Gender, Ethnicity And Nationality, By Elizabeth Strout, And Wildwood By Junot Diaz

Even though humans all have the same label, preferential treatment resides with the males. This is especially true in “The Female Body” by Margaret Atwood. Considering the society’s perception of how interaction between races and genders should be, white males are at the top of the social hierarchy. In this hierarchy, the white are above the coloured and the men are above the females. Hence, women are given selective and limiting freedom and yet men are also limited by society to the point that most men do not realise they have limitations placed upon them. Nevertheless men and women do not live their lives, they survive and yet men seem to enjoy life. Therefore women are marionettes, men are puppets and society is the puppeteer.

The entire world views and is affected by many immoral and cruel behaviours. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, the citizens of Maycomb County are harmed or troubled by vices that are seen throughout the text, such as racism, sexism and prejudice. It is obvious that throughout the work of To Kill a Mockingbird, the vices of racism, sexism and prejudice harm and negatively affect the community and it’s people.

Mary Churchill Terrell, a college educated African American, daughter of former slaves, and activist. Terrell, also known for great accomplishments such as being the first African American woman of Washington DC 's board of education, the first president of the national association of colored women, and her most memorable work, the delivery of her speech at the Washington 's women club, "What it means to be colored in the capital of the US." This speech is so iconic and memorable because Terrell speaks on the oppression that blacks dealt with during the time the Jim Crow law 's from a personal perspective, and also because she is a woman who at the time was considered the bottom of the social ladder. Her mission for this speech is admirable, she presents the realities a colored experience in Washington DC otherwise known as "the colored man 's paradise" she accomplished this with a strong use of diction, and a mixture of multiple rhetorical tools to address the problems of unrecognized racism.

‘’Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has a right to, but himself’’ (John Locke). Therefore, societies should ensure that citizens are free to follow their individual desires for property because property is what ultimately determines the personality and value of each person in society. Nevertheless, totalitarian regimes are forced to restrain both intellectual and private property in order to ensure citizens follow the government’s revolutionary and oppressive rhetoric. Hence, this paper explores the role of property in two of the most well known fundamentalist societies in literature history: Utopia by Sir Thomas More, and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Both authors acknowledge that property represents a significant threat to governments that aim to have an equal society where every citizen contributes to the well being of the nation. Thus, property is restricted because it fosters individualism. First, through the analysis of More’s ideal society, one can understand the importance of restricting private property to sustain a communist commonwealth. Secondly, Atwood successfully illustrates the role of intellectual property in a society that aims to dehumanize women to ensure their contribution to the common good of society. Therefore, the contrast of More’s Utopia and Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale utopian societies demonstrate that in order for all-powerful governing systems to exist they need to strongly restrict freedom of property from citizens

Cyra McFadden's article "In Defense of Gender" attempts to drive home the thought that replacing gender identifiers with "he/she", or something of the like, massacres both the written and spoken word. McFadden firmly believes the "neutering" of written or spoken works with slashes does nothing to solve a problem of overly masculine identifiers. Forcing these changes into classical literature could very well destroy the genera. Attempting to write speeches in this manner lays an undue burden on both the speaker and the audience. Enacting these changes as journalist may drive away your audience, as it can be tedious to for an audience. McFadden believes there must be a better solution that will not will create an unnecessary burden for writers,

Set at the dawn of the Reconstruction period, a time of supposed national renewal and modernization, Charles Chesnutt’s The House Behind the Cedars exposes the reality of an utterly medieval post Civil War South. Chesnutt explores the role of race in shaping one’s true identity through the experiences of two bi-racial siblings, John and Rena Walden, as they transcend the biological color barrier. Inspired by her older brother 's decade of splendid success living as an apparently pure white man, an existence free of all the restrictions she encounters as a bi-racial individual, Rena agrees to abandon and reject her black identity with devastating consequences. A largely didactic novel, driven by Chesnutt’s motivation to explore the nuances of racial identity in an era in which racial identity was presumed to be a biological certainty, Rena’s character and the devastating conflicts she faces are his vehicle to portray his own deeply personal journey of self identification. The House Behind the Cedars serves as a metaphor for Chesnutt’s own life and the internal struggles he faced as a biracial individual.

While reading both “On Growing Up Between Genders”, by Stephen Burt and “The Female Body” by Margaret Atwood, I was so moved by both poets writing that I felt as though I was living their experiences with them. Throughout the course of both pieces, I felt emotionally drawn to obstacles of both writers, while understanding their wants of an experience very different from the ones previously given to them.

Feminism is an important liberation movement all around the world fighting for equal rights for women due to their oppression in a male dominated world. For most of time, men have had the upper hand in everything in comparison to women. In regards to Why Modern Feminism is White Women’s Privilege by Athlone McGinnis, “the core of the feminist movement is its opposition to “traditional gender roles.” In the western world, women have traditionally taken on the role of a housewife, while men provide for the family financially. We have had people fight for women’s right to vote, women’s right to have the only word in decision making when it comes to our bodies, and fighting for our right to own our sexuality rather than being shamed for it. Although we have made many advancements already, we still have some problems to deal with within our community. In our community of feminism we still face racial struggles, class struggles, and anti-colonial struggles. Many times people take on the title of being a feminist but fail to acknowledge the importance of intersectionality. Intersectional feminism recognizes that social issues come from a deeper stance than what appears in front of us. This idea brings awareness to the fact that race, sex, gender, religion, and ability all influence how oppression occurs. The point intersectional feminism is trying to make is that not all women face the same oppression and we need to acknowledge this. The term “white feminism” was coined as a phrase

In Surfacing by Margaret Atwood, there are numerous portrayals of feminism and gender roles. There are underlying hints of distaste towards the female sex role and the predatory, aggressive behaviour of men towards women. The suppression of women is portrayed and analyzed, and Surfacing manages to tackle the theme of gender roles by exploring through the perspective of the female narrator how women are marginalized in many aspects of their lives. . Surfacing makes a case for strong women that defy stereotypical gender roles and portrays how men are continually pushing the boundaries of their roles and going to the extreme with them.

It is a stereotype that works to debase the dignity of women by presenting them as the lesser race of human beings. Arguably, this notion has derived from the controversies in and around the veil. The argument is hinged on the assertions Muslim’s social structures were a designate of man, thus, patriarchal in nature. Activist’s claims that the policies and the regulations governing the institutions are, therefore, male dominated and need to be redesigned to make them sensitive to the rights and needs of women. Veiling is one of the most cited traditions that have covered news in most of the broadcasting

Lynn Notagge in Intimate Apparel describes the life of Esther, a gifted but lonely black seamstress, who does a wonderful job creating intimate apparel for women, both wealthy socialites, and poor prostitutes. While she is very successful sewing exquisite lingerie for women and being able to stuff a goodly sum of money into her quilt over the years, she yearns a different life. Esther has two dreams: finding a husband (a man’s touch), and owning a beauty salon where both African American women and wealthy white women would be treated equally. By writing this play, Notagge acknowledges that everyone needs some kind of physical contact in order to function properly. The play revolves around people with different gender, race, religion, and

Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality are a vital part of any individual. The overall population on our planet is growing and becoming more diverse. The importance of these things in American Society is very complicated. Race represents the evolution of culture from many years ago, Ethnicity symbolizes who we are and how we are influenced, and Nationality tells us where we come from. Although there are many theories; race, ethnicity, and nationality are socially formed and is real in society. The affects they have on peer groups, media, and children have a big impact on the way people live on a day to day basis.

Lucy, the eponymous character of Jamaica Kincaid’s second novel, moves from Antigua to New York not in an arbitrary move, but in a calculated effort to explore her latent queer sexuality and gradually escape the gendered labor of her homeland. By working as an au pair for an upper class white woman named Mariah, Lucy trades birthing labor for domestic labor in a move that initially seems lateral, but serves as a potential gateway to freedom from caretaking that would have been inaccessible in Antigua. Unbridled from her mother, the American Lucy has opportunities to explore her sexuality without being deemed promiscuous, and has the ability to live with a woman she can have intimate relations with. Lucy has continuously disobeyed the performative prescriptions of heteronormativity in her life, but, as explained by the work of Rosamund King, her transgressions in Antigua are rendered invisible by a culture that believes women are incapable of sexual agency. America acknowledges Lucy’s transgressions against heteronormativity, which lets her explore sexuality and gradually escape the obligations of gendered work. Lucy is escaping the obligations delineated by female performance.

We only do What Our Parents Want. Most children just do what their parents want them to do, correct? To not get yelled at, or just to make them happy? Yes you might argue with them at first but in the end you know it’s no hope and you just do it.

A disguise is used to mask a person’s identity and it is used as a tool to aid a person’s escape from reality. In Eliza Haywood’s novel Fantomina or Love in a Maze, the main character’s true identity is unknown to the reader and the characters featured in Haywood’s novel are fabricated personas. As the title suggests, the main character finds herself in a love maze. Fantomina’s disguises help guide her through this maze to an end goal. Whether this goal is to fulfill her own desires or to find love is unclear however, Fantomina will stop at nothing and the choices she makes reflect this. Eliza Haywood uses her masquerade novel, Fantomina, to challenge common misconceptions for women in social positions, gender, morality and identity.