Feminism, Narrative And Psychoanalysis

Haney-Peritz attributes this to it being, “unreadable in its own time because neither men nor women readers had access to a tradition of shared context which would have made the “female meaning” of the text clear” (122). However, in 1973, “the story’s feminist thrust” (113) was illuminated and these key ideas that embody a feminist story are examined by Haney-Peritz.

Tyson explains the basic concepts of feminist theory, and the ways in which readers can use the theory as a lens to examine the social pressures and gender roles within a literary work. To examine through a feminist lens, theorists need to first look at the different characters’ genders to determine whether their roles and responsibilities “conform to traditional (patriarchal) gender roles” (Tyson 84). “According to [patriarchal] gender roles, men are naturally rational, strong, protective, and decisive,” but “women [are] naturally emotional…, weak, nurturing, and submissive” (87). Moreover, “anyone who violates traditional gender roles is [looked upon as] unnatural, unhealthy, or…immoral” (86). Therefore, due to the “oppression of women” in

In a world usually depicted as a “man’s world,” a woman’s role is not considered as significant and thus can be repressed. It is why a feminist perspective or criticism comes into place, especially in literature. By definition, a feminist criticism consist of scrutinizing “the ways in which literature reinforces the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women.” (Tyson) In Gail Godwins’s A Sorrowful Woman, the leading female character is concentrated in her efforts in distancing from her structured lifestyle. A feminist would critic Godwins story by as the female character is in pursuit of peace and happiness and wants to escape from the role she has been implanted. The critic would concentrate on the experience woman

A feminist lens looks at the relationships between men and women. It specifically focuses on the portrayal of women within the work of literature. It attempts to analyze how women have been affected by men and their actions. It not only works to show how women have been marginalized and suppressed by society, but also how they have been privileged. However, a “feminist lens” mustn't solely focus on femininity. It also examines the role of “masculinity” in the portrayal of men .The “feminist lens” accomplishes all of this in the pursuit of analyzing gender boundaries and norms (Delahoyde 1).

This is anti-feminist because it shows that women try to make themselves involved in others’ lives to keep their lives more interesting. Women have nothing better to do then to talk about others behind their backs. When psychologists started to study women like this in psychology, they would get angry about how they were portrayed. Alice Eagly, the author of “Analysis of a Half-Century Research on Women and Gender” states, “Starting in the 1960s, feminists argued that the discipline of psychology had neglected the study of women and gender and misrepresented women in its research and theories”. This quote is saying women started to stand up for themselves because they did not like the way they were being represented and had wanted a change. This relates to the thesis because it shows that women did not like the way people were characterizing them and wanted to make a change for themselves. This shows how the Murder on The Orient Express uses anti-feminism when analyzing Christie’s time.

When on the topic of feminist writing, understanding the time period in which the author’s writing takes place persists as vastly important. Historically speaking, western culture follows a model thoroughly dominated by men. That commonality remains

Friedan’s book spawned a new wave of feminist books. Australian writer and strong advocate of women’s rights, Germaine Greer, best articulated the key themes surrounding women’s independence and sexuality within the feminist movement. She felt “women [had] somehow been

THESIS: The sexist surroundings that entrap the Narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Miss Emily Grierson in “A Rose for Emily,” and Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter ultimately suppress the respective protagonists’ identities as women, leading them to suffer in isolation.

For as long as can be remembered, men and women have been placed in specific roles in society. Both have been given a set of rules they are expected to follow and a set of stereotypes they are expected to fit into. For the most part these roles were, until rather recently, strictly obeyed. However, while there are still expectations and stereotypes today, it is more common to see individuals from both genders breaking the barriers and exploring options outside of the limits. Visible through the contrasting class systems, Sophie Treadwell’s 1928 play “Machinal” and Clare Boothe Luce’s 1936 drama “The Women,” are both perfect examples of the ways in which women begin to break the societal expectations.

In Ian McEwan’s ‘Enduring Love’, Ken Kesey’s ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ and Sylvia Plath’s ‘Ariel’ Collection, the themes of gender and identity are clearly linked. Kesey and McEwan explore gender and identity through the male perspective and consequently present themselves as misogynists through their texts in their deleterious portrayal of women who do not adhere to what tradition dictates is ‘ideal’. Plath, on the other hand, presents the female perspective, providing readers with an alternative view, that of the female sufferer. However, in her portrayal of men, Plath comes across as a misandrist, and hence readers are exposed to biased views from both the male and female perspective. All three writers incorporate controversial matters in their exploration of gender and identity and depict how sexual identity is constrained due to society’s norms and values, and events that had occurred and influenced opinion.

In the reading “Hearing the Difference: Theorizing Connection” by Carol Gillian, Gillian talks about a shift from the psychological patriarchal “norm” when the voice of women started to become less peripheral and more central. She relates the voice to the relationships, experiences and connections of women. She separates her ideas into the feminine ethic of care, which is the ethic of obligations and interpersonal relationships in a patriarchal world, and the feminist ethic of care, which is the connection and disconnection of human life which requires change. She believed that the psychological knowledge that had been recently gained at that time was a map toward the future, and that although it may be hard, the voice of women had been heard

The shot heard around the world came from the smoking gun of every individual who has challenged the authority in place in their environment. Claudette Colvin sent off her shot when she decided to sit down on a bus in Alabama during the civil rights movement, and Alice Paul pulled the trigger when she continued to protest for suffrage with no regard for the widely held negative opinion of the suffrage movement at the time. Protagonists in texts take on their own form of rebellion that authors want to be heard, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne with his novel, The Scarlet Letter, which challenges strict theocracies and Arthur Miller with his play, The Crucible, which disputes the communist hysteria of the 1950’s and 1960’s. However, all these crusaders

In a very real sense, a woman was an outsider, one whose meaning of life is engulfed in fear and subordination passed down from Moses (cite She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry). It was common knowledge, even biological, that women were psychologically and physically inferior to man. For this reason, woman’s place was the home, boundaries were set in stone and limitations were imposed on the minds of the female from childhood. It wasn’t until the 1900’s when woman would arise and demand equality and suffrage, it was in the 1960’s and 70’s that liberation, not equality, was demanded. A movement that started in the humble therapy groups of middle class women exploded into a bra burning, role reversing, exhilarating force that would thwart women into a new mindset. In the midst of the liberation outrage, there would be clash within the groups of feminists- the liberals, and the radicals, the two mindsets. Liberal feminists, which consisted of older women who were more prevalent in the 60’s civil rights movement, were determined to fight for women through political action, blaming capitalism as the root of male superiority. Radical feminists, coming out of college angry with the situations they were faced with as educated women in a housewife culture, chose to attack the system of our society through press, demonstrations and organizing in unaffiliated groups with separate beliefs. Political and grassroot feminists would clash on the matters of tactics and actions

Feminist criticism scrutinizes the ways in which literature reinforces or undermines the economic, politic, social and psychological oppression of women. One of the tools used

In 1990 Judith Butler first published her book Gender Troubles, where she questions gender roles. Butler theorizes that gender, as in male and female, is a type of societal/gender colonialism created to keep people who do not fall within the gender roles from being part of the mainstream society. In her 1999 preface, in which she addresses the impact her book had in the decade since its original publication, Butler expresses the concern she had with the “heterosexual assumption in feminist literary theory (61).” Butler utilizes the works of other feminist philosophers to further demonstrate the inconsistency, and disconnect between fighting for women rights and fighting for human rights. Judith Butler makes an interesting argument on the failure to recognize the spectrum of gender, however, she makes a compelling argument on the use of language perpetuating a patriarchal society.