Feminist Criticism on Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Joyce Carol Oates’s fictional short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was inspired by a real account of manipulation. in this story, Connie encounters a dominant man that helps to reveal a feminist allegory. Through characterization, this short story shows the feeling of a woman’s spirit being crushed or enslaved under a dominant male authority in a relationship, both sexual and nonsexual.

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

Feminist theory, though contrary to what the statement may suggest, is not simply one theory but consists of branches of various critical approaches that target specific aspects of literature in terms of the representation of female writers (and other artists) and the feminine

Analyzing the ways in which a piece of literature includes feminist ideologies can bring out the potential messages that the creators of these productions were attempting to portray, while allowing the reader to critique the literature from a feminist perspective.

In the essay, “Bad Feminist,” by english professor and novelist, Roxane Gay, examines the “myth” of “essential feminism,”which means that there are right and wrong ways to being a feminist. Through her own personal experiences as a feminist, she argues the expectations, and labeling due to cultural stereotypes for not living up to feminist ideals. She claims that there is no certain way to being a feminist. Throughout her essay, Roxanne does an astonishing job at appealing to her audience with strong, emotional context by going into detail with her own thoughts are about feminism. Also, her references such as, popular magazines,

Feminism is a women’s rights movement which originated during the 19th century to advocate for equality for both sexes. Women, as a whole, were oppressed by a patriarchal society where they had few opportunities to express themselves due to cultural roles and stereotypes surrounding their gender. Donald Hall claims, “... women have been denied social power and the right to various forms of self-expression...” in his Literary and Cultural Theory: Feminist Analysis to further prove the oppressed status of women. Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, two cultural feminist literary critics, allow their readers to view an oppressive, androcentric patriarchal society through the eyes of their characters in their stories. Chopin’s The Awakening and

A common theme that can be seen in feminist literature is that a woman’s identity is defined by the patriarchal culture of the era as well as the men in their lives. This theme can be seen through pieces such as “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “My Ringless Fingers on the Steering Wheel Tell the Story” by Laura Boss, and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin.

The origins of the suppression and alienation of women have its roots in what is entrenched within our social system — male dominance. The struggles of women are underrepresented in history and have long been the plight of feminism. The patriarchal dictum maintains that a woman must adopt a submissive role to fit into society. Historically, a woman’s role included compliance and chastity, which propelled male supremacy. Literary analysis provides a unique perspective of both the past and modern feminism.

For example, Gorman writes about dates in history that are crucial to the feminist movement, while also subtly including her opinions on the matter. The fact that a book written by Betty Friedan, called The Feminine Mystique, was a bestseller in the 1960s is backed up by Gorman’s opinion that the book was “what sparked the modern feminist movement”. The author’s tone is mainly formal throughout the article, which contributes to a mature style. It is set up as broad topic headings with an expansion of details in the paragraph below. The target audience is for high school students, based on the word choice and

Tolan, F. (2005). Feminist utopias and questions of liberty: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale as critique of second wave feminism. Women: A Cultural Review, 16(1), 18-32.

Through The Backlash Against Feminism, Susan Faludi creates an argument that analyzes the basis for the persistent criticisms and overall refusal to accept feminism throughout history and during the time that the novel was written. She argues that despite the fact that this “backlash” is unmerited and unnecessary, it still manages to scare people away from the idea of gender equality. Since this argument is relatively new and the issues regarding the patriarchy and masculinity still have not been explored in depth elsewhere, Faludi had to decorate this novel with various rhetorical strategies and devices in order to convince the reader that her new perspectives are valid and reasonable.

The word “feminism” is still a word that gets put in the wrong category. Many people, especially the stereotypical male who believes women should not leave the house, believe that the word “feminism” means that women are superior to men. Though there are the radical women who do believe that, “feminism” holds a completely different meaning. Feminism was created to fight for women’s equality. It was around the 1940s where the word began to gain its first wave of momentum. The second wave came in the 60s and 70s, and led to the third wave in the 90s which has carried over to today’s time. Many authors, especially the few women authors, attached themselves to this label and began to write powerful pieces that fought for women’s equality.

The fight by feminists for gender equality started in the nineteenth century and has only continued to grow over the past decades. Countless authors have been voicing their concerns about this injustice through their written literature since this battle first began. Earlier in history a majority of known

Two different approaches to literary criticism are Marxist criticism and feminist criticism. The Marxist approach looks at the hierarchy of the classes. “One form of historical criticism is Marxist criticism, name for Karl Marx (1818-1883). Actually, to say “one form” is misleading, since Marxist criticism today is varied, but essentially it sees history primarily as a struggle between socioeconomic classes, and it sees literature (and everything else) as the product of economic forces of the period” (1750). Alternatively, the feminist approach focuses on the differences between men and women. “Feminist criticism can be traced back to the work of Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), but chiefly it grew out of the women’s movement of the 1960s.

Feminist literature, as the name suggests, is based on the principles of feminism, and refers to any literary work that centers on the struggle of a woman for equality, and to be accepted as a human being, before being cast into a gender stereotype. Not all these works follow a direct approach towards this goal of equality. It is only through such media that women believed a change was possible in the way they were perceived in society. Not all feminist literature has been written by women, but also by men who understood women beyond the roles they were expected to fit into, and delved into their psyche to understand their needs and desires. Some works may be fictional, while others may be non