Examples Of Cultural Hegemony In Doris Lessing

In analyzing portrayals of women, it is appropriate to begin with the character of Margarita. For, within the text, she embodies the traditionally masculine traits of bravery, resilience, and violence as a means of liberating herself from an existence of abuse and victimhood. Even more, the woman plays upon stereotypes of femininity in order to mask her true nature. The reader witnesses this clever deception in a scene where the character endures a “wholesome thrashing” from her huge, violent, and grizzly bear-like husband, Guerra (81). Although Margarita “[submits] to the infliction with great apparent humility,” her husband is found “stone-dead” the next morning (81). Here, diction such as “submits” and “humility” relate to the traits of weakness, subservience and inferiority that are so commonly expected of women, especially in their relationships with men. Yet, when one

The misrepresentation of social groups in texts creates negative impacts. Therefore, it is evident that the marginalization of women through social classes is demonstrated throughout The Awakening. In Kate Chopin’s poignant novel, the misrepresentation of women in society will be discussed through an analysis of aspects in the text that exclude women. This will be proven through the exploration of the differences between the social classes among men and women which is evident with Leonce’s superiority compared to Edna’s inferiority. Likewise, the way women are represented in relationships as seen through Leonce having more authority.

In this essay, female oppression in La Casa de Bernarda Alba will be discussed and analyzed. However, in order to be able to understand the importance of this theme and the impact it has had on the play, one must first understand the role of female oppression in the Spanish society in the 1930s.

The issue of gender roles is one of the central themes of this novel. All the main characters of the novel spend their whole lives trying to conform to the standards of masculinity and femininity expected of them by the society. The inability of the main character of the book to meet the expected stereotypical roles not only causes them personal turmoil but also makes their social life miserable. They try to fit in the ascribed gender roles of their Dominican culture, but are simply incapable of doing that. However, the society does not understand their incapability and makes them pay for their nonconformity.

“The Myth of the Latin Women” was writing by Judith Ortiz Cofer, a women born in Puerto Rico. Ortiz is a person who seems really Passionate about this specific subject. “The Myth of the Latin Women” points out the many stereotypes Latin women go through in their day to day lives. The things that upsets Ortiz is that there are so many people who are not a Latin background that don’t realize the importance of this issue. The main purpose of “The Myth of the Latin Women” is to get people to understand that their words will hurt someone and Ortiz convey this throughout the essay with the use of logos, ethos and pathos.

When she utilises the modes of appeals, they are subtle within the texts, which leads the reader to analyse as they read. She conveys ideas of internalised oppression, involuntarily imposed upon to follow strict social rules, the act of people erasing cultural heritage, as well as the importance of embracing personal heritage.

Doris Lessing wrote the novel “No witchcraft for Sale” and its highly reminiscent of George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” in that it can almost be seen as a critique of Imperialism. Unlike “Shooting”, “Sale” has what can be seen as an almost happy ending or rather, nothing terrible happens. Doris Lessing uses three messages in her novel “No Witchcraft for Sale” that really made me think about the spread of imperialism.

In this research paper I will focus on Sor Juana’s ability to challenge the patriarchal rule in Colonial Mexico through her the patterns language, and the publishing of her work in order to find out how her writing empowered more women writers. In order to answer my question, I will focus on male authority and will work to analyze how patterns, rhetoric, and overall publication of Sor Juana’s work challenge the power dynamic..The question I want answer is how Sor Juana’s work was able to alter cultural attitudes that did not permit women to pursue education and intellectual exploration. My argument is that through her critical language and the act of producing her poems Sor Juana is able to challenge the oppressive society run by males therefore creating a change in the gender norms of her time. This is based off of research of the history of patriarchy in Colonial Mexico, critical analyses of Sor Juana’s writing, understanding of the impact of her writing, and articles suggesting that Sor Juana was influential in altering culture in Mexico. Particularly, I found it interesting that articles explored her language focusing on the gender role she discusses. In this essay I will explore the restrictive cultural norms that pushed Sor Juana to enter the convent as a way to continue writing and publish her work and then proceed to analyze how her writing reflects her

While Minerva’s friends Sinita who tells her about Trujillo murdering the men in her family, “Trujillo’s secret” (ITTOB 51) and the Lina Lovaton incident are what awaken Minerva to Trujillo’s morally corrupt nature, it is her brief flirtation with Virgilo “Lío” Morales, a radical Professor from the University, which is deciding factor that sets into motion Minerva’s political activities. Lio makes Minerva realise that she wants both love and revolution, a combination that she finds in her husband Manolo who, according to Silvio Siras in The Critical Companion to Julia Alvarez, is the “Domincan equivalent to Fidel Castro” (Sirias 56). Manolo and Minerva’s comrade Leandro became Mate’s husband as well as the latter’s reason for becoming a revolutionary. Patria and her husband Pedrito also join in the underground movement and their house becomes its headquarters. The boundaries between the private and the political blur as not just sisterhood but even marriage become politically charged.

In this novel, the writer often highlights the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society, through several things. One of them being music, other being pride. One of the biggest theme in this book, that Edna was alienated on, was the fact that she wanted to do things differently than the average stay at home mom. Some other themes, that are criticized by society, in this book is music, paintings, and decisions. Decisions stand for all the decisions made by mademoiselle reisz, and Edna. Some of these decisions, are how they handle certain situations, or how they start to pick up hobbies or even how they want

In the following paper, we will see the role of women change from a submissive role during the Inca Empire to an activist in the present.

This paper is discusses on the novel Zora Neale Hurston in the light of Patriarchy. The protagonist of the novel, Janie is taken for analysis. This paper also involves in delineating characteristics traits of the male characters in the novels. Further, the paper studies the treatment that is meted out to the protagonist at the hands of men in the selected novel. The paper studies the novel in terms of the violence, subjugation and oppression that the male characters pose to the protagonist in the novel. The paper discusses on the various levels of suppression that Janie undergoes at the hands of the people who are highly patriarchal in mind set. Further, this paper details on how the protagonist stands as a model to shun suppression at the

In literature, post colonialism is the study of post-colonial theories that ask the reader to notice the effects of colonization on people or the extension power into other nations. In post-colonial theories, the term subaltern is the nickname to populations which are far cry from the power of the colony that has hegemonic on social, political and geographical prevalence. The present research aims at analyzing Spivak's essay "Can the Subaltern Speak?" in the light of her question whether or not the possibility exists for any recovery of a subaltern

            While Marxist critics must admit that they themselves are helpless to avoid the effects of hegemony, the critical project of Marxist literary criticism remains steadfastly committed to the attempt to identify and understand the mediating contexts in which the forces of hegemony exert pressure on a text, its author, and its audience. These contexts manifest themselves within specific historical, economic, political, cultural, etc... conditions. In order to discover such contexts, a work of art cannot be uprooted from the specific temporal circumstances in which it is read or created and regarded as an isolated purely original entity. Literature, for better or worse, is mired in history.

Another theme that is developed by the author relates to class and society. It is worth noting that the theme is painted as having significant impacts on family members. The characters in the article “The God of Small Things” are in most cases seen to come against the forces of