Figurative Language In The Secretary Chant, By Marrge Piercy

“Description begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's” Stephen King once said. By an author using descriptive language a picture can be envisioned by a reader to help understand the meaning of the story, setting, mood, theme and much more. In the story “Treasure of Lemon Brown” by Walter dean Myers, the author uses figurative language and descriptive adjectives to develop the mood and setting.

Women in the work force are not nearly as dominant as men are. Katha argues that this isn’t due to women not being able to handle the workload, but instead because of how society, especially in the business world, best adheres to a man. Katha uses an excellent example on page 402 that shows how inequality in the business world is prevalent. Katha uses the Sears case in which Men were getting the bigger and better business deals, simply because women could not handle the pressure of dealing with the amount of work and emotional fatigue this would have brought. Finally she analyzes that women aren’t actually emotionally weak. It is society that has labeled them this way, which causes people to view and categorize women as emotionally weak. Pollitt wants the general public to know that women are perfectly happy by being themselves, and not having to conform to society's expectations. Katha says that this is because society has labeled women as not wanting a job that has a lot of emotional ties in it.

Eavan Boland’s poem “It’s a Woman’s World” illuminates the fact that history has shaped an unfair role for women in today’s society. Boland criticizes the gender bias with regards to the limitations placed on women and their job choices despite their ability to be just as successful in the workplace as men. Regardless of the fact that the bias against women in the workplace is often overlooked, Boland aims to show the shared reaction of women to the gender bias prevalent in our society by using short sentence fragments, repetition, and a fire motif throughout the poem.

Women have long been fighting for their right to be seen as equal to men. Even to this day, women continue to fight for their rights, things such as the right to non-gender discriminatory wages. While there may be some arguments over the state of gender equality in the modern world, it is undeniable that there have been great strides made toward recognizing the female 's worth in the workforce and as a human being. Despite these strides, however, things are still not yet ideal for women and many of the issues females face today are the very same issues that have been plaguing them for decades. While it is unfortunate the oppression of women has been so long-lived, the length of that exposure has thankfully enabled many talented writers to both lament over the fact and emphasize the need for gender equality.

Being passionate is a characteristic one may hope to never lose. In the excerpt from South of Broad, the author uses figurative language to develop the central idea. For example, “There is a tastefulness in its gentility that comes from the knowledge that Charleston is a permanent dimple in the understated skyline, while the rest of us are only visitors” (lines 39-41). Here the author uses imagery to show that as the people come and go, the exquisite town will always be there. Throughout the excerpt, South of Broad, by Pat Conroy, figurative language is used to develop the central idea of being able to connect and love something that others find small.

Women working men’s jobs were not as welcomed in society as they were in factories. People held on to the belief that women should be house wives and not have to do much in the way of work. The man should provide for the family, and the women should take care of the family. Many of the women who worked were lower class and had to help provide for their families, or were the only providers for their families. Women who worked men’s jobs were looked down upon and thought to be no better than dirt. Although women working in factories were still women, men did not show them the same respect as they did a woman working as a secretary or teacher.

In today’s society it is still common to assign gender stereotype to specific career paths. Careers such as a construction worker, mechanic and electrician may be gender stereotyped as a man’s career and careers such as nursing, secretary, elementary school teachers and child care workers may be seen as a woman’s profession. I chose to analyze the concept of “ The Glass Escalator” by Adia Wingfield and relate it to two different news articles “ More men enter Fields Dominated by Women.” By Shaila Dewan and Robert Gebeloff and the article “Kudos for the Black Male Nurse” by Benjamin Greeen Jr. It has been encouraged for both men and women to take on occupational fields regardless of gender and race stereotypes. In Adia Wingfield’s study she also focuses on the inequality based off of race and gender in the work field for advancement in the a workplace. I decided to focus more on the subject of men just entering these different fields as an accomplishment.

In Kate Grenville’s bildungsroman, “The Lieutenant”, Grenville uses figurative language to convey various ideas through the landscapes and character behaviours. One such idea presented is the evident secrets and distrust among characters in the novel. Grenville further presents the isolation that people who were suspected to in the late 1700s to early 1800s as well as the issues in the colonisation and slavery of the British Empire.

Marianela Medrano uses her poem "The Bellybutton of a Bongo" to describe her discovery of reality. In her poem, she wrote "I lost my crystal slipper in the dust/ and the Prince did not soothe my bruises/ Later it was all about cactus and not tulips/ It was about locking me in not about freedom/ In the time set for war, grandmother/ your stories slid down my skin” (Medrano 100). When Medrano writes “I lost my crystal slipper in the dust” she uses the “crystal slipper” to represents her innocence and her naivetes to the word (Medrano line 10). Medrano also states, “and the Prince did not soothe my bruises” which signifies the reality of men and how not every man one encounters is good and care for females (Medrano line 11). In line 12, Medrano

Surely, she craved to write—meaning to work here—endangered her husband’s position as an authority. He would not have control any longer toward the narrator—his wife. In the 19th century upper class and middle class women were not expected to earn their own living. Women rarely had careers and most professions refused entry to women. In the middle of the 19th century it was virtually impossible for women to become doctors, engineers, architects, accountants or bankers. After a long struggle the medical profession allowed women to become doctors. It was not until 1910 that women were allowed to become accountants and bankers. However, there were still no women diplomats, barristers or judges. Women were allowed to become teachers majority of women became teaches but this was also a low paying job.

Feminization of work is an idea which lives up to expectations towards more noteworthy vocation of women and the point is to illuminate the issues concerning sex disparities in the work power. It points towards explaining the issues of sexual contrasts and killing imbalance in administrations.

Figurative Language in Marge Piercy’s “To Be Of Use” In the poem “Poem To Be Of Use” by Marge Piercy, She uses figurative language to convey her liking towards hard workers. The first metaphor Marge uses is “ Without dallying in the shallows” It's showing that these workers are confident and know what to do with out hesitation, this claim is further supported when the speaker says, “swim with sure strokes” further showing their knowledge and confidence. The second metaphor the speaker uses, “I love people who harness themselves.”

Stereotype threats are negative consequences about one’s race, sex, nationality, or social group. Stereotype threats are used a lot more frequently than people realize. Gender is a powerful stereotype that affects many people’s decisions and actions. The stereotype of women in the workplace has come a long way even in the last twenty years. Many businesses tend to want to diversify their demographics by making the ratio of men to women almost equal. “Demographic projections anticipate that by the year 2000 women will exceed 50 per cent of the total workforce…” (Johnston and Packer, 1987). Women were able to make their way in to the workplace when men were off at war during the 1950s. During this time, women proved their ability to do the same kind of jobs men did. Many women worked as machinist, factory workers, and clergies.

In this poem “Woman’s Work”, the mother is forced to do household cleaning which represents a domestic life and the impact of gender specific roles. This poem is written in the third person point of view. The speaker is the daughter of a mother who doesn’t work outside, but only inside of the house, and is forced to do household cleaning with her as she hears her friends playing outside in the street. Author Julia Alvarez uses imagery, simile, and alliteration to portray the meaning of the poem that women work harder than men.

Work can cause many issues with oneself and society. There can be a inner struggle in someone if they don’t like their job. Society can cause the discussion of jobs to become a controversial topic. In the poems “Lady In The Pink Mustang” by Louise Erdrich, “The Restaurant Business” by James Tate, and “So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs From Americans” by Jimmy Santiago Baca, the authors use divisions and conflicts to make readers see a bigger picture.