Gender Inequality In Tess Of The DUrbervilles

It is a widely known fact that sometimes, life isn’t fair. Whether it’s for something simpler, a teenager complaining about how they didn’t make the sports team, or something on the grander scale like societal class differences. This is perfectly illustrated by three different characters in Tennessee Williams’ “A Lady’s Beaded Bag.” The lowly trash-picker, the working-class maid Hilda, and lavish Mrs. Ferrabye are all examples of contrasting classes

During the late 19th century, strict and confining gender roles existed for women throughout the United States. Expectations regarding these gender roles varied based upon the social class in which a woman was born. Edith Wharton in The House of Mirth, explores the lives of women who aspired to be part of New York City’s highest social class. Specifically, the author follows the life of Lily Bart and her quest for acceptance and financial security in high society. Lily Bart intrigues me as I cannot decide if I am more repelled by her, or more sympathetic to her. I expect that Edith Wharton has made Lily not wholly unlikeable on purpose. In doing so, Lily becomes a character whose struggles we care about, during an era which gave women such

Women in society sometimes are subject to objectification, meaning they are treated as a mere object; unequal to men. In the novel, The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, this holds true, except, women are said to be equal to men, but are not treated in this exact manner. Lily is apart of the upper class society of New York and attends parties, gambles all her money, and throughout the whole book tries to marry a rich man. Wharton’s feminism is apparent in the way she treats Lily; Lily gets through society, merely by keeping up her appearances. Beauty and appearance are everything in this society, if you are beautiful you will get far in society, however, the only thing Lily is lacking is wealth. In the novel, feminism is present with the idea of appearances and the symbol of money is used to convey that men are needed to control a women’s social stability.

Reading literature, at first, might seem like simple stories. However, in works like William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily,” Katherine Mansfield's “Miss Brill,” and Kate Chopin's “The Storm,” the female protagonists are examples of how society has oppressive expectations of women simply because of their gender.

In all of the excitement of the toilet trick that Skeeter played on her, bridge clubs, and Junior League committee, Hilly wouldn’t have expected this book to come out. Hilly read the book and “told everybody the book’s not even about Jackson.” (Stockett, 492) because of what her previous maid, Minny, had added about the Terrible Awful. The Terrible Awful was a nasty trick that Minny played on Hilly to make Hilly suffer from all the things that she made Minny suffer from. Hilly didn’t want anyone to know about what Minny did to her, so she used her influence on others to make them think the book had nothing to do about Jackson so she wouldn’t be embarrassed. Her powerful figure was deteriorating behind that strong face of hers. If Hilly’s secrets were exposed, her whole reputation would be lost and people would shun her the way she told everyone to shun the people that she didn’t like. Not only for the first time in her life did Hilly start to realize she wasn’t as powerful as she thought, but she couldn’t do anything about getting people into trouble if she didn’t wanted to be exposed. She shunned Celia Foote because she’s a “tacky girl” (Stockett, 7), but Minny told her the Terrible Awful story so Hilly was forced to turn herself around so Celia would not reveal her as “Two-Slice Hilly” (Stockett, 402). Aibileen, a maid of one of Hilly’s friends, finally let Hilly know that if she did go to jail for writing the book,

Everywhere we look, we see differences in race, gender, and status. Some people are held to a higher standard and are given more privilege than others. This inequality is seen today and was seen throughout the 18th century. Not many women have the courage to speak out about what happens, but two brave female authors have done so. Jane Austen wrote Northanger Abbey and Frances Burney wrote Evelina, and both novels bring to light the injustices women face. Both female authors used the negative aspect of gender roles that come along with growing up as female to show that an individual can surpass limitations and stereotypes through personal strength.

Many women have experienced discrimination due to their gender. Society views women as inferior beings that cannot achieve greatness. Furthermore, women have acquired a set of rules and expectations to meet within their role in society. In the 1850 romance novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts the beauty and strength of women. Despite society’s strict views of gender roles, women can convert society’s oppression into freedom due to the qualities they possess, which surpass society’s assumed capabilities of them.

Tessie Hutchinson's pleas of "It's not fair" and "it isn't right" at the end resonate to the reader as almost the author's own sole voice speaking out against the social issues of isolation and stubbornness to retain old yet questionable traditions. The story slowly transforms from a lighthearted opening to an extremely dark and atrocious close. This shocking juxtaposition makes the author's overall message all the more powerful and clear to the reader that she expresses concern and distaste against unjust situations in which the powerless have no voice to defend or protect themselves against the unfortunate idiosyncrasies of her time.

During the Romantic era women were not only treated as if they were worth less compared to men but were also deprived of the very things that defined them. In the “Poor Singing Dame” by Mary Robinson, the dame is stripped of her spirit solely because the Lord of the castle is envious of the optimism she carries despite being in poverty. In “The Thorn” by William Wordsworth, Martha Ray is denied happiness and affection, which leaves her unstable and deranged. Throughout each of these poems it is made clear that women are seen as inferior to men and are constantly having to sacrifice, which continues to be true to this day.

Double standards, a term used to describe how unfair our society can be of the male and female population, still affect us today. This principle has been around since the beginning of human species, the perplexed idea that men are far better than women. As the idea of double standards became more pertinent, it smeared into literature. An example of this would be the story of Hester Prynne and her daughter Pearl in the novel, “Scarlet Letter”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, who went through the struggles of facing public shaming and the crime of Adultery because of the way her society treated her. Living her life as a Puritan, she underwent the unfair “inferior to men” belief and was punished greatly for her actions, unlike her accomplice Dimmesdale.

In today’s world, men and women are perceived equally by the society. In the past, authority and control define men while women are given the characteristic of helplessness. Men are able to get hold of high positions while women usually are subservient to them. In movies, we would usually see women portray roles that are degrading due to the stereotypical notions they associate with this gender group. Moulin Rouge, a movie set during the 1900s narrates the story of a courtesan woman, Satine, as she undergoes hardships to earn money, experiences love but unfortunately, due to her irrational choices, faces tragic consequences at the end. Satine is a symbol of how women are being treated by the society during the era before post-feminism,

This shift in how femininity is valued is both literary and historical. In “Gender and the Victorian Novel,” Nancy Armstrong has described a historical shift during the nineteenth century in conceptualizing the dangers of reproduction—from the danger of overpopulation earlier in the century to the danger of degeneration at its end. For Armstrong, this shift coincides with a development in literature that presents “the struggle between femaleness and femininity” (110). Lizzie and Lucy represent this struggle between “traditional femininity” (Lucy) and “female nature” (Lizzie) (108). What I would like to add to this argument is an account of the role Lucinda Roanoke plays in the struggle. As a figure both racialized and “savage,” Lucinda seems to represent the possibility of degeneracy directly. Lucy

Gender inequality is a problem that has been plaguing the world for a very long time. The United States has made great strides to promote gender equality. Despite all of those strides America has made, there are still reminders of the gender inequalities people have experienced in American Literature. The good thing about this is that the slow progression of change in the women’s rights sector can be seen by comparing various pieces of literature dealing with the issue of gender inequality to the time of its creation. The best way to observe this progression is by comparing two different pieces of literature from different time periods, and take note of differences, as well as the events that could be viewed as responsible for those changes. Two literary piece that

Her problems start with her “cousin” Alec, who after seeing Tess’s beauty, tries to cohort her having sex, which she refuses. After she continued resistance for three months, Alec claims that she has “trifled with [his] feelings, eluded [him], and snubbed [him]” (Hardy 1891, p. 102) in regards to his advances. In the story, however, Tess has never accepted his advances, she has continued to tell him, no, but she always ends up apologising or it (which he gets angry from). Alec believes that she owes him something and Tess, in turn, feels bad for not accepting this because it makes him feel “hurt.” It is this set by society that the woman is meant to succumb to a man. Even when she marries when Tess tells her husband Angel that she had relations (though it is her being raped by Alec) in response to Angel telling her about his relations. She felt relieved saying to him, “now YOU can forgive ME!” (p. 331), which he denies her; Angel does not forgive her as she has forgiven him. She is held to a double standard because she is a woman. The males in her life dictate who she is and where her story goes; the men are free, but Tess is held in place. They are dominating in her society, a masculine trait, and one that leads to Tess killing

At the beginning of the Victorian Period, both single and married women’s rights were limited. The changes during this era in the identity of genders are represented in the characters the author Wilkie Collins describes. For example, Marian Halcombe is characterized as strong and predominant. She is Laura’s voice when regarding to her husband and protects her throughout the story. Although Marian knows her role as a woman in society, she disapproves with the beliefs of the era. On the other hand, Laura personalizes the conventional quiet woman that obeys customs. To emphasize this, in Collin’s novel, he lets the reader know that Laura is marrying the man that her father approved even though he is now dead. When she marries, her rights legally belong to her husband and is treated with the laws and customs of the Victorian era. Throughout this period, the distinction between classes was also notable. Comparatively, The Woman in White presents how the middle class as Laura and her uncle refer to the working class, Fanny the maid. Even though Fanny has always been their maid and is the only person they trust, they only communicate with her at their convenience. Moreover, Mr. Fairlie does not even call the maid by her name, but refers to her as “Young Person”. Certainly, the Victorian Period was a significant impact in the novel where