Gender Roles in Narnia

The first thing you see when you pick up the book is the brilliantly designed cover with the title, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Immediately attracting the audience, the book is opened and before the reader delves into a wonderful world of imagination and fantasy, they reach the dedication page. Many people choose to ignore dedication pages, but if the time is taken to read the message written by the author, C.S. Lewis, to his Goddaughter, the audiences’ eyes will be open to a deeper level of understanding. It reads, “My Dear Lucy, I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will

After watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part Two, I was able to see how gender roles both differ and remain the same in this movie. Although some gender stereotypes apply to the film, I think many characters defy the stigmas typically assigned to males and females. Strong female roles, such as Hermione Granger, Molly Weasley, Professor McGonagall, and Luna Lovegood, help portray sturdy independent women who take charge. Reflecting on this movie, even as a dedicated Harry Potter fan, I have always admired how female actors in the series have had “the brains” in tricky situations. After watching the movie, I saw themes of power feminism, stereotyping, and negative connotations of males who express emotion.

In the story, four English children move into a large old country house in the aftermath of evacuation after a war. The youngest of the four children pays visits to Narnia thrice through the magic of wardrobe from a spare room. On her third visit, all the four children are together, and this verifies her fantastic claims and includes the chapters 12-17.in Narnia, the siblings fulfill an old prophecy, and they are soon adventuring for saving their lives and Narnia. In the novel version of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lewis uses development, morality and symbolism. This paper discusses the differences in morals between the novel and movie version of the chronicles of Narnia. Lewis uses morality as a means of rallying the reader behind a character and inspiring them to continue supporting them through the

In Lewis Carroll’s, Alice in Wonderland, traditional gender roles are reversed by portraying women with masculine behaviors and males with qualities generally attributed to women. Where aggressive and dominating behavior is seen as masculine, and sensitive and submissive acts are considered feminine, Carroll paints a picture of a society where these qualities are switched. For instance, the Queen of Hearts is a dominating and aggressive figure who terrorizes her meek husband. While some characters seem to possess qualities that Carroll's contemporaries would consider traditional, they are in the minority and they serve the purpose of teaching Alice something about the true meaning of gender. Alice has to navigate this bizarre world to discover

Every day young children are read beautiful fairy tales that showcase the man saving the damsel in distress. These stories can warp children’s minds to believe based on their specific gender they have to act a certain way or do certain things. Girls begin to believe that they have to know their place but they are known as emotional and not ready for the outside world. Boys are taught that they have to be the savior, they can’t cry, and they have to be the one to all the working. This image perverts the minds of young men and women altering their self-confidence and causing people are different to be ostracized and castaway. Some stories that showcase the idea of gender roles are, “Snowdrop and the Seven Dwarfs”, “Little Red Riding Hood”, and

From classics such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey to modern day works such as Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, an archetype of the strong, powerful, independent, and masculine hero has emerged. In contrast to these characters, and similar ones found in many other works of fiction, which praise the classical, “masculine” hero, in his novel The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis portrays and celebrates the “feminine” spiritual hero and feminine qualities and their ability to triumph over the “masculine” hero. Before discussing the importance of the ‘feminine’ in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, first there should be a discussion of what is meant by the phrases “masculine” and “feminine.” These terms should

The myth of gender roles plays a pivotal role in This Boy’s Life- A Memoir by Tobias Wolff. Specifically, the myth of masculinity shapes much of the actions and experiences that occur. Toxic masculinity is commonly described as socially-constructed attitudes that describe men as being violent, unemotional, and sexually aggressive. The rules of masculinity that are implied in the memoir include displays of physical dominance such as fighting against others, use of weapons for power and control, domestic violence, and trying to win at everything. Sexual virility is discussed as bragging about sexual conquests and talking crudely about women around other men but generally trying to be hyper sexual. Another, key aspect of masculinity is to not show any emotion as others will perceive you as being weak which leads characters being unable to express how they feel about themselves and their conflicts. Males are taught to not get mad but to get even; this means retaliating by stealing or other means in order to get revenge. Within the memoir, Tobias’ perception of masculinity and his idea of what man should look and act like is demonstrated through Roy. Qualities that include being: “an expert hunter, conventionally handsome, [a mechanic or handy in general], does not need to talk more than needed, having a tattoo”(14). The myth of masculinity pigeonholes males from This Boy’s Life- A Memoir by Tobias Wolff by making them believe that they must act in a certain way in order to be

Your _____ depends on whether you were born with distinct male or female genitals and a genetic program that released either male or female hormones to stimulate the development of your reproductive system.

A Rant: Don’t succumb to the Objective Chains of Allegory in C.S. Lewis’ Fantasy Literature Novel: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

In contrast to many works of fiction which praise the classical, “masculine” hero, C.S. Lewis portrays and celebrates the spiritual, “feminine” hero and feminine qualities in his novel The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Before discussing the importance of the ‘feminine’ in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, first there should be a discussion of what is meant by the phrases “masculine” and “feminine.” These terms should not be taken literally – “masculine” does not refer strictly to men, nor does “feminine” equate to female. Rather, these words should be taken to mean the qualities and type of heroism traditionally associated with the use of the words. When “masculine” is used, it is used to denote the “‘masculine’ classical hero” and the associated qualities of “reason, autonomy, activity, aggression, conquest, deceit, and pride” (Hilder 7).

The fictitious book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, published by HarperCollins Publishers, took place during the time of the air raids in 1940’s London. The author, C. S. Lewis poured his imagination out onto the pages of the novel. The land of Narnia became an adventurous place for Lucy, the youngest of the Pevensie siblings, Edmund, the antagonizing brother, Peter, the leader, and Susan, the kind child. A wardrobe found in their caretaker’s dwelling transported these children to a world full of amazing creatures. The Pevensie youths’ encounter with the wonderful world of Narnia, its inhabitants, and its rivaling rulers brings both the importance of loyalty and each child’s true character to light.

When imaging the ideal audience of fairytales, children are quick to come to mind, although, our perception of Little Red Riding Hood as an innocent fable is far from the truth. Alternatively, the origins of this story are derived from Italo Calvino’s “The False Grandmother”, a story immersed in symbolism and metaphorical symbols intended strictly for a mature audience. The preceding tale was “Little Red Cap “written by Charles Perrault and then later the “Little Red Riding” written by the Brothers Grimm. Although the details of these tales vary, they all maintain similar storylines. The stories revolve around the young female character Little Red Riding Hood who is sent off on a mission to bring her grandmother a basket of goods. During her adventure she encounters a wolf who engages in a hot pursuit to eat both the Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood, only to succeed in the earlier rendition of the story. In this essay I will prove that when the Grimm’s Brothers and Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood stories are critically analyzed, it becomes evident that they are inappropriate tales for children as they exemplify the consequences of a minor transgression by Little Red Riding Hood as being the misleading cause of the violence and seduction that occurs thereafter.

J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan tells the story of “the boy who never grew up.” Barrie paints Peter as an extraordinary character living in a mystical world called Neverland, flying through the air, and fighting villainous pirates. He is also the boy who takes a young girl named Wendy from England back to Neverland with him. The interaction and interdependence of Barrie’s two characters, Peter and Wendy, symbolize and spread cultural gender stereotypes by mirroring the stereotypes embodied by the adult characters in the story—Mr. and Mrs. Darling—and by reflecting the ideas of gender roles of the time and foreshadowing the children’s understanding of reality and expectations, as well as their eventual maturation.

Folktales has created men as the most powerful character in most stories but that does not mean always as there’s a difference in Grandmother’s tale and Little Red Riding hood. Different genders have different expectations according to their characteristics. The Red Riding Hood and Grandmother’s tale has produced ideas such as how a girl’s life is looked upon in the past and how the male has the upper hand in most situations according to the stories. This essay will argue about how the girl’s gender played a major role in the context of the story and how the wolf is represented by a male character and why the male is not always the most powerful character in all stories and the comparison

Feminity is different from this novel to reality with the old ways changing of women and how they work. Women have always been considered to be seen as weak but superior. There are many main characters who are women such as Mrs. Joe, Ms. Havisham, Biddy, Estella, and others. These four play major roles with Pip and how they influence him throughout the novel. The women are shown through this novel to be housewife’s while the men go to work. They are seen as women who are supposed to be cooking and taking care of the children. The women are portrayed in this book as women who don’t move from where they live or how they are confined to their homes or the role they play in the households. The men seem to have more freedom in going place to place as they see fit, while the women stay in the home to be housewives.