Gender and Sexuality in The Piano Essay

Both Stuart and Claire’s personality and characteristics serve as prime explanations to Carver’s view on marriage. With both characters fitting into the typical stereotypes of men and women, the author depicts the standard marriage that is present nowadays. With the constant arguing and disagreements between Claire and Stuart, Carver is suggesting that marriage is very complex and difficult. Because Carver explains that marriage is “something that [he] feels [he] knows about”, he defines his perspective of marriage as being an “indelible experience” (Kellerman). It is possible that Claire and Stuart’s relationship is a reflection of Carver’s past love life. In general, however, the author describes marriage as a difficult task but something worth fighting for. This is explained by the

Marriage unites two people for better or worse, in sickness and health, until death they do part. In earlier times, some people might say wedding vows were taken more seriously; other say divorce was different back in the day. Looking at Katie Chopin and Nathaniel Hawthorne, who both exemplify martial vows in their short stories, “The Story of an Hour” and “The Birthmark.” It is clear in one instance, it was because divorce was different but then on the other hand the stories demonstrate the seriousness of the wedding vows. However, these stories express a husband-dominated relationship, in which the men possess ideals such as possession, perfection, and being all knowing.

Hopkins, A. (2012). Protest and Rock n' Roll During the Vietnam War. Student Pulse, 4(11).

Marriage is the union of two people, traditionally husband and wife. Traditional also are the roles that women play when confined in a marriage. When a woman has had the opportunity to educate herself pass tradition and has been use to a fast-paced modern lifestyle, this role of the wife might prove to be quite onerous to mold to. Usually a time of joy, celebration, and adulation, marriage may also bring along emotional and physical pain as well as awkward situations, as the woman must alter herself to conform the traditional role of what a wife should be. Bessie Head depicts two modernized, educated

The Piano Lesson is a play that explores several different themes and challenges numerous stereotypical roles. However, one of the biggest issues addressed in this drama is gender and how femininity comes in to context. Throughout the play, one of the main characters, Berniece, who is a single mother and widow constantly disputes gender roles. Her strong-willed and stubborn personality calls into question what is normal for a woman to do because she proves that she does not need a man to be stable or happy. Furthermore, Berniece is one of the two female characters and refuses the task of finding a new husband even if her family continually insist her to.

In Player Piano, everything is controlled by machines and computers and depends on productivity. The managers and engineers only create new programs for more productive production. Even the rates of production and consumption are calculated by a computer (EPICAC), which is seated in the large Carlsbad cavern system. The EPICAC computer even determines the people's careers and in this way their whole lives. It gives intelligence tests to everyone, and on the basis of their results it sorts people into two categories - suitable for university entering exams and suitable for 'work'. The university studies allow their graduates to become managers, engineers, writers or public relation workers. You may become a writer only if

‘The Pianist’ is a cinematic masterpiece by the Polish director Roman Polanski. One of the key ideas that appear throughout much of the film is that of ‘hope being instrumental in our survival’. This idea is portrayed through Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish pianist, as he struggles for survival in Warsaw as everybody that he once knew and everything that he once had is lost. The idea of ‘hope being instrumental in our survival’ is worth learning about as it allows the audience to realise the importance of hope in todays society – and to understand how Polanski uses music to symbolise ‘hope’ for Szpilman in the film. Polanski effectively utilises an array of visual and oral text features such as music, dialogue, and lighting to build further

Shori also challenges society’s fears about sexuality by taking sexual liberties with several partners, old and young, male and female. The first example of “othering” in Shori’s sex life is that she looks like a ten- year old. It is not acceptable in the minds of most people in American society for a child to be sexual with adults as in the case of Shori and Wright as well as Shori and Joel. Another example is the homosexual relationship that Shori embarks upon with Theodora, an elderly woman. “I whispered to her, “is it good?” She moaned-a little satisfied sound” (Butler 25). Shori and Theodora enjoy a relationship that many conservative members of American society would be anxious about “She kissed me. After a moment of surprise, I kissed her back. I held her, and she seemed very comfortable in my arms” (Butler 38). The sexual nature

    In the time frame that this story is set, many major life decisions things are made taking into account one’s duty to family - including the selection of a husband or wife.  It is possible that each of these couples may not have been in love,  when their vows were stated.  They have a duty to society; they must not marry outside of their social class.  They have a duty to their family;

Because it is Arthur that does the penetrative act with the stake it restructures the sexual relations of the novel to the perceived default of husband penetrating wife (Showalter, 181). And so, this scene of penetration is representative of a reinforcement of heterosexual activity as a cure for sexual

The importance of marrying “well”, and marrying in itself, could not be stressed enough, which meant a relationship inspired by love was not as common as a marriage for reputation or wealth. The novel begins by stating, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife,” (1) and this “full-proof” concept is the driving force of the novel. Additionally, “[Marriage] was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune,” (94). As a wealthy aristocrat of a suitable age, marriage was an aspect of life that required focus, ambition, and provided drama in an otherwise simple lifestyle. Marrying outside of one’s class was spurned, and the tacit roles of man and woman initiated the string of tedious introductions, acknowledgements, and meetings that eventually led to a proposal and engagement.

His fiancé, felt it uncomfortable and complained about it. She insisted that “I’m totally weirded out about what’s going on between you two. You don’t even look at me.” As the relationship between Peter and Sydney is getting stronger, the tie between Peter and his fiancé is getting weaken. This scene indicates that homosocial relationship overwhelmed the intimate heterosexual relationship. It means that women are subordinated by the strong power of homosocial relationship between men.

“It's being here now that's important. There's no past and there's no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can't relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don't know if there is one.” (George Harrison) Although things can come from the past, they must be put to use in the know, and although we like to plan for the future, we need to try and make an impact now. What George Harrison is trying to say is that while it is nice to try to set things up for the future, we need to use what was given to us from the past, to try and better the lives of other immediately. In The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson, the piano was the object from the past is being put to use now and his having a profound impact. The piano is very important to Berniece’s family, it is an irreplaceable item that is

When one hears the word “feminist”, many different things may come to mind. One may think of the “bra burning” feminists of the 1960s or the “riot grrrl” feminists of the 1990s. It can bring to mind issues such as abortion, birth control, and unfair wages. There are many different aspects of feminism, some of which are understood only by those involved in the movement. But like most things people are passionate about, feminism has held a strong place in music since its very beginning, and can be seen in its festivals, its politics, and in the average American’s everyday life.

Thanks to the characters described by Adichie, there are important questions to be raised concerning love and marriage: If today’s man or woman wants to get married, for what reason will he or she walk down that aisle? Is it just a means to an end? Is it the mere fulfilment of societal demands?