Maureen McCarthy, a well known Australian writer, has published a number of young adult fictional stories. Her novels have proved her guardianship over young women who are viewed as vulnerable in the current society. Her work, Stay With Me, draws inspiration from domestic abuse that young women in Australia and across the world experience. She narrates a story of Tess, a young woman, and her three year old daughter who faces abuse from her older husband Jay. She loses control of her and no sense of self-sufficiency as a result of abuse from her husband and his watchful family. Tess longs to escape for the safety of her and her daughter. A kind stranger comes to her rescue, helping her and her daughter escape back to her family, whom she has not seen for a long time. Theme of domestic violence is prevalent throughout the story and is manifested by emotional and physical abuse. My paper will provide an analysis of domestic abuse experienced by Tess based on gender relations and feminist theories.
Feminist Theories and Domestic Violence
Feminist theory is a body of literary, philosophical, and sociological analysis that explores the inequality that exists between men and women in societies around the world. Feminist theory consists of various subcategories that explain gender inequality through differing causal factors. All of the varied subcategories unanimously contend that men and women should be equal within the political, economic, sexual, and social spheres of society.
According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism is a major part of the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, which is a story that portrays women’s lack of freedom in the1800s. Women had no rights, and had to cater to all of their husband’s needs. The main character in “The Story of an Hour” is a woman who suffers from heart trouble, named Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard was told about her husband’s death, she was initially emotional, but because of her husband’s death she reaped freedom and became swept away with joy. The story is ironic because Mrs. Mallard learns her husband was not dead, and instead of exulting
“Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism) This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. “A feminist advocates or supports the rights and equality of women. (Tickner,2008:266) Feminist theory, which emerged from these feminist movements, aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women 's social roles and lived experience; it has
According to dictionary.com, feminism is the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. Throughout history and even in present time, women have been subject to unequal treatment by their male counterparts. For example, in the biblical story of Adam and Eve, Eve is born from Adam’s rib, showing that Adam is the dominant figure in the narrative. Even today, there exists in certain professions a gender pay gap. Similarly, the way in which women are depicted in Beloved by Toni Morrison and the short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Stetson indicates that women are able to thrive independently and take on masculine roles, while men are able to experience feminine attributes.
Feminism is the advocacy of the rights of women based on the theory of equality of the sexes (Oxford English Dictionary). It is built on the principle that women have innate worth, inalienable rights, and valuable ideas and talents to contribute to society. Feminists fight for equality in every dimension of society, for both equal rights with men and equal respect.
Feminist concentrate primarily on ‘gender inequality’. The feminist theory is strongly influenced by the Marx theory.
For the record, feminism by definition is: ‘the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.’ It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes. (Watson 1)
Firstly, Feminism is a conflict theory that believes that all religions are instruments set up by men to oppress women with the set of beliefs and practices. There are many different branches of feminism; the ones being evaluated are called Liberal, Radical and Marxist feminists. Feminists believe that society is malestream and not mainstream as people believe. The first main flaw in feminist theory is the fact that feminists only examine society from the viewpoint of women, they do this because they believe they are in fact helping fight against the oppression of women but the problem is that they do not examine the views of many male counterparts and therefore cannot help us completely understand our society. The main differentiation between the different feminist theories is the way that the oppression against women is caused.
The Color Purple, written by Alice Walker, is a story written about the struggles of a colored woman in the 1930’s. The central character, Celie, experienced more abuse in her life than love and struggled to understand the world around her. In the novel the author is able to captivate her audience and through a series of letters written to GOD, create a relationship between Celie and her readers. Reading the novel you immediately began to sympathize with this young girl (Celie) as you watch her father tare her life to shreds. Celie is raped and impregnated by her father only to be torn from her children after she gave birth. Celie is later given away in marriage to a man that only wanted to marry her to raise his kids, keep a good home and work in his fields as his personal slave. Her marriage also tore her away from the only person who ever loved her, Nettie, who is her little sister. Mr. Albert, who is Celie’s new husband, ended up being just as abusive if not more abusive than her father. In this paper, I want to bring to focus one of the themes in this novel: Violence against Women. I want the reader to understand the affects that abuse has on the victim as well as society.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, feminism consists of “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes”. The feminist movement emerged during the eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries, when philosophers began to question the perception of women in society and the moral differences between the sexes (Tong and Williams). A demand for equality was explored, vindicated and raised to the authorities by early feminists, like Mary Wollstonecraft (Tong and Williams). Equality represents a fundamental issue that is still debated. By exploring the roots of the western culture regarding equality between the sexes, one may acknowledge the whole progress in pursuing justice, resulting from the fight of many generations.
According to Webster’s Dictionary, feminism means, “the theory of political, economic, and social equality of the sexes”, or at least that is what is known as the “core feminist theory”. Feminism branches off in several directions,
Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. Feminist political activism campaigns on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, sexual harassment, discrimination and sexual violence. Themes explored in feminism include discrimination, stereotyping, objectification, sexual objectification, oppression and
Feminist theory aims to understand the nature of inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. To do Feminist Research is to put the social construction of gender at the center of one 's inquiry. Feminist theory is about seeing gender as a basic organizing principle which profoundly shapes/mediates the concrete conditions of our lives. In the play The Tempest, by William Shakespeare Miranda is a perfect example of a woman 's role in literature from a feminist theorist perspective. In The Tempest, Miranda 's prescribed gender role and physical stature account for her naturally being subordinate to males.
Patriarchal Theory explains the history, and they why gender equality exists throughout the ages, and I chose to mention Mary Wollstonecraft, who was the first woman to advocate on the education of women, in a time when women could not even own property. I feel as if it necessary to refer to and educate individuals on feminist patriarchal theory. I read that women outnumber men in higher education in the US, since women feel they need more than a BA to get the same amount of money men earn. The most commonly used theory on domestic violence is the feminist patriarchal approach. Gender relationships are measured as a fundamental piece of society and social norms.
(Sommers-Flanagan 2012) states that the term for “feminist theory was developed by women to address the social and cultural oppression and unequal treatment of women. Implied in the feminist perspective is the tendency for humans who wield more power to use that
Feminism is another social problem troubling human societies all over the world. Feminism is an issue of Dominance of Men over Women around the world. The feminist theory is a result of the general movement to empower women worldwide. According to Weber feminism can be defined as a