Feminism in Anthem Essay

Throughout History, women have been permanently oppressed and treated as subordinate to men. They have been considered mentally weak and biologically inferior. The power of their opinion has been limited and in many situations ignored, being condemned to live in that condition for several years. Therefore, we can conclude that the only responsible for strengthening this characterization of women’s inferiority is our society.

Equality renames Liberty two times; this is Rand’s way of demonstrating man’s dominance over women. Someone’s name is their identity, so him changing her name to what

The values at risk in Anthem are not merely those of the central luminary; they are the ostensible values of an entire civilization—our own. Our society is founded upon the notion of individual rights; its existence, as Ayn Rand depicts, cannot be conceived on any other grounds. Anthem, Rand’s dystopian novella, is about us, and about what will happen if we do not follow alongside Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000 in their discovery of the importance of individualism.

Women have been treated and portrayed similarly throughout history-- Made to be housewives and handmaidens to men of all ages and expected to be the “perfect woman”, a standard image created by--shocker--men. In fifth-century Greece, the “perfect” woman was expected to obey her husbands at all times. The “perfect” English Renaissance women was meant to be seen, not heard. The “perfect” woman of the eighteen hundreds was given novels to read. Novels that held lighter topics than the newspapers of the day, such as intemperance, nothing too heavy because “once a woman starts reading, she starts getting ideas” (indirect quote from Beauty and the Beast). The tables began to turn in 1848, when the first women’s suffrage movement convention was held in Seneca Falls, when women began to realize what Emma Goldman voiced years later in 1915. The “perfect woman” image began to crumble. Skirts became shorter, topics became heavier, women started thinking, forming ideas, becoming more outspoken, creating their own image, without the aid of men. Slowly, they climbed their way up, proving to be more independent and more than what men thought them to be. How women were viewed as by a society, and their evolution of independence, has bled through in literature, especially through female deities in ancient mythologies. Over time, goddesses of different mythologies have grown bolder and more powerful as the world finally noticed that women were actually people, not pretty trophies. Greek,

Women make up half of this world’s human population, and with consideration of this fact, who is to say women are lesser of the two genders? Sexism and Women’s Rights are a global issue, that affects more than just woman themselves. Even in the United States, commonly known as the “Land of the Free”, ironically is empowered by the Statue of Liberty, which presents false ideas that women are well respected in this country and provided with equal rights. Throughout history, women have constantly been working hard to prove their strength and ability, it was not until the twentieth century that women started to rise up in society and were slowly beginning to be viewed as an equally capable being in the eyes of the United States. From Cleopatra

This extents into the Victorian times, where women 's rights and privileges were often limited. Coming into the 20th century, Atwood suggests that women were treated with more respect and they had ‘equal rights’ to men, when in actual fact they didn’t. The bible plays a significant role in this theme, as it underpins the fact that the men are there as defenders for the women, they are also the ones that provide for the women, this sees the woman as the weak one who serves only one purpose.

This chapter is dedicated to making sense of argumentation. With that said, the most intriguing portion of this chapter was the section that deals with feminisms within argumentation. It is brought to the reader’s attention that the word feminisms is plural for a reason, meaning that there is more than one feminism that deserves to be addressed. To be more specific, the three areas that feminisms cover are discussed in this chapter. First, the feminist approach critiques what would be considered traditional methods of communication. This concept really caused me to think about the gender roles that our society places on people with communication. Second, feminist theory suggests that we as humans communicate, and process argumentation, differently

Women’s role in the struggle for equal rights has also influenced positive effects on the construction of sexism, classism, and racism by using power and determination. Women that are portrayed in all three of the pieces are able to address the problems by coming forward and standing up for their gender because they all believed that their rights meant just as much as a man in society.

Women have always been put in a secondary position and never treated as an equal. Since the novel was published, views on women’s rights have improved, but society still sees women inferior to men. Biologically, men are created to be physically stronger, but women

“Freedom is never given; it is won.”- Philip Randolph. Freedom is a battle in America even though America known for the land of the free, there are those who are losing this battle. John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men portrays those who are discriminate against with the characters Curley's Wife and Crooks. Curley's Wife is the only woman on the ranch while Crooks is the only African-American there. Through out the book it shows how the two of them endure loneliness, discrimination and prejudice causing their American dreams to be shattered. The two of these characters are parallel to each other because of their similar struggles.

Thanks largely to the gains made by feminist movements throughout the 20th century, contemporary media images provide a new reimagining of femininity and feminism. This new interpretation of femininity offers a narrative where choice aspects of the previous feminine ideal, such as beauty, are retained while the negative characteristics of gender roles, such as weakness, are eschewed. In other words, this “girl power” discourse suggests that girls can be as powerful as men, but they can do it all while wearing a skirt. In Feminism Inc., Emilie Zaslow examines the influence the media’s promotion of girl power discourse has on the processes through which teenage girls construct their gender identities.

Asses the influence of feminist perspectives to our understanding of society and sociological research methods (33 marks)

In nineteenth century America, there were strict gender roles and expectations that men and women were expected to conform to. Men were seen as dominant to women; while men were able to work and drink, women were expected to get married, follow orders from her husband, and live a life of limited freedom and personal choice. We see examples of these roles throughout Lillie Devereux Blake’s novel, Fettered for Life, as we encounter different women in the text that are oppressed through physical abuse and lack of agency. However, Frank Heywood, the woman, manages to outsmart these rules by cross-dressing to be a man. She’s the only female in the novel to break free of the slavery of womanhood, and in the process uses her newfound freedom to act as a voice for the oppressed female population. Not only does Frank aid women and their oppression, but she also proves that women can do the work of a man, but are denied opportunities because of their sex. Blake uses Frank’s character to demonstrate the ways in which gender roles are socially constructed, and prove that it’s possible to break through the implemented social rules.

Author and political thinker George Orwell once said “If you want to picture human history, imagine a boot stepping on a human face until the end of time. ” Taking the boot to be an oppressive society, and the human face to be the individual, a parallel can be drawn between Orwell’s thoughts and Ayn Rand’s work. In the dystopian novella Anthem, Rand utilizes vivid imagery and rich symbolism to forcefully demonstrate that the most fulfilling life is created by the individual.

Up until the 19th century, women and men were assigned to domestic spheres. Men belonged to the public sphere, where they had the freedom to speak publicly, engage in government activities, and be the financial breadwinners to support their families. The private sphere belonged to the woman. They were limited to solely tending to their home, husbands, and raising their children. This imbalance of roles was deemed unfair and over time individuals spoke out about issues of women’s rights and gender equality. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a leading figure of the Women’s Rights Movement communicated her ideals in “The Solitude of Self”. Stanton establishes a dark tone by strategically using metaphors, repetition, and analogies to convey to her audience of just how deserving a woman is of her own independence.