Female Dominance And How The Male Characters Within Atwood 's Article

Over the past 200 years sexual liberation and freedom have become topics of discussions prevalent within western culture and society. With the recent exploration of sexuality a new concept of sexual and gender identity has emerged and is being analyzed in various fields of study. The ideology behind what defines gender and how society explains sex beyond biology has changed at a rapid pace. In response various attempts to create specific and catch all definitions of growing gender and sexual minorities has been on going. This has resulted in the concept of gender becoming a multi- layered shifting hypothesis to which society is adapting. Since the 19th-century, philosophers and theorists have continued to scrutinize gender beyond biological and social interpretation. Margaret Atwood 's The Handmaid 's Tale captures the limitations and social implications forced upon a set gender based on societal expectations. Gender is a social construct that limits the individual to the restrictions and traditions of a society, or if it’s an individually formed self-identification of sex and sexuality that is formed autonomously. Evidence of gender establishment can be seen within literary works and supported by various schools of gender and sexuality theory.

The setting of both stories reinforces the notion of women's dependence on men. The late 1800's were a turbulent time for women's roles. The turn of the century

The Handmaid's Tale is set in the early twentieth century in the futuristic Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States of America. The Republic has been founded by a Christian response to declining birthrates. The government rules using biblical teachings that have been distorted to justify the inhumane practices. In Gilead, women are categorized by their age, marital status and fertility. Men are categorised by their age. Women all have separate roles in society, and although these roles are different, they all share the same theme: Every woman is confined to the home and has a domestic duty. Marthas are cooks and housekeepers, and handmaids have one duty, which is to reproduce, growing and giving birth to babies to the childless

In his essay, “Come Back to the Raft Ag’in, Ed Gentry,” Betina Entzminger argues that at the heart of James Dickey’s Deliverance lies the search for a lost masculinity in today’s world, told through the lens of the protagonist’s canoe trip. He asserts that Ed understands the societal pressures upon each gender, forces that compel us towards the stereotypes that pervade our culture. Further, Entzminger believes, “Despite the fact that Ed sees these constructions as constructions, he is unable to rise above them” (Entzminger). Ultimately, Entzminger posits, “Ed dutifully destroys that which challenges his own and his community’s conceptions of gender and sexuality, and he finds comfort in his return to his community at the novel’s close”

Throughout the Victorian Age, male dominance deprived women from freedom of choice. In Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre, Jane Eyre repeatedly struggles to become an independent young lady due to the troublesome men in the story. There are several male characters who control, humiliate, and abuse their power over Jane. The author manages to depict patriarchal dominance through the characterization of John Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester.

Today's society perceives women to be stronger and dominant individuals in comparison to men, although, in reality, there are numerous circumstances in which men exhibit more power and control over the important decisions in women’s lives. In his novel, The Asylum, John Harwood portrays the ways in which men exert power over women through the relationships between Rosina and her father as well as Dr. Straker and Georgina. Through the characters of Rosina and Georgina, Harwood depicts that women face many insecurities which ultimately causes the relationships

Sexuality has an inherent connection to human nature. Yet, even in regards to something so natural, societies throughout times have imposed expectations and gender roles upon it. Ultimately, these come to oppress women, and confine them within the limits that the world has set for them. However, society is constantly evolving, and within the past 200 years, the role of women has changed. These changes in society can be seen within the intricacies of literature in each era. Specifically, through analyzing The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, one can observe the dynamics of society in regards to the role of women through the lens of the theme of sexuality. In both novels, the confinement and oppression of women can be visibly seen as a result of these gender roles. Yet, from the time The Scarlet Letter was published to the time The Bell Jar was written, the place of women in society ultimately changed as well. Hence when evaluating the gender roles that are derived from sexuality, the difference between the portrayals of women’s oppression in each novel becomes apparent, and shows how the subjugation of women has evolved. The guiding question of this investigation is to what extent does the theme of sexuality reflect the expectations for women in society at the time each novel was written. The essay will explore how the literary elements that form each novel demonstrate each author’s independent vision which questions the

The lack of control women have in a society mainly controlled by men is presented through the author’s effective use of anecdote. In the beginning, when the speaker introduces the audience to her relationship, in which her partner takes lead in day-to-day activities, the audience immediately get an insight into the lack of power women receive with the author’s use of anecdote. The speaker is quick to tell the readers about her“[h]olding the log / while he sawed it. Holding / the strings while he measured” (Atwood lines 1-3). Atwood employs anecdote as the speaker’s explanation of helping her partner out in everyday activities is presented to the reader in forms of an account of an event in the speaker’s life. This forms a greater insight for the reader, as the anecdote creates an understanding of the way the actions in day-to-day activities men and women take when together, women are appointed smaller tasks within a society, which is dominated by men, whereas men are the driving force and do the important parts of the activities. Furthermore, when the speaker describes herself sitting in

Atwood uses strong wording to paint a picture of a world in which women are demeaned on a daily basis, and in doing this ascribes a meaning to these far beyond what they mean literally. By using these words to start a

American Literature has always been about men and for men. In this essay, we are going to analyze the women’s role in the book, as inferior and weaker gender.

Portrayal of Women: Rimbaud vs. Atwood From the day on which human beings discovered writing, women have constantly been portrayed as victims and characters to be pitied. However, with the dawn of the feminist movement and women’s empowerment efforts through literature, some female characters have been portrayed as strong individuals with immense capabilities. A case system that can illustrate this phenomenon is that of Margaret Atwood's “Helen of Troy does Countertop Dancing” and Arthur Rimbaud’s “Ophelia.” Both authors seek to tell the stories of their characters borrowed from literature and history. However, Atwood’s Helen is seen as much stronger than Rimbaud’s Ophelia.

These two stories exemplify the epitome of women’s repression in the male-dominated society of the late nineteenth century by conveying the feelings of

behavior and a cry for the recognition of women's rights ( ). Instead its theme

How woman are portrayed, and how they are oppressed of power, has been a hot topic for a long while. Although the situation for women has significantly improved, men and women are unfortunately still today not seen as equal. In this essay, two stories are going to be compared and analyzed to describe how two different authors portray women’s power in their respective stories. In Sandra Cisenerors Only Daughter, she writes about the life of a girl living with six brothers and her parents. The author describes the difficulties of the main character constantly being undermined by both her father and brothers. Her brothers do not want to spend time with her because of her gender and her father often refers to her as a boy in the story. The

In patriarchy, male privilege is marked as having control over women’s sexuality. Cultural representations have been designed to accommodate male preferences and patterns of gratification. Women’s pleasures have been relegated to marginal position to disallow gratification and to be enfranchised. The focus in Silence! The court is in Session is on Leela Benare, a middle class working woman and her sexual relationship with men. She willingly offers her body to the men she loves. First she offers herself to her maternal uncle, and later to a married man, Prof. Damle.