with absolutely nothing after reading it. I tend to agree

The deconstruction school of literary criticism is different from the formalist and new critics, as well as the reader-response

2. In the novel, women in Annawadi don’t have lots of freedom and rights. They are mistreated and every family living in Annawadi dislikes each other because they are corrupted by greed and money. Even in the urban slums, women like Zehrunisa and Asha wouldn’t have more freedom because women can’t have a voice for themselves unless they have connections to other, more powerful people. Other women dislike and spit hate at Zehrunisa and Asha because they are more successful than them, rather than trying to work with them to be successful together. Since the people in Annawadi are so corrupted by money, they disregard for others wellbeing and resort to fighting or trash talk each other. For women, they are a burden for parents because of marriage and dowry. That is why mothers and fathers want their daughters to be perfect, with no scars or anything that would prevent them to get married. All the engagement is determined at a young age, so girls can not find love for themselves. “Meena’s future in-laws might not come to hear that they’d chosen an impetuous bride.” (Boo 188). When Meena, a young Annawadi girl, tried to commit suicide with rat poison because she hated the life she was living, her brother beat her up because now there would be less chance for Meena to get married. Rather than the townspeople helping Meena, the were ashamed of her and worried for her reputation than her health. In my view, the freedoms that the women in Annawadi lack is a voice. The women cannot

“A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, the authors use literary criticism so the reader can

Secondly, as the background points out that women’s rise in status, self-consciousness awakening and rebellious spirit run into conflict with people’s traditional recognition of women. The negative portrayal of the women characters reflects men’s prejudice against, dissatisfaction with, and fear of women’s increasing

The behavior of men towards women in a patriarchal society is described by Manju when she describes society in India by stating, “In Indian society stress is given to create female persona for different stages, docile daughters, chase and obedient wives and sacrificing mothers. The only domain ascribed to female is to fit in this good daughter, good wife and good mother criteria. Husband and wife are considered soul mates. But man assumes himself superior to woman, and he never tries to create emotional bonding with his wife, to understand her wishes or act according to her consent” (234). The rest of this paper will analyze the effects that male dominance had on the women.

Textual criticism is a discipline that focuses on bringing about “the most accurate text possible based upon available manuscript evidence. God’s

She learns that her parents are planning an arranged marriage for her. It has been centuries since the practice of arranged marriages for political or personal gain had been outlawed.

The author begins with the basics of marriages in India, explaining that arranged marriages are so common that marriages not setup have a special term. She goes on to speak of how the couples set to wed usually do not meet before the ceremony and that if they do, it is for only a momentary conversation after the decisions have been made. However, she points out, that if one person objects to the match that the parents agreed to, they do not have to wed.

I chose gender criticism this theory to analyze the gender roles and the gender expectations displayed in “Lady Susan”. I chose this theory because “Lady Susan” mainly discussed the relationship between males and females, and the interesting gender roles the characters played. Thus, gender criticism theory can help me to understand and comprehend the underlying meanings of different characters’ conducts and personalities as females.